Proposal for Potosi

Friday, Feb. 11, 2000 | 11:20 a.m.

It is now just another isolated house on a winding dirt road in the mountains. But a zone change and use permit before the Clark County Commission could turn a slice of Mount Potosi into a large resort and manufacturing plant.

The proposed resort, spa and water-bottling operation on the southwest edge of the Las Vegas Valley pits a local developer against the local town advisory board and longtime landowners on the mountain.

Augie Bustos, a real estate developer, has owned the 45 acres on Mount Potosi Road for 15 years. He argues that the proposed development is the only way he can get his investment back out of the property.

Bustos is asking the commission for the zone change and use permit to have a 112-room hotel, 33 duplex homes, a water bottling plant, convention hall, spa, and a tramway to a nearby mine. He also wants to open the old zinc mine on the property as a museum.

The Mountain Springs Town Advisory Board and the Clark County planning staff both recommended denial of a zoning change Bustos needs for the project to move forward. However, the Clark County Planning Commission recommended approval of the zoning change Jan. 20.

The issue goes to the County Commission on Wednesday. Among those who have promised to speak against the proposed zoning change are Mountain Springs board members and representatives of a Methodist Church retreat operating a few miles from the proposed resort, which is surrounded by U.S. Forest Service land.

The Forest Service is leaving the issue up to the county commissioners, said Bettie Blodgett, an agency spokeswoman in Las Vegas.

The church retreat is one of three camps operating along the road. The Boy Scouts and Clark County Parks and Recreation also have small campgrounds along the route up the mountain, which became a center of national attention during World War II when an airliner crashed on top of the mountain, killing movie star Carole Lombard, the wife of Clark Gable.

For most of those opposed to the resort, the main concern is the road into the project. Now just a narrow dirt road, in some places just wide enough for one car, an engineering study found that the resort would draw 1,100 cars a day on the weekends.

The traffic will likely do more than affect only the wildlife in the area -- which includes deer, fox and bighorn sheep -- but will be dangerous for hikers and campers who use the mountain's trails, which crisscross the road at numerous places, said Phyllis Murray, site director for the Potosi Pines retreat, the Methodist camp.

The road is frequently completely blocked after even a moderate snowfall or rain, she said.

As it is, the road cannot sustain much additional traffic, Murray said. Trucks hauling water down the road will mean more problems.

"Safety for the public is the number one issue," agreed Richard Draper, fire chief of the Mountain Springs Volunteer Fire Department and a town board member. Mountain Springs, which straddles State Route 160, is located on the northern slope of the mountain.

In his application for the zone change, Bustos said the volunteer fire department will serve his proposed resort -- but Draper said a trial run up the dirt road found that a fire truck took about 40 minutes from the station to the property. Additional time would be needed to collect volunteer firefighters, he said.

During periods of heavy rain or snow, the proposed resort might not be accessible at all, Draper said.

The road essentially runs along the bottom of Mount Potosi Canyon and has been knocked out by floodwaters in the past, he said.

Draper said this isn't the first time he has opposed Bustos' development plans. He said Bustos sought and received permission to put up a handful of cabins for a "wellness retreat" in the mid-1980s and had power lines brought onto the property.

But that plan never developed.

Now Bustos wants "everything but a rocket ride," Draper said. He fears that future requests might include an application for gaming at the resort -- a charge Bustos denied.

Draper fears that the proposal, if approved, will significantly change one of the last accessible natural camping areas for people from Las Vegas.

"It's basically an area that should maintain its rural atmosphere," Draper said.

Joining the opposition to the project is a group of Las Vegas cave explorers, Southern Nevada Grotto. Steve Deveny, the organization's president, said the development would damage the delicate ecosystem of a cave a few hundred feet away.

The county's professional planners essentially echo many of the concerns raised by those living nearby or using the camps along Mount Potosi Road. Current Planning Department staff said the project "does not conform to the land use guide, which shows private lands in this area as parks and recreation uses, and public lands as open lands."

Bustos disagrees.

"We're only doing what the master plan says," he said. "They don't want houses. Now we give them parks and recreation.

"Why can't we have a health spa in the mountains in Clark County?" Bustos asked. "I can't understand why people would not want to see it developed."

Bustos said he bought the property in 1985 for $300,000, unsuccessfully seeking to use the property as leverage for a land swap in northwest Las Vegas. Since then, he has held onto the land, trying to work with the federal government to swap it for another property that could be developed.

"We've owned this land for 15 years. For 15 years we've tried to trade it to the government, and they've rejected that," Bustos said.

He's willing to sell -- but Bustos is asking for $20 million. He estimated it will cost $35 million to $40 million to develop the property.

Bustos said the other private landowners along the road are simply trying to keep a monopoly on use of the area.

"Everybody gets mad because you're the last ones to develop," he said.

He said the other camps are seeking to expand their operations and don't want competitors.

Murray agreed that the Methodist Church may seek to expand the number of rustic cabins on the church property from 72 to a maximum of 150 at some time in the future.

She and Bob Dungan, a member of the Methodist Conference Camping Board, said that any expansion will be because of need -- the campground frequently hosts church groups from various denominations, school groups and nonprofit organizations from the Las Vegas Valley.

"There really isn't another camp like this," Dungan said.

"We offer a unique setting," Murray agreed. "We ought to try and preserve those places."

Bustos, who calls himself a historian and environmentalist, said he's not trying to destroy the area's character. The environmental and historic elements of the property are what would draw people to the area, he said.

He said an important part of the resort would be trips to the mine on the property, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

Without taking steps to develop the property, the historic aspects of the mine and surrounding areas could be lost, Bustos said.

At other areas around the country, "historic sites are here today, gone tomorrow," he said.

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