I want to give you some accurate information regarding the National Scenic Area legislation and debate.

On June 10th the Sedona Verde Valley Association of REALTORS® used AAR Issues and Mobilization dollars to send SVVAR’S Past President Holly Mabery to Washington DC to testify before the House Natural Resources Committee. She spoke of your Board of Director’s strong concerns regarding the proposed National Scenic Area legislation.

We feel strongly that this bill is a direct threat to private property rights. It is also a direct threat to the ability of future generations in this area to decide for themselves how to use their own properties and their public lands. The proposed NSA would encompass 160,000 acres. (Yes, I said one hundred and sixty thousand acres.) It includes the City of Sedona and the Village of Oak Creek, spreading out from HWY 179 to I-17, South to House Mountain and then over to Bill Gray Road, up along Casner Mountain and then up Oak Creek Canyon. It’s enormous.

Your board felt strongly that the proponents of a National Scenic Area understand neither its legal ramifications nor its inherent lack of flexibility and local control in the future. If these 160,000 acres is designated a National Scenic Area, it will literally take an act of Congress to meet our local needs regarding this land.

We’ve observed that the designation itself and the legal precedents involved with other NSAs continues to be used by special interest groups as a means to harass and sue and block management, infrastructure and other needs in areas within these special designations.

1. A few examples:
· The Hood River School District in the Columbia River Gorge NSA was blocked from acquiring 20 acres for a new school.
· NSAs in California and Virginia prohibit “new roads” in their boundaries.
· A private company was sued and stopped from constructing a wind farm outside, but near, the Columbia River Gorge NSA on the basis that if could affect the adjacent NSA.
· Courts in Oregon have ruled that the grandfathered rights of private property owners will not prevail over the new rules and regulations of the NSA.

2. Designations such as a National Scenic Area have been used as a legal basis for special interest groups to sue Municipalities, the Forest Service and adjoining private property owners.
These one hundred and sixty acres in question already has a governing document (Amendment 12 of the Coconino National Forest Management Plan) that was drafted as a result of consulting with the communities and deciding the best direction to protect and balance both the precious scenic beauty of our area and the needs of the citizens who live here.

Your Association has been on record opposing land exchanges of Forest Land in the Sedona Area since 1988, which is why we supported Amendment 12. We feel that it is wise to oppose the NSA, as we would oppose any plan that trades local control and governance for Federal control, as with a National Scenic Area.

Amendment 12 addressed many special aspects of the Sedona area. Most importantly, the Amendment stated that only privately owned land that is contained within that area may be exchanged for forest service land within that same area. The forest service recently stated that they have acquired all the large privately held pieces within the area that they desired.

The last two land exchanges that took place prior to Amendment 12 being put in place were voted on by the people of the area. These two exchanges resulted in Sedona Red Rock High School and the Sedona Cultural Park. These were the first forest service exchanges in 10 years and there have been none since.

Land transfers in the Sedona area in the past 20 years:
1990—Sedona voters approved a trade for development of the Sedona Cultural Park
1992—Sedona acquired the land to build Sedona-Red Rock High School
1993-2009—six private ranches (Marshall, Lincoln Canyon, Woo, Hancock, Packard and Bradshaw ranches) were acquired and placed in Forest Service ownership.)
Sedona would be the only municipality in the entire United States whose city limits are within a National Scenic Area.

This would be the largest NSA in the United States. The boundary proposed for this NSA comes 15 miles from Sedona south to within 2 miles of the current Cottonwood city limits and .25 from state trust land designated for annexation by Cottonwood. If we must consider an NSA, the Mayor of Cottonwood and City Council would like the boundary reduced from such close proximity to the Cottonwood city limits, back towards Sedona. The Cottonwood City Council Resolution still stands in opposition of the NSA because of its scope and size.

Last fall the previous Sedona City Council voted in opposition to the NSA. The new council seated on May 25th voted for the NSA. The NSA is not a foregone conclusion in Sedona - each new council may swing from one side to the other, depending on their level of understanding.

There was testimony about 5000 letters that have been gathered in support of the NSA legislation. Those letters were not gathered from property owners or people that live in the area. A majority of those letters were gathered from and signed by tourists. There was no education or explanation of the facts. Proponents of the bill gathered those letters under the pretense of “don’t you think we should save this scenic beauty?” without explaining that this goal has already been accomplished. Red Rock Ranger district head Heather Provincio is on record stating those letters are irrelevant because of when and how they were collected. They were removed from the Forest Service’s NSA file.

The proposed legislation provides for the Secretary of Interior to file a map and boundary description after this designation has been put into effect. None of us would ever advise a client to determine a boundary after they have closed escrow. This bill does exactly that. This fact alone would be a reason to oppose the NSA legislation.

The future of the Verde Valley is as important to REALTORS® as preserving the past and the scenic beauty. It is our opinion that the NSA designation only brings more confusion and paves the way for more litigation, at taxpayer expense. The legal precedents (set forth above) in other NSAs throughout the country are evidence of this.

The final argument thrown out by supporters of NSA is that the designation will bring more jobs. The hotels, restaurants, gas stations, resorts, and shops are built and staffed - they handle nearly 4 million people who visit Sedona each year. There is no evidence or documentation stating that there will be an increase in visitors, thus increasing jobs.

The concerns of the community continue to go unnoticed by the vocal few. The community has come together and spoken with regard to their wants and needs in the form of Amendment 12. The NSA designation is an additional congressional overlay that brings enormous legal precedent with tremendous unintended consequences. This is why your Sedona Verde Valley Board of Directors appropriated Issues and Mobilization funds from AAR to send Holly to Washington to give another view point for the subcommittee.

If you have any questions regarding the NSA, please don’t hesitate to contact me at carolanne@adobegr.com, or Ron Volkman at rvolkman@hotmail.com.