Theme Park coming to Williams (Prescott, Prescott Valley: rentals, amusement parks, crime)

[exlexisnexis]

I know that at least the plan is to make the theme park as green as possible,since you can never stop progress about the best you can do is try to minimize its impact on the environment. As far as jobs go if people are not ambitious a service job may be the best they can hope for unless they want to upgrade thier skills or get some ambition.As long as someone is making an honest living that is what is important some people could never handle the stress that went along with some of the high paying jobs I had and some have ended up in the grave as a result of choosing a more stressful job than they probably should have taken. Perhaps if some had taken a service job at a theme park they might be alive today?

[exlexisnexis]

Hi big meeting in Williams today 03.22.07 about the Theme Park(long overdue). I hope to have some substantial news soon.

Richard

[exlexisnexis]

This smaller theme aprk makes more sense and will make things happen faster additional park elements can always be added later once the basic infrastructure is laid and people see they are investing in reality and not a pipe dream.

A leaner version of a proposed theme park on the outskirts of the city, which has undergone many versions, was presented to residents Thursday evening in front of the Williams City Council.

And it appears the land on which the project will be built has been secured and financing from private investors -- to the tune of $250 million -- is also in place.

The new version, called Grand Canyon Country, will have smaller lands that celebrates elements of northern Arizona.

There will be a Route 66 element, a Grand Canyon element, an Arizona Country frontier town and a tribal village, with "flex space" anchored by Renaissance in the Pines. Additionally, on the 22-acre parcel, there will be a themed auto service, rental, sales and RV park component, which was formerly headed by Buitenhuis.

[exlexisnexis]

Apparently the Williams Theme Park will now be know as Grand Canyon Country which we will most likely see branding for in the future since the domain name has been registered by Gcnae, they would not bother to do unless the name for the park was pretty much a done deal

[Camataleno]

You can see the latest news from the March 23rd 2007 council meeting in Williams, AZ about the Theme Park.

http://www.azdailysun.com./articles/2007/03/23/news/20070323_news_18.txt (broken link)

I wonder if the property prices around Williams will go up too ? Ash Fork, Seligman, etc.

Regards

[HAMMERHEAD46]

Originally Posted by Gretchen B

And what about water? I've always heard that alot of homeowners on the outskirts of Williams as you head toward the Grand Canyon have to haul water?

I'm really curious as to what anybody knows about this.

You are right about the WATER QUESTION, I worked on the repaving project at the Grand Canyon Airport in 1998 (I think) and I found out when I was in this area for more than 4 months that the water well(S) in Williams are about 4,500 feet deep and that the (3) Three (I Think thats how many there were) at VALLE, AZ about 35 miles North of Williams were about 5,500 feet deep!
EVERYONE WHO LIVES OUTSIDE OF WILLIAMS CITY WATER LINES HAULS ALL OF THE WATER FOR THEIR USE AT HOME OR BUSINESS.
I don't know where they are going to get the water to support this "Theme Park" but they may have to drill another well at a cost of around $1,500,000 or more as I was told that the one at the motel in Valle when it was drilled cost about $500,000 in about 1990!

[exlexisnexis]

Since the Theme Park will cost over 750 million I do not think 1.5 million for a well is a big deal.

[Gretchen B]

Besides costs, what about availability of that much water?

[ranchosantamargarita]

My understanding is that water is a BIG issue! Also, has anyone checked to see if actual permits have been issued? This may be like talk of the big resort community outside of Prescott, yet when I called the county, no permits had been issued. It's kind of hard to build anything (especially of this nature) with no permits.

[lewebb]

Water is a big issue up here. As a resident of an area north of Williams we have water delivered and all of our neighbors either haul or do the same. It is interesting that the theme park developers don't seem to have a direct answer to the water supply question - even when asked directly. There are a lot of other infrastructure questions that they don't seem to be talking about either.
All the talk has done so far was start a land rush about 2 summers ago when it began and speculators drove up land prices to ridiculous levels. In a 3 month period raw land where we are went from 36 acres for @$40,000. to over $100,000. People said isn't that great, your property is worth so much more, but all it really did was drive up taxes - unless you want to sell it doesn't help at all.
Jobs for Williams - that is good, but most of them are going to be lower paying- and the influx of people will simply mean more burden on the infrastructure- and not necessarily more money.
There are a lot of pros and cons - but most of us would just as soon see it take a looooong time to happen.