BLM approves plan for sports park

Denise Cardinal

Thursday, March 26, 1998 | 10:20 a.m.

A $5 million sports complex for the city of Las Vegas has been given a thumbs up from the Bureau of Land Management.

The project is the brainchild of former Clark County Commissioner Don Schlesinger and is a private/public partnership between the city of Las Vegas and his company, Las Vegas Sportspark Ltd.

Under the agreement, Las Vegas Sportspark will develop, maintain and manage the park, which remains on city-owned land. The parcel was given to the city by the BLM to be used for recreational purposes and will house three softball fields, an ice rink and a roller rink at Vegas and Durango drives.

Schlesinger said ground will be broken for the project in early summer and the park should be completed by the end of the year.

"I'm just so glad the project is moving forward," Schlesinger said. "It's been three years in the making."

It was one bureaucratic obstacle after another before Schlesinger got the project approved by the City Council, and then sent on to the BLM. One reason for the delay was that there wasn't a bid process for the project -- Schlesinger just submitted his proposal to the city, unsolicited.

The city then had to jump through some hoops to make sure that awarding Schlesinger the contract wouldn't violate state statute or city code.

Finally, last July, the City Council voted 4-1 to move forward with an agreement for the sports park. City Councilman Larry Brown cast the lone nay vote.

His concern was that the project never went out to bid -- a procedure that won't be duplicated any time soon, according to Parks Director Dave Kuiper.

"If we do any of these (private/public partnerships) in the future, we'll do them through an RFP (bidding) process rather than an unsolicited proposal," he said. "From what I understand with this issue, the council would be more comfortable if we move forward with these things after bidding."

The benefit of having a private/public partnership is that park land can be developed as the investors come along, rather than having to wait years for the city to get the money and the man power to build the parks.

"It's in the city's best interest for this to succeed," Kuiper said.

Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones agrees, though she is somewhat hesitant about the project's proposed finish date.

"I'm glad he got the BLM's approval," Jones said. "But I want to see his financing before we move forward."