Local News

Floodplain Issue May Go To A Vote

October 22, 2018

Signatures have been submitted which would take the floodplain management issue to the voters of Tusayan.

On July 20th the Town Council voted to formally assume the duties of floodplain management taking that role away from the county. Counties typically oversee such a complex task especially for smaller communities such as Tusayan.

Floodplain management is likely to become an issue in the future as Italian developer Stilo attempts to build its massive project that calls for 2.6 million square feet of commercial space and thousands of new homes.

As a fair amount of acreage in Tusayan sits in a floodplain the town’s assumption of these duties reflects a major power shift. Management entails setting floodplain boundaries, allowing or denying something to be built in a floodplain, as well as determining if a construction project could create flooding problems.

In September a new political committee was formed in opposition to this power shift and petitions were submitted to bring the issue to the ballot. The committee is called “The Town Is Not Prepared to be Flood Aware. The treasurer is Red Feather Properties Manager Clarinda Vail.

Vail said,  “The town has not been forthcoming to the public regarding floodplain management on both current and past projects.  They have not followed their own rules that they would expect of other landowners. From what I have witnessed, The Town of Tusayan does not have the staff or expertise to handle something as vital to public safety as the floodplain management is.”

Vail feels the Town’s decision take over floodplain management would pose risks to public safety as well as property.