No Water. No Worries?
April 6, 2014
The Tusayan General Plan is headed to the Tusayan Town Council for final approval and there are no provisions that directly address how to supply water to the massive Stilo development project. The Grand Canyon National Park has repeatedly warned the Town of this issue and neither Stilo nor the Town have come up with a realistic water supply. Here is a link to the plan.
The water supplies necessary to accommodate Stilo’s plans for three million square feet of commercial space and thousands of new homes don’t exist. Tusayan’s water usage would go from 175 acre feet per year to 681 by 2024. Without the Stilo plan, Tusayan usage would be at 250 acre feet per year by 2024.The North Central Arizona Water Supply Study numbers are widely accepted as accurate by county, state, and federal governments. Yet those numbers are not part of the general plan.
The vote to accept the plan is April 9th, and there is no indication that the Town Council, in which four of its five members are employed by Stilo or Stilo business partner Elling Halvorson, will reject the plan.
Stilo representatives are also expected to meet with town officials April 9th to figure out the application process with the Forest Service to get access to the Kotzin property.