District 1 Supervisor Patrice Horstman — February/March Newsletter 2024

Hello District 1 Residents,

As I write this, Flagstaff is experiencing a March snowstorm. As anyone who lives in Flagstaff knows, we are happy to get moisture of any kind. These late winter/early spring storms are especially welcome as they help delay our fire season. This leads me to my newsletter article which provides an overview of a four-part presentation to the Board of Supervisors on “The Wildfire Crisis in Coconino County” in this edition of the newsletter. It is important information which specifically affects District 1, so I hope you will take the time to read this article. I also included links to the actual Wildfire Crisis presentations. As Flood Control District Director, Lucinda Andreani, says, “There’s no reason to be overly concerned, unless we do nothing”. I can assure you that the County, in partnership with the Forest Service and others, is proceeding with forest restoration work on the Upper Rio starting as soon as the snow melts.

March is Woman in History Month. This year’s Woman in History month honors women who advocate for equality, diversity, and inclusion. In March we remember and honor our foremothers who have struggled and sacrificed to shape a more just world. It is also a time to remember that we create the world where we want to live. A world that honors and includes woman as equals by providing woman’s healthcare and honoring reproductive freedom rights. A world that allows equal access to women in the workforce through accessible childcare, equal opportunities, and equal pay. A world committed to ending gender-based violence. A world that acknowledges and celebrates the contributions, value and worth of women across the globe. Let’s make history together and create a society that recognizes a person by their quality and character and not by gender, race, religion, age, sexual preference, or disability.

Onward together.

Patrice

• Wildfire and Post Wildfire Flooding Remain the County’s #1 Health and Safety Risk

Flagstaff, like many mountainous and forested western lands, has been facing the effects of climate change and unhealthy forests. Coconino County has experienced 9 major wildfires in the last decade. The summer of 2023 brought the Tunnel and Pipeline fires which devastated neighborhoods in the eastern greater Flagstaff area, along State Highway 89. Tunnel and Pipeline destroyed homes and caused the evacuation of our eastern neighborhoods not once, but twice. The monsoons that summer brought post wildfire flooding which ravaged this area and brought even more devastation to the neighborhoods.

The 2022 monsoon season also brought extensive wildfire flooding and property loss in the Museum Fire burn scar in the central Flagstaff neighborhoods of Paradise/Linda Vista/Grandview and Sunnyside areas.

Coconino County and the County Flood Control Districts (FCD) emergency response and relief efforts for these wildfires and floods ripped apart the FCD budget and impacted the County’s general fund. Thankfully, advocacy from the Board of Supervisors, the FCD and County staff, along with the support from our Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly, brought the County over $100 million in post wildfire flood mitigation funds. Working in partnership with the City of Flagstaff, the County immediately commenced on large scale flood mitigation projects, most completed prior to the 2023 monsoon season. These unprecedented emergencies called for a historic mitigation project, accomplished with record breaking speed. The cost incurred for the response and mitigation projects was well over $150 million. This large price tag does not include the economic loss caused by the wildfires and floods.

• Forest Restoration Is the Best Way to Reduce the Risk of Catastrophic Wildfire

Coconino County, our neighborhoods, and our residents cannot afford the financial, physical, or spiritual cost of the vicious cycle of catastrophic wildfires and the post wildfire flooding that follows. That is why the County with our state and federal partners, including the U.S. Forest Service, City of Flagstaff, the Arizona Department of Forest and Fire Management, private partners, and Four Forest Initiative (4FRI), have embarked on landscape scale forest restoration projects to lessen the risk of catastrophic wildfires and the post wildfire floods that follow.

