A public vote on the Tusayan Town Council’s decision to raise building heights will happen November 7th. On August 6th thr Town Council made it official.

27 signatures were submitted seeking to put the question to the public. The Council voted to increase building height limits from 35 to 65 feet at the request of Italian developer Stilo.

Here is a link to that judgement.

Town Manager Eric Duthie asked the council to authorize the election to get the issue resolved one way or the other, “This is a champion of due process. We’ve talked about due process before. This is the way the system should work quite frankly. If someone has a grievance, there is a place for that and a process for that. We uphold that and are glad to see that process work.”

The deadline for ballot statements was extended to August 13th. Anyone wishing to submit a ballot statement should contact thr tusayan Town Clerk  tusayanclerk@gmail.com.

The building height issue has been a source of controversy since the Town Council raised the height limit from 35 feet to 65 feet at the request of Italian developer Stilo. For years Stilo has been trying to evelope three million square feet of commercial space in Tusayan as well as thousands of homes. The Mayor and the Town Council are all employees of Stilo's business partner Elling Halvorson.

The new height limit was opposed by local businesses and environmental groups. the Grand Canyon National Park expressed concern. 

Opponents worry about light pollution, aviation traffic, and the impact such a drastic increase will have on the landscape of a community knwon for its wide open spaces.