Feud in the hills: Paradise, Mission residents resist development

Jeffrey Libby

Tuesday, June 26, 2001 | 11:03 a.m.

Shawn Lampman, a developer who has made a name for himself representing a quiet group of investors in developments around the Las Vegas Valley, has set his sights on rural Henderson.

Since March, partners of Black Mountain-Boulder LLC have acquired 28 acres toward a planned 70-acre master-planned community and commercial center off U.S. 95 in the foothills of the McCullough Range, Lampman said.

The firm's principal investors, Donald E. Nelson and Robert Cohen, run Las Vegas Gaming Investments as well as numerous other development companies.

Cohen and Nelson have purchased at least 5.6 acres for $1.2 million, according to records at the Clark County assessor's office. The records show that amount to be nearly three times the estimated 2001 taxable value of the land.

The open, hilly desert, across from the Mission Hills Park and a Mormon church under construction, is less than a mile from the planned Nevada State College at Henderson.

Lampman wants to build high-quality homes in the range of $200,000 to $400,000. "They're not exactly starter homes," he said.

But Paradise Hills residents, still recovering from the recent news that a 555-acre college campus with a projected 20,000 student population will be built between them and the mountaintops, say they are not impressed. Most custom homes there start at about $500,000 and many are valued at more than $1 million.

Even so, when Lampman made his first appearance at a neighborhood planning meeting two weeks ago, several were charmed, including Mission Hills resident Debbie Winton.

"There was a whole ambiance about him that was welcoming," Winton said.

That was before Lampman announced plans to build six houses per acre in a rural neighborhood zoned for one home per acre. Current regulations allow the City Council to grant waivers for up to six homes per acre.

Residents of Paradise and Mission Hills have been working about two years with Councilwoman Amanda Cyphers to create a low-density preservation area that would include the land Lampman wants to develop.

The proposed ordinance, which could go before the whole council for a vote as early as September, would allow a maximum of one home per acre. It would prohibit all commercial development.

Cyphers says she is expecting a loud protest against Lampman's project by hundreds of homeowners, even with the four-homes-per-acre he is now proposing.

At stake, residents say, are the quail bathing in the dust of dirt roads, the privacy and unique character gained from one-acre, custom-built lots, and the nighttime buzz not of traffic, but crickets.

"You have to come out and sit and listen. Right after you get off the freeway, you feel like you're in a totally different world," Janet Kennedy, who stables four horses at her Paradise Hills home, said.

Lampman argues, however, that a master-planned community directly off the freeway is entirely within the rights of his clients. In December, he represented Nelson and Cohen in the $950,000 purchase of the famed Walking Box Ranch. He also headed a failed effort to build a casino at a planned North Las Vegas golf course. That deal eventually landed Mayor Michael Montandon, who had previous business ties with Lampman, before the state Ethics Commission. The charges were recently dismissed after a lengthy hearing.

"Donald Nelson bought the land with the understanding that the master plan called for zero to six homes," Lampman said. "He was in disbelief when he heard that an organization was attempting to create a rural preservation district that could harm the value of his property."

Lampman says as many as 20 landowners in the area have signed on with him to protest the creation of the preservation district. He estimates property values could drop by 25 percent if high-density projects are prohibited.

Residents are skeptical that Lampman could invest more than a million dollars before learning that the city for two years has planned new regulations in that area.

Lampman's investors still have to purchase at least another 42 acres to achieve their goal of a 70-acre development, and prices are likely to go up as landowners learn of the plans.

That would mean Black Mountain-Boulder LLC could have as much as $15 million invested in land alone when Lampman appears before the City Council to make his case.

Winton said her investment in the land is no less valuable. She will be fighting "to keep this home as part of my legacy to my kids," she said.