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Last Day To Comment On Tusayan Road To Development
Grand Canyon Chamber of Commerce and Visitors' Bureau
A mile before you reach the entrance to the South Rim you pass Tusayan — two blocks of restaurants, hotels, a gas station, an IMAX theater and not much else.
Tusayan, the tiny town just south of the Grand Canyon, has requested road and utility easements that would literally pave the way to a controversial development. Tuesday is the last day for public comments.
The Stilo Group, an Italian developer, has bought 300 acres of private land surrounded by national forest to build a resort, condos and dude ranch just south of the Grand Canyon National Park. Tusayan’s mayor and others in the community would like to take advantage of the 5 million people that visit the park each year.
Environmental groups said the project would require too much water. Grand Canyon’s superintendent says the development would cause “irreversible damage to the park.”
The Kaibab National Forest supervisor has determined that an environmental assessment would be the appropriate next step. Many would like to see even more scrutiny in the form of an Environmental Impact Statement.
Updated 6/3/2015 at 12:22 p.m.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to reflect the location of land purchased by Stilo Group.
