Site for veterans nursing home debated

      CARSON CITY -- Questions about the suitability of property offered by Nellis Air Force Base officials for a veterans nursing home prompted lawmakers to ask Tuesday that a search for an appropriate site continue both on and off the base.
      Sen. Bill Raggio, R-Reno, called the site offered by base officials "completely undesirable."
      "I don't want to promise something to veterans that turns out to be undesirable," he said. "To plop veterans down at a site that is now terrible is our concern."
      The proposed site is near several auto wrecking yards. The cost of providing utilities, particularly water, is also a concern.
      Gov. Bob Miller included construction of a 180-bed skilled-nursing facility for veterans in Southern Nevada in his budget. Thirty-five percent of the $19.4 million cost would come from the state, with the federal government chipping in 65 percent.
      Any ongoing operating costs of the home not covered by payments from veterans or from their benefits would be picked up by the state and could total $1.5 million a year.
      Members of the joint Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means subcommittee thought they had an ideal location for the facility next to a veterans hospital on base property. But base officials have planned other uses for the land.
      The site now offered by base officials for the veterans nursing home is about a mile away from the hospital on a site described by lawmakers as aesthetically unpleasing.
      Assemblyman Morse Arberry, D-North Las Vegas, expressed surprise that the site state officials thought they had has been lost.
      "Is it too late?" he asked.
      State Veterans Affairs Commissioner Charles Abbott told lawmakers that other sites on the base are being reviewed and that a more suitable site may yet be found.
      Arberry recommended that other sites off the base also be evaluated, including the site of a former state children's home in Boulder City.
      Another possible site mentioned during a review of capital construction projects by the subcommittee is some of the land set aside for a veterans cemetery in Boulder City.
      Assemblyman Joe Dini, D-Yerington, said Nevada's congressional delegation should be asked to work with Nellis officials to find a suitable site on the base.
      But some veterans who spoke on the project said the site now proposed by base officials is acceptable.
      Veterans representative Ed Gobel of Las Vegas said the groups are concerned that failure to agree on a site could hold up the project for two years.
      "The key is getting the veterans home built," he said.
      A site on the base would be superior to Boulder City because some residents eligible to use the veterans hospital would have easier access, Gobel said.
      State Public Works Board Manager Eric Raecke said a suitable site will be found.
      "The site issue can be solved, whether it is Nellis or someplace else," he said.
      Nevada is one of only a handful of states that does not have a nursing home for veterans. There are about 118,000 veterans living in Southern Nevada. Of that total, about 85,000 are over the age of 65.