CARSON CITY -- A state Division of Water Resources hearing officer on Wednesday questioned the legality of Lincoln County Water District's plan to sell water rights to influential Reno businessman Harvey Whittemore for the development he wants to create at Coyote Springs, 50 miles north of Las Vegas.
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Susan Joseph-Taylor raised concerns during a hearing that selling the water rights would conflict with state law and that water applicants must themselves use the water.
The Lincoln County Water District and Vidler Water Co. have applied for 5,000 acre-feet of water rights in Kane Springs Valley, adjacent to Coyote Springs.
During the second day of a three-day hearing on the application, Whittemore argued that Lincoln County has no chance of surviving economically unless the state engineer approves the water allocation for the Coyote Springs development.
There are no mining resources in Lincoln County, 98 percent of the county is federally owned and ranching is hardly an economically viable business in Lincoln, Whittemore said, adding he owns a ranch there and knows firsthand that ranching in Lincoln "is not for the weak of heart."
If state Engineer Hugh Ricci approves the water application, the water will supply the first phase of a master-planned community that Whittemore expects will eventually grow to include up to 82,000 homes around as many as 16 golf courses at Coyote Springs, straddling the border dividing Lincoln and Clark counties.
Whittemore predicted Coyote Springs will produce $100 million a year in tax revenue for every 40,000 homes constructed. He also said he eventually will need 50,000 acre-feet of water for the development. He owns 4,600 acre-feet of water rights at Coyote Springs. An acre foot is 326,000 gallons, almost enough to serve two households for a year.
Lincoln County Commissioner Rhonda Hornbeck said the commission wholeheartedly supports selling water rights to Whittemore's development. The county has an agreement with Whittemore to sell him the water -- if the state approves the allocation later this year -- for $6,050 per acre-foot per year.
But Hornbeck's admission on selling water rights to Whittemore's company disturbed Joseph-Taylor. She said applicants for water rights must not sell them to someone else.
"You just told me you are going to sell them as soon as you get them," she told Hornbeck.
Hornbeck then told her the county plan was to sell water, not the water rights. But a few minutes later, she said the county intends to sell the water rights to Whittemore's development.
Clearly concerned about Hornbeck's conflicting comments, Joseph-Taylor suggested the commissioner was "confused by the terminology."
Hornbeck then said the water rights would be controlled by a general improvement district supervised by Lincoln County.
When called to testify, Whittemore said initially the water rights would be sold to his development, but at an undesignated future date turned over to the general improvement district.
Ricci questioned why the water rights should not be turned over immediately to the general improvement district.