• Upper Rio Prioritized for Forest Restoration Treatments

To that end, and with significant collaboration with our partners, most specifically, the U.S. Forest Service, the Coconino National Forest Service and County has designated priority landscapes for forest restoration treatment in the Upper Rio. As part of this prioritization of landscapes, the County commissioned JE Fuller to conduct scientific modeling to look at the impact of a catastrophic wildfire and post wildfire flooding on the Upper Rio de Flag. The study conducted a post wildfire flood analysis, looking at four different burns scenarios and different rain events to establish impact to the Flagstaff communities that would be affected by a burn on the upper Rio de Flag watershed. These communities including the neighborhoods in and around Fort Valley, Cheshire, Coconino Estates, and through downtown Flagstaff. The study showed post wildfire flows of up to 31 times greater than current conditions and floodwaters up to 5 feet of depth in residential and commercial areas. The report estimated that approximately 2000 homes, over 400 businesses, two state highways, and numerous public facilities would be at risk in post wildfire flooding in the various burn scenarios modeled by the study.

The County also commissioned an economic impact study by Northern Arizona University’s Economic Policy Institute, looking at the JE Fuller report. Depending on the scenario, the severity of the burn and the extent of the rainfalls that followed, the estimated economic impact could reach upwards of $2.8 billion dollars.

Working in collaboration with the Coconino National Forest Service and breaking up the over 22,000 acres into Upper Rio priority areas, the County and Forest Service have identified six different project areas totaling over 12,000 acres to commence landscape scale restoration work, including mechanical thinning and prescribed fires. The current estimate to treat the six projected areas is approximately $26 million and begin this summer and continue through the next two fiscal years. The County FCD and Forest Service have committed approximately $13 million ($2 million of FCD funds) for 2023. Additional federal funding will need to be allocated and the County through its FCD will look to contribute forest restoration dollars over the next few seasons. This watershed restoration work will continue alongside other ongoing projects in the Upper Rio such as the Flagstaff Watershed Protection Project, which is a part of the larger 4FRI initiative.

The cost for forest restoration on the Upper Rio is sizeable but is only a fraction of what it would cost for a catastrophic wildfire and post wildfire funding. Supervisor Horstman emphasized that, “these forest restoration investments and partnerships are not only well- founded, but they are crucial for the future of our communities”. She added, “the Upper Rio was one of the national priority landscapes recognized by the federal government in its Wildfire Crisis Strategy. We need to urge our federal lawmakers to continue the federal funding necessary for forest restoration treatments so that the County and Forest Service can get the job done”.

For presentations link supplied below:

The Wildfire Crisis in Coconino County | Coconino (az.gov)

The Coconino County Board of Supervisors (BOS) has long opposed uranium mining on or near the Grand Canyon. Coconino County is home to the Grand Canyon, one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Guardians of the Grand Canyon, the Havasupai people’s ancestral home remains at the bottom of the Grand Canyon in Supai Village. The Grand Canyon holds 3000 cultural sites and traditional lands which are sacred to many Indigenous tribes affiliated with the Grand Canyon and includes 12 properties listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. Further, Northern Arizona, especially tribal lands, has suffered the deadly legacy of contamination and harmful health effects from past uranium mining. Uranium mining on or near the Grand Canyon is inconsistent with the natural, cultural, economic, scientific, historic, and recreational value of this special natural wonder. As Supervisor Horstman stated, “the Grand Canyon is called “grand” for a reason, and it is of paramount importance that it is kept in all its pristine beauty now and for future generations”.

Therefore, Supervisor Horstman and the Board of Supervisors joined the 14 indigenous tribes affiliated with the Grand Canyon as well as others across the state and nation in urging President Biden to designate the Baaj Nwaavjo I’Tah Kukveni- Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Park. The President’s designation of this National Monument forever protected the 1 million acres of land around Grand Canyon National Park from future uranium mining. However, the law grandfathered in the hundreds of existing uranium mining permits in this area. These mines were not included in prohibition against mining included in the National Monument designation.

