As set out in detail in Ordinance 2014-15, deceptive, misleading advertising has negatively affected the experience of tourists, visitors and residents and has created a disincentive for tourists and visitors to return. Such advertising destroys the small-town character of the city and creates confrontations between residents, visitors and merchants, thereby adversely impacting the health, safety and well-being of the public. These concerns are particularly present with timeshare or vacation club membership sellers and solicitors who have been known to implement misleading signage, as evidenced by a plethora of written and oral complaints documented by reference in Ordinance 2014-15. These complaints substantiate the fact that some signs used by timeshare and/or vacation club establishments in the city convey the clear impression that their sales solicitation establishments are instead nonprofit or government sponsored “tourist information centers” or are other types of establishments such as museums. Such deception has a negative impact on the tourism industry and economy of the city of Sedona. Negative experiences by visitors who have been lured into establishments believing that their sole purpose is that of dispensing tourist information are then disseminated to friends and acquaintances and are published on Internet social media and tourism sites, tarnishing the positive reputation of Sedona as a tourist destination site.

Because of these negative impacts on the health, safety and welfare of tourists, visitors and residents, deceptive and misleading advertising constitutes a public nuisance that must be addressed through enactment of rules and regulations designed to curb the proliferation of deceptive signs and advertisements. Therefore, the city council finds it necessary to impose additional regulations in order to prevent residents and visitors from mistakenly relying on representations that business establishments are official city, state or Chamber of Commerce visitor centers or other establishments that have no connection with sales solicitation activities. These regulations are further designed to protect residents and visitors against unreasonable interference or disturbance in their peace and against obstruction of free travel on city streets and sidewalks. The purpose of the regulations proposed in this section is to regulate activity which is commercial in nature and is not intended to prohibit free speech or any other constitutional rights. To that end, this article is designed to ensure that solicitors do not misrepresent the nature of the products they are promoting or the true nature or identity of the business behind any such promotion and to provide a means for regulating such activities and enforcing the provisions of this article. [Ord. 2014-15 § 1, 11-13-2014; Res. 2014-31 Exh. A, 11-13-2014; Ord. 2015-05 § 1, 4-28-2015; Res. 2015-08 Exh. A, 4-28-2015].