The town of Tusayan and an Italian developer are launching a new effort to build resorts and hundreds of homes south of the Grand Canyon, submitting a proposal to the U.S. Forest Service that would allow for paving roads and running electricity to two properties.

Tusayan, situated near the Canyon's South Rim, and Stilo Development Group USA presented their proposal to the Kaibab National Forest on Thursday, making changes to an earlier request for a road easement that the government turned down in 2016.

At the time, the plan triggered an outpouring of opposition. More than 200,000 people submitted comments or petition signatures, many of them against the plan. Critics opposed the size of the developments, and questioned where the water would come from.

This time, representatives of the town and the developer said they have made revisions to address those concerns.

“The proposal has been significantly altered in response to the numerous public comments the previous iteration received,” the town and Stilo said in a letter to Forest Supervisor Heather Provencio. “We have worked hard to make sure this proposal would result in appropriate development for our community and reduce visitor impacts on Grand Canyon National Park.”

Among the changes, Stilo has committed not to use groundwater for the commercial portion of the development, and to instead rely on hauling in water with trucks. In the 19-page proposal, the town and the company say that groundwater could still be used for the residential areas of the developments.

They also propose to limit the density of the developments to “one-third less than is currently allowed by local zoning.”

The five-person Town Council voted Thursday to submit the proposal together with Stilo, the first step in seeking a permit that would allow for three roads, as well as utility lines, across public lands to a 160-acre property called Kotzin Ranch and a 190-acre property called Ten-X Ranch.

“We’re looking for just access to our properties to be able to provide housing for the future,” said Brady Harris, Tusayan’s vice mayor. He said the area also needs more development for the millions of people who visit the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

“The park is not equipped right now to handle the extreme visitation. So, the entire point of any of these developments, from the town’s perspective, is to help alleviate that,” Harris said. “Our livelihood depends on the Grand Canyon. We’re not in it to destroy it. We’re here to balance progress and preservation, because visitation has increased.”

Plans call for hotels, homes, retail areas

Tusayan was incorporated as a town in 2010 and has about 600 residents. Its economy relies heavily on its hotels and visitors headed for the South Rim.

The town also has a direct stake in developing the two properties. Several years ago, in an agreement that involved rezoning the land, Stilo donated two separate 20-acre parcels to the town. Tusayan plans to use those properties to build affordable housing.

The proposal lays out some specifics of Stilo’s plans if roads can be built. It says the Ten-X Ranch would have a resort with up to 610 rooms, as well as 51,000 square feet of commercial space (which could include a supermarket and other businesses), and an RV park with 248 spaces. The town-approved zoning allows for a maximum of 856 homes on Ten-X, including both single-family homes and multifamily units.

On the Kotzin Ranch property, the proposal lists a resort with up to 305 rooms, plus 1,072 rooms under “Lodging & Commercial” and 507 rooms in a “Cultural Park,” as well as about 70,000 square feet of commercial space. The zoning plan for Kotzin Ranch also allows for up to 745 homes, mostly multifamily units.

Stilo has owned the properties for more than 25 years, and this is its third attempt to develop them, said Andy Jacobs, a spokesperson for the company.

He said in addition to filling a need for a hotel in the area, Stilo envisions making the Kotzin property a place where “people can come and learn about the Grand Canyon in a sophisticated way.”

“We see it as something that can really make the town of Tusayan and the gateway to the Grand Canyon a special place to visit,” Jacobs said.

He said the company has learned lessons over the years as its attempts have run into obstacles.

“We want to make sure that on the front end, we’re explaining to people that we are not in the business of taking groundwater. We are not in the business of building Walmarts,” Jacobs said. “We are in the business of providing appropriate development for the needs of the area, and hopefully providing a long-term water solution that makes sense for everybody.”

At full build-out, the proposal says, the development’s commercial areas would use about 20 truckloads of water a day. Jacobs said it would most likely come from Williams.

“Stilo has never built a well, and doesn’t want to build a well,” Jacobs said. “Maybe in the short term for some of the housing, it would come from one of the town wells. But I think from Stilo’s perspective, we want to bring it all in from outside the water table.”

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And while the proposal calls for hauling in water by truck, Jacobs said, the company is also exploring the possibility of piping in Colorado River water.

He said Stilo has an option to buy a pipeline that was used years ago to move coal with water from a mine on the Navajo Reservation to a power plant in Bullhead City. The idea, Jacobs said, would be to refurbish the Black Mesa Pipeline and bring water from the Colorado River, while building another pipeline running about 20 miles to connect it to Tusayan.

It’s not clear whether the company will pursue the pipeline idea, but Jacobs said it’s an option that would enable the town to stop relying on groundwater.

Opponents: Plans are still too big

As they submitted their proposal, the town and the developer put up a new website, tusayansfuture.com, to make their case. In a statement, Tusayan Mayor Craig Sanderson said the new proposal “represents an opportunity for stakeholders to work together and get it right.”

When Provencio, the national forest’s supervisor, nixed the previous plan in 2016, she wrote that the proposal “is deeply controversial, is opposed by local and national communities, would stress local and Park infrastructure, and have untold impacts to the surrounding Tribal and National Park lands.”

Now, Forest Service officials plan to evaluate the new proposal.

“We do not yet know if this proposal will be accepted as a special use application,” said Jackie Banks, public affairs officer at the Kaibab National Forest. “However, if any such proposal passes initial and second-level screening criteria and is accepted by the Forest Service, it is then carried forward into the environmental review process.”

For now, it’s considered a draft proposal, so the Forest Service isn’t accepting public comments, Banks said. If the agency accepts the draft as a permit application, it would then invite the public to submit comments as part of the review process.

The Sierra Club criticized the proposal. Alicyn Gitlin, a conservation coordinator for the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter, said she has a number of concerns, and that water remains one of them.

“They’re going to use no groundwater for commercial development, but they don’t say that they’re not going to use groundwater for residential development,” Gitlin said. “So, I think they’re raising as many questions as they’re giving us answers.”

The size of the development is also a concern, she said.

“The original development that they were proposing was so enormous, you know, if you reduce enormous by a third, what do you get?” Gitlin said. “I would oppose any development of this size on Grand Canyon’s doorstep.”

Reach reporter Ian James at ian.james@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8246. Follow him on Twitter: @ByIanJames

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Environmental coverage on azcentral.com and in The Arizona Republic is supported by a grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. Follow The Republic environmental reporting team at environment.azcentral.com and at OurGrandAZ on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.