The Pinyon Plain Mine, owned by Canadian company Energy Fuels, holds one of these previously existing permits. This mine is located near the south entrance of Grand Canyon and within proximity to a large outcropping called Red Butte, located 6 miles southwest of Tusayan. Red Butte, known to the Havasupai as Wii’i Gdwiisa (clenched fist mountain), is a sacred site. The Pinyon mine sits on top of the Redwall-Muav aquifer which is the major source of water for Supai Village. The mining of uranium at Pinyon Mine has long been opposed by the Havasupai and many environmentalists and scientists who have raised concerns regarding the potential risk of contamination to the aquifer and springs.

Despite public opposition and concerns, Energy Fuels has proceeded to extract uranium ore at the Pinyon Mine facility. The mine currently has uranium ore ready for transport through routes on highways and roads within Coconino County leading to the processing plant in Utah. The safety and environmental standards for the mine’s operation and the transport of ore are primarily grounded in the 1872 mining law. The Pinyon Plain mine is set to operate under the guidance of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) which was approved in 1986 and updated by the Forest Service in 2012.

Even so, the Havasupai Tribe, the Navajo Nation, environmental groups, outdoor organizations, the Coconino County Board of Supervisors, and others have raised concerns and questioned the adequacy of the EIS and the safety standards. Collectively, they have called for Governor Hobbs to review the safety and environmental standards and to ensure robust testing, monitoring, and reporting on ore extraction at the mine and throughout the transporting of the ore. Supervisor Horstman and the Board recognize that 1872 mining law primarily places mining under the federal government and the role of state and local governments is limited. Nevertheless, the BOS is proud to stand for the Grand Canyon and opposes uranium mining near this world treasure.

Coconino County Resolution 2024-09

The Board of Supervisors and County Flood Control District have delivered with the completion of Phase 2 of the Museum Fire/ Spruce Wash flood area project. This accomplishment brings the Park Way Sediment Basin flood mitigation project to its completion.

The Park Way Sediment project was funded through a partnership between the Flood Control District and Natural Resources Conservation Services, allowing it to be completed in record time. The FCD contributed $719,580 while NRCS provided $736,528. Phase 1 saw the completion of a downstream basin in June of 2023. By February of 2024 Phase 2 brought the completion of two more basins upstream, bringing the total capacity of the project to 9-acre feet, or the size of four and a half Olympic swimming pools. These detention basins hold the water and allow sediment to drop and debris to settle. This prevents the clogging of storm drains and culverts, allowing the water to find its way safely downstream and into the City Flagstaff stormwater drainage system. The City has coordinated with the effort, working on infrastructure improvements to handle elevated floodwaters. The entire project is designed to handle a storm event of 2 inches of rainwater falling within 45 minutes to help prevent future catastrophic flooding in the affected areas.

The Park Way Sediment Basin is the final piece of the massive post- wildfire flood mitigation efforts made by Coconino County for the post Museum Fire flooding. These sediment basins are part of the flood mitigation projects initiated upstream on the Spruce Watershed in the San Francisco Peaks. The Flood Control District along with U.S. Forest Service completed alluvial fans channelization works, creating the largest human made alluvial fan in Arizona.

In 2022 the state legislature changed the states recount margin from 0.1% to 0.5% of total votes cast. This potentially dramatically increases the number of automatic recounts a county would need to undertake. Election officials across Arizona, including Coconino County Recorder, Patty Hansen, and Election Director, Eslir Musta, warned that such an increase in the number of potential recounts would take additional time for counties to process and would threaten the ability for counties to meet the December 11 federal presidential electoral deadline. If the automatic recounts delayed the reporting of votes passed the deadline, Arizona would run the risk of its votes being deemed invalid.

Last month, Arizona lawmakers passed legislation deemed to “fix” this problem and ensure that Arizona’s widened recount margin wouldn’t disrupt the 2024 election by moving up the Primary Election date by one week, to July 30th. This would give county officials the ability to deal with the potential increased number of automatic recounts. Because of this fix, the initially scheduled primary election date of August 6 has now been changed to July 30th.

