Lawmakers urge land transfers

WASHINGTON -- Nevada lawmakers on Tuesday urged passage of bills that would convey 265 acres of land to local uses in Las Vegas and Reno.

One bill would transfer 80 acres at Alta Drive and Hualapai Way from the Bureau of Land Management to the city of Las Vegas. The city would give part of the land to the Nevada Cancer Institute.

Another bill would remove 65 acres of BLM from wilderness study status at the foot of Sunrise Mountain and convey it to Clark County for a $9 million flood control project that would build an earthen berm and water detention basin to protect nearby homes.

A third bill would authorize the transfer of 120 acres formerly used by the Union Pacific Railroad to the city of Reno for downtown economic development.

Reps. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Jon Porter and Dean Heller, both R-Nev., explained the bills at a hearing of the House national parks, forests and public lands subcommittee.

Under the Las Vegas bill sponsored by Berkley, the 80 acres to be given to the city would devote 24.4 acres to the Nevada Cancer Institute, 19 acres to a "cancer survivors' park," 16.1 acres to medical offices, 7.8 acres to a flood control area and 12.9 acres to a water pumping station.

Michael Nedd, an assistant director at the Bureau of Land Management, said the agency supported the Sunrise Mountain transfer but had questions about the other two.

Nedd said the Reno bill "is unnecessarily complex." He also said the BLM questioned whether the public would get "a fair return" from the transfer of the land at Alta and Hualapai, and recommended the bill be amended to clarify that the portion devoted to commercial development be auctioned for sale.

"The city could nominate this site for public auction to the highest bidder," Berkley responded. "But I do not believe that the uncontrolled development from such a sale would be in the interests of the community."

Ward 2 Councilman Steve Wolfson said in a phone interview that the land transfer would help the city and medical community. He was scheduled to testify but canceled the trip for city business, he said.

The proposed cancer center "is a multi-use facility that will do both research and offer therapy sessions," Wolfson said. "It will also have supporting infrastructure, with doctors living and working in the area."

The Sunrise Mountain bill sponsored by Porter aims to solve a long-standing flooding problem in eastern Las Vegas. Residents have been waiting since 1999 to see action taken on a petition signed by 80 homeowners. "A lot of people think it doesn't rain in Nevada, and a lot of people don't think we have flash floods, but we do," Porter said.

"Without this minor boundary modification of 65 acres, there is no available and, therefore, no feasible way to offer flood protection to these residents," testified Gale Fraser, the general manager of the Clark County Regional Flood Control District.