BMI envisions new master-planned community

Phil Levine

Friday, Sept. 24, 1999 | 11:15 a.m.

Dan Stewart plans to offer his customers some of Nevada's cleanest dirt.

Stewart's company, Basic Management Inc., will spend $15 million to $20 million cleaning up "a couple of hundred environmentally challenged acres" of property on the site of a proposed master-planned community in Henderson. The as yet unnamed development will encompass about 2,400 acres east of Boulder Highway and north of Lake Mead Drive.

BMI's newly created subsidiary, the LandWell Co., will develop the master-planned community. LandWell replaces BMI's existing land development subsidiary, Victory Valley Land Co.

BMI is best known as developer of the World War II-era BMI industrial complex as well as newer projects such as Black Mountain Business Park on Gibson Road, Valley Auto Mall and Victory Village Plaza, a retail center anchored by Albertson's and Wal-Mart at Boulder Highway and Lake Mead Drive.

Stewart said the new community will be a mixture of about 7,000 housing units, both single and multifamily.

"The homes will likely be in the starter to first move-up categories," he said. "Mostly two- and three-bedroom-type homes. We'll also include some light-industrial property." The community development will also include four, 200-acre golf courses. LandWell will provide the infrastructure needed for the development, and will then sell parcels of land to home builders.

The soil cleanup efforts -- described by Stewart as "picking up some dirty, nontoxic dirt" -- should take between 12 and 18 months to complete. The Nevada office of the Environmental Protection Agency will oversee the soil cleanup. Once the work is complete, it will likely take an additional 18 to 24 months before the entire planned community is built, Stewart said.

Brenda Pohlmann, supervisor of corrective actions for the EPA's Nevada Division, said her organization won't be physically involved in the cleanup but will oversee the efforts.

"The developer has to show us what they plan to do to make the soil acceptable," Pohlmann said. "It's not a very bad site, but it would not be appropriate at this time to allow housing to be built (without the cleanup work.) The historical use of the area, including wastewater disposal, means that residual chemicals remain in the soil."

Pohlmann said the actual cleanup effort would "not be that difficult," however LandWell will have to commit a good deal of time to coordinate its efforts with the regulatory authority and contractors.

"I know they are shooting for an 18-month cleanup, and that's reasonable if they don't get bogged down in complications," she said.

The property's current owner finds himself reaping what others have sown, and Stewart acknowledged that even a multimillion dollar cleanup effort might not be enough to overcome public concerns about "dirty dirt."

"We're certainly very concerned about the possible misperceptions that could be left with the public," Stewart said. "That's why we are making this special effort. That's also why we've formed this partnership with Audubon International, an organization that specializes in helping to develop environmentally challenged land."

Kentucky-based Audubon International markets itself as a "not-for-profit environmental organization" that works with land- and golf-course developers to provide environmental-planning assistance. Despite its name, the company is not affiliated with the preservationist group the National Audubon Society.

Through its "Signature Cooperative Sanctuary Program," Audubon International will work with LandWell to ensure that proposed golf courses in Henderson are environmentally sound. Stewart said the program's goal is to "merge wildlife conservation, habitat enhancement and environmental improvement with the economic agenda associated with the development."

LandWell will eventually extend its relationship with Audubon International to include the entire master-planned community, Stewart said.

"We'll be looking to embrace Audubon International's (environmental) philosophy on our future projects," he said.