This change means that other related election dates will also be adjusted by moving these dates up by one week. For example, candidate nomination petitions must be filed between March 2 and 5:00 PM on April 1. The deadline to file as a write- in candidate for precinct committee person is now also moved up a week to an April 15 deadline. Other primary election write-in candidates have until 20th.

Candidates do not need to resubmit a statement of interest if they have already filed their statement of interest with the county elections department. However, a candidate may need to change their appointment to file their nomination petitions to ensure these petitions are filed with the county election department no later than 5:00 PM on April 1st.

Candidates who have been circulating nomination petitions with the previously scheduled primary election date of August 6, 2024, are still allowed to submit these petitions with this date. There is some ambiguity on the validity of signatures on petitions with the old August 6, 2024, primary date but signed after the new “fix” primary date went into effect. Although there may be a potential legal challenge to such signatures, it is likely that these signatures will also be considered valid, and the legislature is in the midst of passing an emergency bill to make it clear that all signatures on petitions with the prior primary date will be considered valid.

Non-partisan candidates running in the general election are not affected by this change, so candidates for city Council, Mayor, and school board are not affected by the change in the Primary Election date.

Coconino County Board of Supervisors joined Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, political party leaders, local officials, residents, and Elections officials for a grand ribbon-cutting event at our new County Elections Warehouse Office on January 22, 2024.

Coconino County has a longstanding tradition of safe, smooth, legal elections. The new facility will greatly assist in the effort to maintain our high standards and quality of elections. The new 9,000 square feet office includes state-of-the-art security measures and adequate space to conduct elections work in one central location. Previously, county elections staff have been divided between offices downtown and the warehouse where ballot tabulation machines are kept, and ballots are counted. Transparency and accessibility remain high priorities, and the new building will provide ample space for citizens to observe the voting tabulation process in person, or through multiple online cameras.

County Elections Director Musta Eslir commented that the new Elections Warehouse and Office shows the Couty’s continued commitment to the voters of Coconino County. Secretary of State Fontes urged attendees of the event to maintain their civic faith in free, fair, legal elections and to trust factual data about the election process. He went on to commend Coconino County for our proven record of good clean elections.

The Coconino County Board of Supervisors approved a $7.7 million dollar expenditure limit increase to be voted on in the November 2024 General Election. The BOS is requesting voter approval for the County to increase its expenditure limit and to allow the County to spend for needed county services and programs based on the cash and revenue on hand. The request for the voters to approve a permanent increase to the County’s current expenditure limit is not a tax and would not increase taxes. Voting to increase the expenditure limit would merely allow the County to utilize the monies in its bank account on behalf of the residents of Coconino County.

The expenditure limit arose out of a voter approved amendment to the state constitution that occurred in 1980. Arizona Constitution Article IX §20 was intended to control local revenue spending. Although it had a good intent, the state expenditure limit formula adopted in 1980 fails to take into consideration the modern realities of county government, including counties’ authority to implement sales taxes, like Coconino County’s voter approved road maintenance tax, for needed services. As County Manager Steve Peru noted, “the legislature created new revenue sources available to counties to pay for needed services (like road maintenance) but failed to modify the expenditure limit formula to allow counties the ability to spend for these services”.

The formula also fails to consider the need for emergency expenditures, which can be sizeable, like those experienced in Coconino County the last several years due to catastrophic wildfires and floods. The antiquated expenditure limit formula also fails to account for a county’s rising inflation rates and cost for goods and services. As Supervisor Horstman stated, “we as a County are responsible for ensuring we can deliver the services to our residents across Coconino County. We have an expenditure limit formula that has been working against the ability of the County to do just that”.

Although Coconino County has teetered on the brink of reaching its expenditure limit, the County has never requested that the voters change its expenditure limits. However, many other Arizona counties have found it necessary to do so to meet the needs of their residents. Apache County, Maricopa County, Navajo County, Greenlee County, and La Paz County have all gone to the voters to adjust their base limits. Other counties are sitting at 90% or greater of their expenditure limits and are contemplating a request to their voters to adjust the expenditure limit to allow local government to function and meet the needs of its residents.

