Planning authority continues to draw criticism

Scott Reeder

Thursday, April 22, 1999 | 10:55 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Almost two years after the Southern Nevada Strategic Planning Authority was created, it is still creating controversy.

The group formed by the Legislature during its last session is now pushing through its own agenda for dealing with growth in Southern Nevada. But critics say the proposals are not particularly ambitious.

"A lot of the proposals they came forward with are pretty much housekeeping items and even those have been watered down since they have been introduced here," Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said.

The 21-member authority consists of representatives of Boulder City, Clark County, Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson, as well as representatives from business, labor and other special interests. The authority was created by the Legislature to develop local solutions for growth problems.

Critics including Titus and Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, have said in the past that the Legislature formed the authority to study the issues involving growth rather than take more definitive actions such as forming a growth boundary around the Las Vegas metropolitan area.

Titus has labeled the authority "window dressing" for doing nothing.

"I'm not going to say that now," she said this week. "Why? Because I'm not going to beat a dead horse."

Giunchigliani said she too was disappointed with the group's legislative agenda.

"Everything they are proposing strikes me as pretty minor," she said. "Some of the things they are proposing may be necessary, but none of it strikes me as anything that will dramatically affect how we do planning. I was disappointed that the great minds on the authority didn't come up with more than this."

But Sen. Jon Porter, R-Boulder City, said such criticism misses the mark.

"We never intended for the authority to come up with a lot of legislative proposals," he said. "The view was for local governments to try to solve their own problems. And I think they have been very successful in doing that through the coalition."

In fact, earlier this year, the authority authored an inch-thick, $1 million strategic plan for dealing with growth.

Proponents of the plan say it forms a broad framework for addressing growth issues in the Las Vegas Valley.

Critics say it is loaded with generalities and fails to propose many specific solutions.

For example, the plan says 4,481 more teachers will need to be hired by 2008 to deal with growth in Clark County.

The solution suggested by the authority is to do more to recruit teachers and make sure more teachers are trained in Nevada. Neither concept is a particularly new one for a school district facing a teacher shortage.

Porter sponsored the five bills suggested by the authority.

"My promise to them was that I would sponsor their legislation. I wanted to make sure all of their ideas got a fair hearing," he said. "That doesn't mean I necessarily supported all of the proposals coming out of the authority."

In fact, Porter asked that one of the five bills recommended by the authority be withdrawn from consideration. Senate Bill 434 would have set up a task force to address economic diversification issues. The authority proposed the bill because of concerns that the Southern Nevada economy is too reliant on gaming.

Porter said he withdrew the bill after consulting with Gov. Kenny Guinn.

"The governor told me that he was going to develop his own economic development program, and I didn't want to start something that might duplicate his efforts.

Others familiar with the bill say the powerful Nevada Resort Association, which represents major Las Vegas casinos, expressed concern about it.

Richard Bunker, president of the resort group, said his organization proposed more study on the matter.

"When we talk about economic development, what kind of jobs are we talking about? Are we talking about low-paying jobs that lack health insurance? We don't want those kind of jobs here," he said. "Does it pay for the state to offer incentives to attract businesses? That new business is not going to pay a corporate income tax and may pay very little property tax. The state may end up losing money on the deal."

Proponents of the authority's legislative package say they feel good about the progress so far.

"Four of the five bills from the authority have passed out of the committee in which they originated. That's real progress," Marta Brown, a lobbyist for the authority, said.

But she concedes some of the bills are much different now than when they were originally drafted by the authority.

For example, Senate Bill 432 would have required all diesel-powered trucks and construction equipment in Clark County to undergo extensive emission tests. It was greatly altered in the Senate Natural Resources Committee.

Now the bill calls for forming a committee to study the issue of air pollution in Southern Nevada.

The original legislation faced stiff opposition from the transportation and construction industries.

"I would say that the compromise we reached pleases those in the middle, but people on the extremes are not happy with it," Porter said.

The revised bill allocates $400,000 to the committee to study the issue and $100,000 to the Department of Motor Vehicles to increase its enforcement efforts against heavily polluting trucks.

Titus said she is skeptical whether the state will appropriate the money to fund the program. The matter is now under consideration by the Senate Finance Committee.

A 1996 Clark County study found that while diesel vehicles account for only 2 percent of the vehicles in Clark County, diesel engines account for 50 percent of the engine-generated particulate pollution in the area.

Jeff Van Ee, an environmentalist who is a member of the authority, said he is disappointed with the altered bill.

"It looks to me like the authority didn't have the clout to push the bill through," he said. "We have known about this problem for years. Why do we need to study it more? ... When they say they are going to study the issue some more, I can't help but wonder if that isn't just an excuse for doing nothing right now."

Brown said this was the most controversial measure sponsored by the authority. But she said a close second would be a measure to alter how local governments can seek bids for public building projects.

Senate Bill 475 called for allowing local governments to seek a consolidated bid for the design and construction of public projects.

Originally the authority sought legislation to allow this type of bidding procedure for all projects with a total cost of more than $5,000.

Brown said the authority hopes to enable local governments to build roads and public buildings more quickly by requiring them to go through a bidding procedure once rather than twice.

But the plan met stiff opposition from lobbyists for the Associated General Contractors.

"Basically, the concern was that only very large contractors are going to have the resources to bid on both the design and construction phases of the project. There was concern that it would cut the smaller firms out," Titus said.

The compromise legislation would allow one project that has a price tag under $30 million to be put up for a design/build bid by each local governmental body. There is no limit on the number of projects over $30 million that can be put out for bid under this procedure.

Two of the less controversial bills endorsed by the authority involve establishing a board to oversee school construction in Clark County and establishing a bond bank so local governments can borrow at lower interest rates.

Senate Bill 435 could establish a special board to oversee school construction in Clark County.

"Basically, what this does is allow the school board to do what it does best -- concentrate on education issues," Porter said.

A new school opens in Clark County almost every month. Because of this, construction issues can often consume much of the time that ordinarily might be devoted to other issues, Porter said.

The bill would leave it up to the Clark County School Board to decide whether to establish the construction board.

Senate Bill 433 would establish a community bond bank where local governments can pool their borrowing power and obtain a lower interest rate.

For example, one city might need to borrow $15 million to create a new park and another might need $50 million to build a new highway. The bond bank legislation would allow the two governments to borrow $65 million together at a lower interest rate than either government would have received if they had borrowed separately, said Phil Rosenquist, assistant director of the Clark County Planning Department.

The bill also would allow local governments to borrow in increments rather than in one lump sum.

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