PHOENIX - Each Sunday, ABC15.com debuts an Arizona issue - along with two opposing sides on the topic.
Don’t worry, you always have the opportunity to make comments at the bottom of the page. Yeah, your opinion matters, too.
This week we’re tackling the debate on whether or not large commercial growth should continue in northern Arizona, especially in the Town of Tusayan along the Grand Canyon.
Carolyn K. Oberholtzerof the Rose Law Group says the Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent expressed concerns regarding the development proposals due to the potential environmental impacts to the Park and on the region’s water supply.
Mayor Greg Bryan of Town of Tusayan says he sees a significant need for people to have the opportunity to put down roots and own their own home or rent independent of their employer. He says without growth or change, these opportunities will never exist for anyone other than the four or five landowners.
So, should commercial growth continue in the Town of Tusayan along the Grand Canyon?
Click “next page” to read the first of two positions, “ Tusayan residents want own housing ”.
“Tusayan residents want own housing”: By Mayor Greg Bryan of Town of Tusayan
As I look at growth in Tusayan/Grand Canyon, I have mixed feelings. One, I enjoy many aspects of Tusayan as it is today, that is why I have lived here for almost 14 years. Yet, I see a significant need for people to have the opportunity to put down roots and own their own home or rent independent of their employer. Without growth or change these opportunities will never exist for anyone other than the four or five landowners.
Current residents inside and outside the National Park want to own a home and put down roots and they can’t today. Of our 580 population there are seven private homes and they all belong to landowners; the rest is company housing. Development will bring change and impacts to the community and to the natural resources in the area.
The Tusayan Town Council has tried to manage those impacts by placing significant requirements on a Developer before they can turn one shovel of dirt. There are always trade-offs when change takes place and we have tried to be sure they are balanced and add value to the environment of our community and the surrounding area. In the National Park they have also made changes that have impacted their resource and go through a process to be sure they understand and agree with the trade-offs before making their changes. We are doing the same thing in our processes.
A landowner should be able to utilize his land for its highest and best use, while being limited by its negative impact on his neighbors and the community. In Tusayan we are working to measure those impacts and try to make it as fair and mutually beneficial as possible. Our residents have needs of home ownership, jobs, services and the freedom to put down roots and not lose their housing if they lose their job because it is owned by the employer. The developer is providing 40 acres of land that is a start in our community to having affordable housing for our residents and their families.
The development will take years to progress and we see our community growing from our current 580 population to 2-2,500 people over the next 15-20 years, if the developer is successful in getting all of their approvals. As a community we care about our natural resources and do not seek to damage our water supply or the cultural resources of our neighbors the Havasupai Tribe. As a community we also want our residents to be able to build a fabric of family with roots and attract a longer term work force to meet our needs and help solidify our community. We are very cognizant of our neighbor the Grand Canyon and our responsibility to help protect it. We will continue to do so as we also meet our responsibilities to our residents.
Do you agree with this opinion? Add a comment below to sound off.
Click “next page” to read the second position, “Expressed concerns over potential environmental impacts”
“Expressed concerns over potential environmental impacts”: By Carolyn K. Oberholtzerof the Rose Law Group
Stilo Group’s Camper Village, TenX and Kotzin Ranch land use plans present two troubling issues: they were approved without adequate analysis on the potential impacts to the Town of Tusayan and Grand Canyon and the land uses and densities approved are not in conformance with the Tusayan Area Plan.
Stilo is funded by a large Italian investment firm called Gruppo Percassi. In the 1990’s, this organization lost a ballot measure to build a massive resort and retail project at near the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. In 2010, Stilo successfully pushed to incorporate Tusayan, a town of less than 500 people, spending nearly $700,000 on the effort. Stilo paid large ‘win bonuses’ to community members after incorporation, several of whom eventually won Town Council seats.
This past August, Stilo presented the Council with three very large and intensely dense development requests, including an annexation that would double the Town’s size. The plans, together, include over three million feet of commercial space and thousands of residential units. Throughout the Stilo development hearing process, concerns were raised over the lack of detail and failure to conform to the Tusayan Area Plan- which, by statute, governs the Town’s rezoning decisions.
The Area Plan promotes sustainability and measured growth by requiring development plans to be supported by detail and engineering analyses. Commercial rezonings must identify building layouts and be limited in size to areas that are site planned. Yet the Stilo projects were approved with just land use bubbles and without any supporting engineering reports or traffic studies, and without site plans for the massive commercial areas.
The Area Plan allows only low density housing where a property is accessible by Forest Service Roads. TenX and Kotzin Ranch have only Forest Service Road access, yet the Town’s approvals will allow the same types of high density housing seen in urban Phoenix.
The Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent expressed concerns regarding the development proposals due to the potential environmental impacts to the Park and on the region’s water supply.
The nearby Havasupai Tribe voiced concerns that its vital water supplies will dry up if Stilo is permitted to drill for groundwater; something that is permitted in the project approval documents.
The Sierra Club was also an advocate for more details.
More housing was the driving force behind the rezoning approvals. But Stilo representatives acknowledge that development of traditional housing on its properties is years away. For now, only temporary rentals will be built on their Camper Village property, and those will be phased out when the commercial development comes.
Tusayan has great development potential and the opportunity for the prosperity that comes with it. The Stilo projects were opposed by many stakeholders, local businesses and citizens- not because they are anti-development- but because there wasn’t a thorough analysis of sustainability and impacts to the environment before the applications were approved. Without that analysis, which is required by the Tusayan Area Plan, the benefits of the proposed development cannot be weighed against the burdens that the development may have on this community and the fragile environment that sits at the doorway to the Grand Canyon.
Do you agree with this opinion? Add a comment below to sound off.
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