After much discussion with County Finance Director Siri Mullaney and an extensive analysis of local revenue growth which substantiates the County’s revenue collection is more than the County’s authority to spend and adjusting for the County population and County inflation rate and costs, the BOS approved the staff’s recommendation of a 75% increase to the base expenditure limit. This would increase the current cap by an additional $7.7 million dollars and allow the County to spend within its means and its revenue abilities into the foreseeable future. This will also assist the County in its fiscally responsible 10-year budget planning process.

As Supervisor Horstman stated during the February 23, 2024 public hearing on this ballot proposal, “the fact is that this expenditure limit is not working. Not just for Coconino County, it’s not working for the state of Arizona. This is not a new tax. It is merely a mechanism for the County to be able to spend money that the County has in its bank account and to provide the needed services for our community”.

Supervisor Horstman urges the voters to approve the County’s Request to increase its expenditure limit.

As part of her continued advocacy for District 1 and all County residents, Supervisor Horstman, together with her colleagues on the Board of Supervisors, participated in the annual National Association of County officials (NACo) Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. Working together with county government officials across the United States amplifies the voice of local governments and provides an opportunity to communicate and exchange ideas with a diversity of supervisors and commissioners.

The legislative conference sessions also provided Supervisor Horstman an opportunity to participate in her role as the Arizona elected representative (alternate) on the Western Interstate Region conference on public lands and join fellow Board members on the steering committee for Public Lands and the Subcommittee of Recreation Counties. These committee meetings provide an important opportunity to discuss and advocate/oppose current legislation affecting public lands and allow committee members the chance to address Congressional Representatives to ensure the health, preservation and protection of America’s and Arizona’s public lands. This effort remains a top priority for Supervisor Horstman.

The Coconino County Supervisors used the travel to DC to meet with Arizona Senators Kelly and Sinema and their staff. The BOS also met with Arizona Congressmen Grijalva, Stanton, Crane and their staff in addition to various Senate and House committees overseeing programs and issues important to Coconino County. Supervisor Horstman met with representatives from the Department of Interior, Department of Agriculture, and the Chief Deputy of the U.S. Forest Service, Chris French, to champion Coconino County’s flood mitigation needs and forest restoration priorities. The County Board of Supervisors divided up meetings and were able to collectively meet with over 30 departments and agencies for the purpose of advancing the County’s legislative agenda.

The Conference was capped off by a visit from President Joe Biden, a former County Commissioner himself, who underscored the need for local governments to work with his administration to bring the country together and deliver results for families, communities, and the country. As the President told county officials, “We just have to remember who in God’s name we are. We’re the United States of America. There’s nothing, nothing, nothing beyond our capacity when we work together”.

As Supervisor Horstman often says, “working together we build the communities where we want to live and where we want to raise our children”.

In keeping with the mission of the Bureau of Land Management Arizona (BLM AZ) to seek advice concerning the planning and management of BLM public lands in Arizona, Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland appointed Supervisor Horstman to a four-year term to serve on the BLM AZ Resource Advisory Committee (RAC).

The purpose of the RAC is to provide advice to BLM AZ and the Secretary of Interior on initiatives, regulatory proposals, and policy changes consistent with BLM land uses for conservation, restoration, and working landscapes.

The new RAC membership held its first meeting at the BLM AZ offices in Phoenix at the end of February. BLM lands in Arizona encompass 12.1 million acres and 17.5 million subsurface acres. The RAC acts as a sounding board for BLM initiatives, regulatory proposals, and policy changes.

Paramount for this year’s RAC meetings will be to review and provide advice on the recreation policies and public use of BLM AZ lands including managing recreation use and reviewing fees. Stay tuned for further updates and please offer your perspective and input to Supervisor Horstman.

