Thursday, September 15, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Developer won't get water discount

Water authority says no deal planned for golf course community

When it comes to getting water to the 42,000-acre golf course community he plans to build on the border between Clark and Lincoln Counties, developer and lobbyist Harvey Whittemore should not expect any discounts or special deals from the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

Water authority General Manager Pat Mulroy said Wednesday her agency cannot strike a separate agreement with Whittemore that would allow his Coyote Springs development to run its water through the same pipelines the authority plans to build in the area.

"The problem is the water authority serves no developers. We are a wholesale entity," Mulroy said. "Our member agencies would kill us if we started making deals with developers. It's not what we were set up to do."

Mulroy's comments came in response to an agreement approved last week by the Lincoln County Commissioners, acting in their capacity as the Lincoln County Water District board.

That agreement and the way it was approved on Sept. 6 have left Mulroy and other water authority officials scratching their heads, since it appears to call on the authority to enter into a pipeline-sharing deal that would benefit Coyote Springs.

Spokesman Vince Alberta said the first time the water authority heard about the agreement was about a week before the Sept. 6 meeting, when the agenda was posted. "We had never seen that agreement (before then), and we're not going to sign it," Alberta said.

The Coyote Springs development could still arrange to piggy-back on the water authority's pipeline, but Mulroy said it is up to Whittemore and Lincoln County officials to sort that out among themselves.

Asked whether the county -- and Whittemore by extension -- can expect cheap access to the authority's pipeline there, Mulroy said: "Absolutely not."

For his part, Whittemore said he never asked for any kind of a break from the water authority or the county, nor does he expect one.

"Of course there won't be a subsidy," he said. "The project will pay 100 percent of the cost" to share the pipeline.

In 2003, the water authority entered into a sweeping agreement with Lincoln County that spells out which groundwater basins each entity would be allowed to develop in the rural county about 50 minutes north of Las Vegas. The agreement also clears the way for the county to share in the use -- and the cost -- of the pipeline network the authority plans to build.

In return, the county agreed to drop the protests it filed with the state 15 years ago, after the Las Vegas Valley Water District submitted more than 100 applications for groundwater rights across rural Nevada.

"We've had a good working relationship with Lincoln County over the past several years, and we're proud of that," Alberta said. "We certainly don't understand what's gone on in the last couple of days, but we're still committed to working with Lincoln County."

Lincoln County Commissioner Spencer Hafen said he was surprised by the reaction the Sept. 6 agreement has drawn.

"I didn't think this was a big deal," Hafen said. "It needs to be made clear that Lincoln County supports the Southern Nevada Water Authority; we continue to support their water project."

Hafen said county officials want Whittemore and the water authority to hammer out their own pipeline-sharing deal because the county is not ready to enter into one of its own with the authority.

"We don't know where we might need to move water, and it might be years before we do know," he said.

If necessary, Hafen and Commission Chairman Tommy Rowe said, Lincoln County is willing to serve as intermediary between the water authority and Coyote Springs Development. "As long as it helps development in Lincoln County, that's our goal," Rowe said.

Just don't expect a free lunch from the water authority, Alberta said.

"Rest assured, Lincoln County is going to pay their share. How they divvy that up among their current or future customers, that's their business," he said. "We're not going to discount. We're not going to subsidize. We're not going to pay for it."