Sunday, March 30, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

COLUMN: John L. Smith

It's time to draw line in the sandstone to block Red Rock developers

It should be a time of celebration at Red Rock.

Recent rainstorms have coaxed a carpet of tender grass, and the newborn wildlife is beginning to emerge. The fleeting flowers of spring are coming.

With the cool March air whipping across the face of the stunning sandstone escarpment that's 3,000 feet high and 13 miles long, the signs of the sweet season are everywhere. And the views are priceless.

Or, do they have their price?

That question hangs on the wind at the Red Rock National Conservation Area these days. It is the site of a development showdown with nothing less than the future of the area at stake.

In this community, it's not news developers have a win-loss record that would make the Globetrotters envious. Expansion has paved the desert and created residential and commercial construction from Sunrise Mountain to the skirts of the Spring Mountains.

It's been great for the economy, but hard on the environment. And now it's come down to a line in the sandstone: Will we block further development inside the conservation area, or give in one last time and as good as write off this sacred place?

Developer Jim Rhodes spent $50 million to acquire 2,400 controversial acres atop Blue Diamond Hill on the site of a gypsum mine. (A previous attempt to develop this land was rejected.) The hill is cradled by the conservation area. The threat is clear.

Rhodes' juice with the commission is so thick it's a wonder he doesn't get his own seat on the dais. He enjoys personal and professional relationships with commission veterans Bruce Woodbury and Chip Maxfield and rookies Rory Reid and Mark James. Rhodes' former commission marionette, Erin Kenny, now represents him on the Blue Diamond project. James last week called for compromise, but on Friday announced a plan to draft a county agreement he said would be similar to Senate Bill 385.

There's no room for compromise on this one.

Literally and metaphorically, this is a hill to die for.

Instead, the commissioners should point north to Carson City, where state Sen. Dina Titus has sponsored SB385, which would finally stop the threat of development at Red Rock by creating a construction-free zone. If only she can push it through the system before it's too late.

"It'll be convenience stores, schools, fire stations, malls, more traffic and bad air," Titus says. "I think it's now or never."

In recent years, Titus was vilified by developers for suggesting Southern Nevada place a "ring around the valley" to slow growth. Her progressive plan went nowhere.

This time, even many home builders applaud her drive to block more building inside the conservation area. Many of those developers must recognize and respect the beauty and almost magical draw of those amazing hills. It would be refreshing if leaders from Gaming Inc., who benefit from Red Rock's appeal to throngs of tourists, joined this effort.

"This is about protecting environmentally sensitive lands," Titus says to critics who shout that she's anti-developer. "We narrowed it down to the most important and most precious place we have.

"We protect Lake Tahoe in the north. This is the equivalent of that."

SB385 is due to come up in committee this week. That doesn't leave much time.

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On Friday, Mike Henry finished his regular two-mile jaunt inside the conservation area. He's cherished the place with his wife, Carole, since long before the couple moved to Peccole Ranch from Pennsylvania.

A heart-transplant survivor, Henry finds solitude in the scented air. He's not a firebrand environmentalist, just a typical visitor.

"I'd hate to see anybody build around here," Henry says. "You've got to drive far enough now if you want to get out and take a walk and get away from people for a while."

He's right, of course. Red Rock provides solitude and so much more a short drive from the Strip.

If this community can't muster enough outrage to defeat a threat to the valley's last good place, then this is no community at all.

If priceless Red Rock isn't worth fighting for, what is?

John L. Smith's column appears Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0295.