PHOENIX — One of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World might be getting a little bit of a modern-day upgrade in the near future with the hopes of attracting more tourists.
That’s because a proposal for a mega mall, estimated at more than 420 acres, has been submitted for review by developer R. Lamar Whitmer to the Navajo tribal government, who oversee the lands in and around the Grand Canyon National Park.
The mall would include hotels, restaurants, gift shops, fast food chains and a 1.4-mile gondola ride to the bottom of the canyon that could potentially transport more than 4,000 visitors every day.
But if Tusayan Mayor Greg Bryan has his way, the Grand Canyon Escalade project, which is expected to be built alongside where the Colorado and Little Colorado Rivers meet, will never come to fruition.
“I’m not so much threatened by [the project] as much as I am concerned about the park and the experience of the people going into the park as well as the spiritual and cultural issues this development brings to the forefront,” Bryan told Monica Lindstrom and Joe Huizenga of KTAR News’ The Agenda Sunday. “The location of where they’re looking to bring down that gondola is right at the Confluence of the Little Colorado and the Colorado, and that area is considered very sacred to both the Hopi, the Zuni and the Navajo.
“That area should remain sacred and those cultural points should be respected.”
Because the mall construction would theoretically take place 75 miles away from town of Tusayan, which is located near the south edge of the park, Bryan voiced his concerns as to the project will have any notable economic benefits for surrounding areas of the Grand Canyon.
“Any time there are some economic gains, we think it’s a positive,” said Bryan. “It won’t assist our town in terms of providing employment, because to get to it you’re going to have to drive probably I’m going to guess 75 and 100 miles. There’s going to have to be significant road work done in the Cameron area to get out to the points where they’re going to be building this.
“I look at the Skywalk, and really other than attraction of walking across the piece of glass sticking out, it really hasn’t done much for the national park or our areas, as well. There’s no taxes being collected, so it’s not benefiting the state of the economy in terms of Arizona.”
While there’s no word yet as to what the next course of action will be, Bryan noted that a conversation needs to take place between the United States National Park Service and the Navajo Nation before any plans move forward.
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