Coconino County Comprehensive Plan 60-day Public Review

To: Coconino County Supervisor, Patrice Horstman and Melissa Shaw, CC Long Range Planner

Regarding: Coconino County Comprehensive Plan Update


Dear Coconino County Partners,

As you are aware, The Town of Tusayan (town) is the gateway community located one mile south of The Grand Canyon National Park’s (GCNP) South Rim entrance with Hwy 64 running right through our little town.

Growth in the Valle area, an area where most properties are not formally served by any emergency services, is creating challenging situations. Tusayan Fire District (TFD) is providing voluntarily out of district coverage to this area that has been experiencing rapid growth, both permitted and unpermitted, in recent years.
This is creating an increased strain on TFD and Coconino County Sheriff Office (CCSO) and the town, as a funding partner for TFD and CCSO, in caring for our own local businesses and residents in Tusayan. About one-third of all EMT and fire calls for TFD are to the Valle area and this does not include accidents on HWY 64. As population grows, in this unserved area, the demand for emergency services will inevitably increase. With this area being governed by CC it must address the issues per its Vision Theme 1, on page five, “Infrastructure, emergency service, public safety, and public services are collaboratively built and maintained in partnership with county communities to create a sense of place and enhance resilience to climate change.” Response times matter in life and death situations. These areas are 20- 40 miles away, down dirt roads that have little or no street signs, and many 911 callers in the area are not even sure of their address.
Just as Tusayan land owners had to come together to form TFD many years ago, to not only be reliant on local partners for emergency services, we feel it is time that Valle must face those decisions and especially before any more large projects are approved by CC. In essence, this growth is putting pressure on Tusayan as a neighboring community and we ask CCs engagement to ensure adequate emergency preparedness and response for all its county residents and visitors. For the betterment of Valle, TFD, CCSO and Hwy 64 coverage Tusayan needs help. We are thankful to High County Fire Rescue in many ways in recent years, but legislation they are promoting we hear will go nowhere. CC cannot rely on that dead legislation option existing and must take its own actions to help solve these serious emergency and public safety concerns.
Thank you and for your service to our amazing county, please do contact us if you have any questions and you know that we stand ready to be part of solutions.


Sincerely,

Clarinda Vail
Mayor of Tusayan

Greg Brush
Vice-Mayor of Tusayan
& Tusayan Fire District, Chief

Accessible and affordable housing options. Define affordable.

Perhaps emphasis that tourism should be managed responsibly. As in respect natural landscape, wildlife, culture, traditions, history, homes, and peoples.

Consider an additional bullet point to read: Plan for growth opportunties where environmental impact is minimal.

Consider rewording: While each site and situation require a unique planning approach, these priorities offer a predictable and systematic means of enhacing our environemnt (both natural and built). Land uses should both support growth as well as avoiding, minimizing, or mitigating potential negative impacts of development.

Please insert "Department" after "Game and Fish."

The Departments of Agriculture, Interior and Defense are not agencies, so I suggest inserting "those within" after "such as."

I don't think we should be prohibiting use of non-invasive, non-natives. The concern is for the invasives that can come in and take over a site or a landscape. Suggest rewriting this part of the sentence to read "emphasize the use of native plant species ..."

Please insert "invasive" before "non-native" - the invasive species are the ones we need to managing for.

Editorial comment - please insert "also" after "but."

It is also illegal to dispose of trash on public lands. Please rewrite this sentence to read "... and it is illegal to dispose of trash on-site, burn it, or dump it on public land."

FMPO anothe acronym without knowing what it stands for.

pg 8 first time an acronym is used correctly

What does the acronym DSL stand for? pg 6

insert Board of Supervisors (BOS) next page uses the acronym BOS but it is never shown properly after the full usage of the term.

Do you mean 4/5 vote? or 4 out 5 vote?

typo

The Bellemont plan needs to change. We have seen many times where the roundabout is impassible and this is the only way in or out for residents. This is not safe in the event of a fire or other emergency.