Voters in Coconino County, which is encompasses much of northern Arizona and includes the Grand Canyon, rejected a proposal in the November election that would have allowed a 700-acre parcel near the southern rim of the Grand Canyon to be rezoned. The rezoning would have allowed development of a 900-room hotel, 240,000 sf of commercial space and up to 2,500 residential units.

"It was too complex an issue to place before the voters," Tom Depaolo, managing partner of the Canyon Forest Village development group, tells GlobeSt.com. The CFV developers are now regrouping and determining just how to proceed, he says.

A land swap between CFV and the U.S. Forest Service that was to proceed the development remains in place. CFV was going to swap 2,118 acres of private land scattered among 12 sites in the Coconino National Forest.

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth has demanded that the U.S. Forest Service reverse the decision that allows for the land swap to occur.

CFV may try to develop on the largest of those properties, a 320-acre parcel that would have made up about half the proposed site, Depaolo says. But anything developed on those parcels would again face strong opposition from the business and hotel groups in nearby cities that opposed the full development.

CFV may continue with the land swap plan and come back in a few years with a retooled proposal for the original 700-acre site, he says. "We are looking at a number of possibilities."

Instant Insights /

Canyon Development May Return, but Not Anytime Soon

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