A big thank you and congratulations to the Grand Canyon Food Pantry for the tremendous work they are doing to help address food insecurity among Coconino County residents in the Grand Canyon area. Major support to the Food Pantry is provided by St. Mary’s Food Bank, which donated over 63,850 pounds of food last year. The Pantry’s 2023 efforts were supplemented by grant funding from Coconino County Health and Human Services, which assisted the Pantry with the purchase of an additional 27,000 pounds of food. Donations from individuals, the Canyon Village Market, and Texaco Mini-Mart also contributed towards assisting the Grand Canyon Food Pantry with serving 5,581 household members and distributing an additional 100,000 pounds of food throughout the year.

Transportation barriers to food access can be insurmountable for Coconino County residents in remote areas, including Havasupai Canyon. The Grand Canyon Food Pantry helped residents overcome this barrier with a weekly delivery to Supai Loop in the Grand Canyon National Park. Additionally, the Grand Canyon Food Pantry now manages the Tusayan Town Pantry which is open to the public on the third Wednesday of the month at Town Hall. St. Mary’s again came through with a special relief product and over 10,000 pounds of food for the Tusayan Food Pantry. Victims of the recent flooding benefited from a special grant from Coconino County Health and Human Services which provided funds to purchase food within 2 days of the disaster.

In addition to special projects and events, such as the Thanksgiving dinner, volunteers manage the daily tasks of running a food pantry. This includes receiving and unpacking 50 tons of food, stocking shelves, and running shifts to operate the Pantry. Together, they are serving the Grand Canyon Community, and “helping each other one bag of groceries at a time.”

The Grand Canyon Food Pantry is a Qualifying Charitable Organization. You may lower your tax liability with the Arizona Charitable Tax Credit by making a charitable contribution using their QCO code, 22164.

For more Information:

Grand Canyon Pantry

Coconino County Board of Supervisors approved a recommendation by Coconino County Health and Human Services (CCHHS) to construct a youth behavioral resource center in Flagstaff. The facility will fill a critical need for mental health services for youth in Northern Arizona and will act as a Flagstaff “hub” with “spokes” into the other communities in the County. Additional communities connected to the Flagstaff facility include Page, Williams, Tusayan, and Fredonia. This program will provide vital behavioral and mental health services to young people across the region.

This project demonstrates the strong commitment of the County to promote and protect the health of Coconino County residents. This commitment was amplified by the BOS when it committed a large share of its American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to behavioral and mental health programs emphasizing youth mental health. Studies have shown that 50% of all mental health conditions have onset by age 14, while 75% are diagnosed by age 24. An astonishing half of all adolescents meet the criteria for mental disorder at some point. Furthermore, 79% of youth and young adults with mental health issues lack access to the care needed to address the crisis.

Coconino County Health and Human Services has modeled its Youth Behavioral Center on proven research that shows teens connect to their peers for help. While trusted adults are vitally important, young people look first to their peers. The Center will provide a safe place for them to learn about mental health and develop the skills they need for themselves and their friends. Young people will find drop-in clinical and physical health services, peer and family support, educational support, community building activities, and prevention support. Future goals and visions around community engagement, partnerships, goals, and visions will be developed based on feedback from community youth.

Architects are in the planning stages now for the Youth Behavioral Center to be located on King Street in Flagstaff and it is expected to open in 2025. Right now the program is going forward through CCHHS and the “spoke” behavioral health programs throughout Coconino County.

For more information on this project:

Youth Behavioral Health Project | Coconino (az.gov)

The Coconino County Board of Supervisors received a recommendation from the County Parks and Recreation Department to adopt a comprehensive plan for public memorials for County parks. County residents may soon have a process for applying and paying for memorial benches and plaques in County parks and natural areas. On February 6, County Parks and Recreation Assistant Director Liz Krug presented a proposal that detailed how memorials would be displayed on County land, including design, maintenance, and cost.

