Moore readies college’s sales pitch for legislators

Jeffrey Libby

Thursday, April 5, 2001 | 10:30 a.m.

In 12 days founding college president Richard Moore will present legislators with preliminary site plans for the proposed Nevada State College at Henderson.

There will be two designs, drafted for land Henderson city officials abandoned as a site three weeks ago in the middle of a national design contest.

The sales pitch will mark Moore's first formal bid to win $23 million in state funding.

University system regents had hoped Moore could present legislators with one site plan April 17. But in a workshop Wednesday they delayed selection of a final plan until the two design firms have a chance to visit the new site and determine needed changes.

A jury chose three finalists from the design contest on Sunday, but one firm was ruled ineligible earlier this week.

Field Paoli Architects of San Francisco and RNL Design of Denver submitted winning plans for the 260-acre site just north of Henderson's old downtown.

But city officials passed on that site three weeks ago after time constraints and lingering environmental issues killed a long-anticipated land exchange with LandWell Corp.

The design firms will visit the new site, an industrial park in the foothills of the McCullough Range, over the next several days. They will return with a second presentation for the state college architectural review committee on May 8, when a final vote is expected.

Both firms answered questions Wednesday about parking, a problem that plagues nearby UNLV.

Field Paoli plans to sculpt two-story faux earth berms that would hide cars and keep them cool. Light would be provided by skylights.

RNL Design hoped to avoid the look of a shopping center by parking cars along the northeast perimeter of the campus by a fieldhouse.

Several committee members were critical of RNL's choice to situate the college facing Boulder Highway rather than Sunrise Mountain.

But before architects can solve design problems, Henderson officials will have to pin down the exact shape of the new site.

Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson, a member of the design review committee, said Wednesday that city planners have yet to determine what land will be conveyed to the state for the college.

Two weeks ago city officials offered an 85-acre industrial park to the state. But since that time city staffers said they may pull 35 acres from the deal. The land has cost taxpayers $6 million in failed land deals, and the city charter requires that the city convey land at a price equal to what it paid acquiring it.

Gibson said the two firms will focus more on the 555 acres the city hopes to acquire from the Bureau of Land Management in the next six months.

University system Chancellor Jane Nichols remained undaunted by the loose ends remaining as the deadline for a site plan nears.

"We will have a site in hand in time for the first building of the state college and a plan to enable us to open in fall 2002, assuming funding is there," Nichols said.