BY KATHERINE LOCKE
A full house at the Bodaway/Gap Chapter waited five hours Jan. 11 for the Resource and Development Committee (RDC) to sort through other matters before tabling legislation that sought to approve the master agreement for the Grand Canyon Escalade project.
The master agreement includes the approval of $65 million to develop offsite infrastructure for the project and would also authorize the Navajo Nation Hospitality Enterprise to enter into a development and operating agreement, approve a non-compete agreement, waive certain provisions of the Navajo Nation Code and accept the approval of a land withdrawal in the Bodaway/Gap Chapter.
Confluence Partners, LLC, from Scottsdale, Arizona, hopes to build a gondola tramway delivering visitors to the canyon floor in about 10 minutes. The project would include a river walk in the canyon with an elevated walkway and a food pavilion. The area is located on the western edge of the Navajo Nation at the confluence of the Little Colorado River and the Colorado River about 100 miles by road from I-40 and Flagstaff, Arizona.