The program does not address naming any park facilities or features. Coconino Parks and Recreation Department plans to incorporate matching metal benches and plaques in our six parks and two natural areas, blending them with existing park aesthetics. The final price will range from $3,016.59 to $6,280.17, with a 2% increase in costs for administration and maintenance across a 10-year lifespan and a presumed increase in cost of materials due to inflation. Donors will pay 125% of the cost, to account for the cost of bench, plaque, associated infrastructure, and staff time required for each step of the process, and to cover the “highly individual benefit” of placing a memorial in a public setting.

Supervisor Horstman joined members of the BOS and expressed concern over the current proposal that limits the display of memorials to 10 years. The Supervisors requested that this rule be reviewed to consider offering donors the opportunity to renew their memorial display after the 10-year term is up. Extending the time period would allow the children and grandchildren of honorees to see and experience the memorial. The Board also suggested the possibility of offering grant scholarships to expand the opportunity for Coconino County residents to purchase a memorial in the parks for their loved ones.

Coconino County Parks and Recreation Department will submit the proposal for memorials in public parks and natural areas to a 60-day public input process. They will return to the Board for approval to begin the program and the fees in April. Please feel free to contact Supervisor Horstman if you have thoughts or suggestions regarding public memorials in County parks.

Last summer’s monsoon rains brought catastrophic flooding to Tusayan with 2-3 feet of water racing through the downtown area and along the main thoroughfare, State Route 64, resulting in 64 being closed. The highway closure cut off access between Tusayan and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, stopping all travel to and from the South Rim.

The closure stranded Tusayan school children attending school at the Grand Canyon Unified School District on the South Rim. The schoolchildren sheltered in place at their school and enjoyed after school movies and treats, but the closure of the road underscored the vulnerability of flooding to this highway and its importance as a transportation and safety corridor for the residents. State Route 64 is also a major economic corridor to the Grand Canyon. Tusayan and State Route 64 is the gateway to the south entrance of Grand Canyon. Every day 9000 to 11,000 tourist vehicles travel through the town along 64 to the Grand Canyon. Tourists to the Grand Canyon contribute over $750 million to Arizona’s economy, and tourism constitutes the bulk of Tusayan and the surrounding towns’ economy.

Immediately after the flood event, Mayor Clarinda Vail, and the Town Council, in consultation with the Coconino County Flood Control District (FCD) began exploring the need to create a comprehensive drainage master plan and embark on flood mitigation projects to lessen the risk of flooding to the roadway during rain event occurring on the nearby Coconino Basin Watershed. The Town and County also began to look at the adequacy of the FEMA floodplain maps and looked at the need for updating the FEMA flood plain maps and commence flood mitigation projects.

Knowing the vast extent of the work needed, and its price tag, Tusayan sought funding through the Arizona Department of Transportation AZ SMART Grant. The AZ SMART Grants are funded through the Federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the Arizona Legislature established AZ SMART to assist eligible cities, towns, and counties to access and ADOT to administer and award these grants. Both Mayor Vail and Supervisor Horstman testified before the Arizona State Transportation Board on the importance of Tusayan being awarded this grant. Ultimately ADOT awarded $2.3 million dollars to Tusayan to fund a comprehensive drainage master plan and design concept for State Route 64 which would provide better flood channels and culverts to decrease its vulnerability to rain events.

In recognition of the critical need to mitigate flooding along State Route 64 and the Tusayan area, the BOS authorized the FCD to apply for a FEMA grant to assist in the comprehensive drainage and master plan and design concepts for Tusayan in case the SMART Grant funding was not sufficient. Also, as explained by FCD Director Lucinda Andreani, the design master plan would be the start of more extensive flood mitigation projects for the area and applying for FEMA funding now might open other FEMA funding opportunities to Tusayan. If additional funding is necessary, and the county is awarded the FEMA Grant of $750,000 there would be a FCD match of $187,500. Supervisor, Horstman noted, “public health and safety requires accessible transportation for Tusayan residents and tourists to the South Rim are vital for our tourist-based economy. Keeping State Route 64 is key to all this”.

Arizona Smart Grant Hearing Item # 8

Tusayan Floodplain