Friday, March 28, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
LAND NEAR RED ROCK: Development opposed
Despite urging, Blue Diamond residents don't want to compromise with developer
By FRANK GEARY
REVIEW-JOURNAL
Clark County Commissioner Mark James on Thursday urged Blue Diamond residents to work with a developer to determine development near scenic Red Rock Canyon.
"Working through a collaborative process, you may increase your best opportunity instead of just locking horns" with the developer, James told the residents.
However, many of the nearly 100 residents said they're not interested in compromise. They called upon James to side with them and to stop delaying and opposing other politicians' plans to protect the pristine area from development.
"I don't think he is committed to representing our interests or the interests of the people of Las Vegas," Blue Diamond resident Clifton Arrowood said after a nearly 90-minute question-and-answer session with James at the Blue Diamond Recreation Center.
Blue Diamond resident Laura Glismann asked afterward, "How can he (James) even consider developing an area next to a national conservation area?"
The meeting was held a day after developer Jim Rhodes announced that he had purchased a 2,500-acre gypsum mining operation near Red Rock. It is the same property that another company unsuccessfully sought to develop last year. That project was withdrawn in the face of opposition from Blue Diamond residents and others.
Evan Blythin, chairman of the Red Rock Citizens Advisory Council, told James that his efforts to facilitate collaboration between Rhodes and the residents disturbs Blue Diamond voters who supported James in last year's election.
At James' urging, the county last month hired a facilitator, Matthew McKinney from the Consensus Building Institute, to work with the former property owner, Blue Diamond residents and others in hopes of finding some common ground.
"Why should we give a rat's butt what McKinney or any other outsider says? He doesn't live here. He doesn't care. He has nothing to lose," Blythin told James. "When you hedge on everybody ... you are really bothering a lot of people here and I am one of them."
Rhodes on March 21 purchased a 2,500-acre mining operation next to Red Rock for $50 million, but hasn't decided yet what to do with the land, Rhodes' spokeswoman Lynn Purdue said.
However, in a prepared statement released late Wednesday, Rhodes suggested that developing the acreage might be better than mining it for decades to come.
The statement read, "This land has been mined for more than 80 years, and there remains a 20-year supply left on the mountain. ... Unfortunately, those many years of mining have devastated and scarred the property. One of my main priorities will be the restoration and reclamation of this wonderful area."
Also Wednesday evening, influential lobbyist John Pappageorge and former County Commissioner Erin Kenny testified against a bill sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, that would lock in rural zoning standards near Red Rock and require a vote of county residents to change them.
Both Kenny and Pappageorge appeared before the Senate Government Affairs Committee on behalf of Rhodes. The committee took no action on the bill Wednesday.
Meanwhile, James has temporarily put the brakes on a County Commission proposal that also would solidify zoning in the area at one home for every two acres.
James said Thursday that he held up the proposal because he first wanted to get feedback from the former owner of the 2,500 acres that Rhodes purchased.
Also, last week, while the rest of the seven-member commission expressed support for Titus' bill, James spoke against the proposal, saying it threatened local control over land-use matters.
However, on Thursday, he told Blue Diamond residents that he no longer opposes the legislation, but that he can't wholeheartedly back it until he sees it in its final form after amendments have been considered.
