[QUOTE
I think one of the TUG members here lives in VOC.
[/QUOTE]
Yep! That would be me.
VOC indeed quieter . . . .. that's all going away here in VOC and already gone in Sedona proper. Such is life in the red rocks which naturally attracts LOTs of tourists. Our 6th year living here in VOC and we sense a growing degradation of the tranquility both in the village and on all the trails surrounding us.
Recent meetings of committees here in VOC and Sedona acknowledge change is needed sooner rather than later. The "easy?" fix is trail parking congestion in the entire area. Probably a year or two out, but trail parking will not expand per se and tourist buses will be put into service to relieve parking issues. Plans in motion to use the Ranger station just south of VOC on the 179 as the park and ride starting point for all trails from VOC to Sedona. This was always going to happen into the Future, but another more serious issue is pushing the trail paradigm sooner than later.
Arizona's bigger problem is how AZ the Legislature mis-read the consequences of bnb upon tAZ residential housing market whilst AZ itself is adding population quickly; mostly in the two big metro areas where over 75% of the population lives. Some new Residential neighborhoods are devoid of families and full of nightly rentals as new comers search for housing and Bnb daily rents scoop up houses.
Similiar issue in northern AZ in the fast-growing Prescott area where residential folks compete with absentee Bnb's . . . . all of this drivies up already high home prices. Sedona essentially a rural town run by business folks while the red rocks naturally bring tourists. The real estate market in both Sedona and VOC is ridiculously overpriced with huge blocks of residential homes scooped up to function like a night by night Bnb hotel .
Recently our local paper tells us Sedona proper has more rent by night houses than the total aggregate of all the hotel rooms in Sedona and VOC combined. The consequence is more daily visitors and more cars that all need to navigate a 2 lane highway that runs from the I-17 up the 179. In VOC where we don't have traffic lights but rather use circles, traffic jams grow in daily intensity ( folks don't know the yield process of circles they should have learned years ago
).
In high season, we're used to traffic jams on the 179 between VOC as cars line up to get to Sedona. But we now see more traffic here in VOC outside of high season.
VOC is itself an
unincorporated village that began life @1984 with a 9 hole golf course that functions as an HOA ( very common in AZ ). We have old bylaws that prohibit single night rentals but do allow any owner to rent for more than 30 days. Lots of outsiders who buy in VOC rent bnb but the HOA is enforcing existing rules because as an unincorporated entity, AZ Legislator can't interfere with the existing HOA rule of VOC Only a matter of time before factions attack this.
Enjoy your red rock visits
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So just a little info about our red rock environs. We wake up every day to Courthouse Butte and life goes on here. For you TS folks who visit, you'll still have a good time, but we're slowly following that song about pushing paradise aside for a parking lot.
When you live here you know where the quiet places are.
I go off trail and scurry up to this formation a few days ago. Our summer monsoon rains were very heavy & scarp out lots of the trails. It requires me to poke around to find by way back home as the landscape changed and I couldn't find my usual way home It all ends well.
A recent Winter sunset as long afternoon shadows remain, but days are slowly getting longer. Mornings crisp and cold as temps touch 65.
We love AZ
