Habitat plan to be heard for Coyote Springs

Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2001 | 9:28 a.m.

The developer, headed by influential state lobbyist Harvey Whittemore, hopes to build as many as 50,000 homes and a handful of golf courses in the area about 50 miles north of Las Vegas. But Coyote Springs Investments first must get federal and state approvals for water use and habitat protection.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will play host to the meeting tonight at Texas Station in North Las Vegas to gather feedback on the company's "Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan."

Whittemore said the public is invited to comment as part of a process to develop "a plan that balances both the environmentalists' concerns and our rights to develop the property."

"There are obviously species of concern," Whittemore said. "The desert tortoise issue has to be resolved."

Whittemore said the federal Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management have given a preliminary OK for a "greenbelt" around the development to protect the desert tortoise, which the federal government has classified a threatened species.

But Fish and Wildlife officials said they are still weighing the tortoise proposal.

"We have not approved any aspect of their project to date," said Fish and Wildlife's Janet Bair, habitat plan coordinator. "We'll take any comments provided at tomorrow's meeting into consideration."

Environmentalists have not been fans of the project. Jane Feldman, conservation committee co-chairwoman for the local arm of the Sierra Club, said the plan to deal with the desert tortoise is still a work in process.

"It sounds good, but those actions have not been finalized, and those actions would not be sufficient to protect the desert tortoise," she said.

Feldman, although a project skeptic, also serves on a Coyote Springs Investments' technical committee dealing with environmental issues. Feldman said she would attend tonight's meeting.

Environmentalists are concerned about the desert tortoise "and a whole suite of animal and plant species," but also are concerned that the development would draw millions of gallons of water from the ground in the area.

"The water issues are just huge," she said. "We don't know what will happen if water is drawn from the ground."

Las Vegas Valley Water District and Coyote Springs Investments are competing for rights to about 30,000 acre-feet of water per year in the area, or enough water for a similar number of people. State Engineer Hugh Ricci is now weighing the water issue, and will decide who gets the water, and how much.

He could make a decision on the water issue next year.

Feldman said another important issue for environmentalists is the distance the development would be from the urban areas in Las Vegas.

An upscale community will need lower-wage workers who couldn't afford to live there, Feldman said, and those workers would have to commute, adding to Clark County's traffic and air pollution woes.

"Having a segregated community just doesn't seem to work very well," Feldman said. "What kind of lifestyle is this community building for itself?"

Whittemore said comments from environmentalists are welcome in the context of building a project that works.

"We take this very seriously," he said.