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Our View: Theme park without handout? That’s an attraction
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Arizona now has a bona fide race under way to launch a major amusement park along the lines of Disneyland or Six Flags.
Tribune writer Jason Massad reported Wednesday on Coyote Canyon, a proposed $350 million, 700-acre theme park near Florence. Coyote Canyon is the third such tourist attraction being pursued by different groups of local dreamers and out-of-state investors. The other two include a music-oriented Decades Theme Park near Eloy and a Grand Canyon-inspired feature near Williams in northern Arizona.
All of this interest seems to be connected to the fact that Arizona is among the country’s most populous states without a permanent outdoor attraction of this type. Such ideas have arisen before. Phoenix even had a smaller amusement park modeled after Disneyland for a while. But ambitious plans have wilted again and again before the Arizona climate — extreme summer heat to the south and winter cold to the north.
Now, enough people with enough disposal spending income might be in place to spur entrepreneurs who will find creative ways to overcome the weather challenges.
But Coyote Canyon also faces an artificial handicap that illustrates our previous concerns with the other two amusement parks. State lawmakers unwittingly accepted the argument such amusement parks can be launched only with a little government largess — specifically, a special taxing district able to finance construction with tax-free municipal bonds normally unavailable to private ventures.
The five women from Florence and Chandler behind Coyote Canyon told Massad they are finding plenty of private financiers willing to take a risk without a state handout. Isn’t it nice to learn that some Arizonans still remember the value of self-reliance ?
However, Florence Vice Mayor Tom Smith told Massad his town would consider waiving permit fees and construction taxes. We hope it’s not necessary, but Coyote Canyon might find that’s the only way to overcome the tax breaks the state has offered to its potential competitors.
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