When Uptown Sedona's Garage Opens, Who Gets to Park on Van Deren, Price and Smith Roads?

Three short residential streets run between Schnebly Road and Forest Road, just off the Uptown corridor: Van Deren, Price and Smith. Today a car can park along any of them at no charge. Under a program the Sedona City Council advanced on August 25, 2026, that could end. If the program is switched on, street parking on those three blocks would be limited to registered residents and their guests. Every non-resident would be sent to the new Forest Road garage or to public and private lots.

For anyone thinking about buying a home on these blocks, the important part is the allocation the city is planning around. The current working assumption is two annual resident permits per qualifying residence or parcel, tied to license plates. The category is labeled "Resident/STR parcel Permits." That puts a full-time home and a short-term rental on the same two-permit footing. On these streets, how many cars a household can park may end up depending on a city permit count as much as on the driveway.

The fee schedule leaves the curb as the cheapest spot

The city's plan for the garage includes charging for parking across Uptown. On the same August 25 night, the council unanimously set maximum rates for the Uptown meters, the garage and the Sacajawea Plaza surface lot. Sedona Red Rock News described the result as "the framework for a future in which all public parking in Uptown has a fee."

Here are the approved maximums next to what the City of Sedona's Uptown parking page currently lists:

At the moment the city lists two all-day free lots and four free lots with a three-hour limit. If those lots start charging under the new fee framework, the residential blocks nearby become the only free parking within walking distance of the corridor. City planners saw that coming. The working list of activation triggers for the residential program includes "observed parking spillover into residential neighborhoods."

What the city has drafted for the three blocks

The council's August vote was readiness work. Full implementation was held back until a future council authorization, once triggers are met. A September 23 city news roundup said the same thing: staff are preparing the program, and the council will decide later whether to turn it on. The design is concrete enough to plan around, though. The council packet lists these working assumptions:

• Resident permits: annual renewal, a limit of two per qualifying residence or parcel, issued as virtual and/or paper permits linked to license plates.
• Visitor permits: single-day and multi-day temporary permits through a resident portal, with "administrative controls to discourage abuse."
• Service vehicles: commercial service vehicles actively doing business may be exempt. Other temporary needs could be handled with temporary permits.
• Enforcement: daytime at first, matching current Uptown enforcement hours, with complaint-driven enforcement after hours.

Permits would be free. When the idea came up last winter, Sedona Red Rock News reported that the council had never been interested in charging for them. That February story also mentioned an early estimate of two to four vehicles per household. The later Parking Work Group framework settled on two.

Sedona police would enforce the program with mobile license plate readers. The city has said its parking system runs under a data governance policy, reviewed by the council on January 27, 2026, that limits the technology to parking purposes.

Rental parcels get the same permit count but fewer exceptions

For buyers who plan to rent the property, the important line sits under enforcement. The draft lets residents ask the city to pause enforcement on a specific street for birthdays, block parties, family gatherings and other events that bring many cars. A simple request process would handle it, and residents would get a confirmation they can pass along to guests. Next to that provision, the August 25 council packet adds four words: "Not available for STRs."

An STR parcel would still get its two plate-linked permits under the current assumption. It could not have the street opened up for a larger group. A rental with a third guest vehicle would have to rely on the visitor-permit system, whose limits haven't been set, or send that car to a paid lot or the garage. A three- or four-bedroom home marketed to several couples traveling separately is a different product on these blocks than the same home two streets away. The extra car would pay the same peak-season garage rate as a day visitor.

For a full-time owner, the event pause is a real convenience. For a second-home owner who sometimes rents the house out, which provision applies may depend on how the parcel is classified when the program goes live. The framework doesn't settle that detail yet.

Everything waits on the garage, and its opening date keeps moving

The first item on the city's trigger list is "Completion of the Uptown Parking Garage." The implementation sequence then calls for the garage to open, followed by "a six-month transition period to collect operational data and public feedback." City staff told the council they want to monitor Uptown for at least six months after the garage opens.

So the timing of the permit program depends on the garage, and the garage has slipped several times:

1. Construction began in May 2025, with opening planned for spring break 2026.
2. The opening moved to June 2026.
3. In September 2026, Sedona Red Rock News reported an expected opening of December or January, with total project cost at about $28.25 million.
4. The project's own site now lists completion as "Early 2027."

Add six months of monitoring to an early-2027 opening, and the earliest likely point for the council to consider switching on the permits is mid-to-late 2027. Deputy City Manager Andy Dickey said "it's our intention" to bring the program back for final approval. No meeting date has been set. A buyer closing this winter will probably own the home through the whole transition. The parking situation at closing may not be the one the owner lives with a year later.

The street work runs past the garage's opening

The garage also brought a water problem that reaches onto these streets. According to Sedona Red Rock News, the 6-inch main feeding the garage's sprinkler lines moves water faster than plumbing codes allow. Arizona Water Co. chose to install a 16-inch main and cover the extra cost. On August 25 the council approved a $3,741,285.50 contract with J. Banicki Construction Inc. About $2.54 million of it covers Forest Road improvements, including sidewalks on the north and south sides from the garage to the existing sidewalks that connect to SR 89A. Roughly $1.2 million covers water-system upgrades.

Phase 2, which the council has not authorized, comes closer to these homes. It would extend water main upgrades up Van Deren Road and across Schnebly Road to Jordan Road, upsizing the city line from 6 to 8 inches. The estimated cost is about $2.5 million. Construction could start next summer at the earliest and finish in December 2027. Meanwhile, the garage project site warns of routine short closures of the roadway in front of the site, lane restrictions, reduced speeds and rough road conditions. It also says access to nearby homes and businesses will be maintained. The Forest Road public parking area is closed during construction.

Put the schedules together, and a home on Van Deren could see the garage open, a six-month parking transition, a council vote on permits and possible water main work out front, all within about the same 12 months.

Questions to settle before an offer on these blocks

These questions follow from the city's draft. None of them has a final answer yet:

• Is the parcel inside the proposed zone? The current description covers Van Deren, Price and Smith roads between Schnebly and Forest.
• How many vehicles does the household or rental actually need on a typical day, and how many can fit off-street on the lot?
• If the home will be rented, does the rental plan depend on guests parking on the street, or on larger gatherings?
• Is a Phase 2 water main schedule on the council's agenda, and does it reach the frontage of the home?

The permit framework is still a set of working assumptions, not an adopted rule, and some details may change before any council vote. This post is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm how any program would apply to a specific property with the City of Sedona and the right professional.

If you own on Van Deren, Price or Smith and want to understand how the garage timeline and the permit question could affect what buyers pay for your home, Kris Anderson can walk you through the comparable sales and the open questions on your street. Start with a Confidential Home Valuation.