Monday, Oct. 28, 2002 | 11:26 a.m.
The Bureau of Land Management will offer 45 parcels of land in the Las Vegas Valley for sale Nov. 15 at 10 a.m. in the Clark County Commission chambers, 500 S. Grand Central Parkway. Money from the sales supports environmental and recreational purposes, schools and other Nevada needs.
An upcoming Bureau of Land Management land sale could clear the way for one of the biggest single developments in the Las Vegas Valley in years.
The federal agency plans to sell nearly 1,000 acres southwest of Blue Diamond Road and Interstate 15 at the Nov. 15 auction, part of a regular series of auctions authorized by the 1998 Public Lands Management Act.
Developer Focus Property Group has already received Clark County approval for plans to build a 2,400-acre master-planned community that would include the BLM property.
The Mountain's Edge community could ultimately have 15,000 homes and be home to 37,000 people, according to the developer's plans submitted to the county.
Until the sale is complete, however, there is no guarantee that Focus will acquire the land for development. The BLM is offering the land in three separate parcels of 420, 280 and 290 acres. Each of the three properties is actually split into many smaller pieces in a checkerboard pattern.
Judy Fry, lands sales manager for the Southern Nevada BLM office, said the properties are among 45 for sale at the auction. But the trio of properties is different from other large and small pieces the agency has sold over the last several years because they are not single, contiguous pieces.
"It's the first time we've offered anything like this," Fry said. "We're doing so at the request of the county."
Despite the avowed interest of Focus, Fry is not sure the parcels will sell. The appraised prices -- the minimum acceptable auction bids -- for the three parcels are $39 million, $23 million and $21 million.
Those prices are based on the individual appraised values of all the 2 1/2- and five-acre pieces within the larger properties, Fry said.
Focus -- or any other developer -- would spend a minimum of $83 million for all three properties. Fry said, however, that if the properties sell, the BLM could try to sell other split-up land as part of a larger batch sale.
"We're willing to try it and see what happens," she said.
Some observers are viewing the plans for the master-planned community with trepidation.
As he has in the past, Bob Hall of the Nevada Environmental Coalition has filed a protest to the upcoming land sale. A protest to another auction earlier this year delayed but did not stop a land sale.
John Hiatt, chairman of the Enterprise Town Advisory Board, worries about the impact the development will have on what is now a largely rural area. He believes high-density housing will lead to traffic congestion in the area and problems for schools and other infrastructure.
"The way of life that people have down there now will be heavily impacted," Hiatt said. "It's going to be so much more intense than what's there now that there is no comparison."
Although the area's land-use guides call for master-planned communities and County Commission has already approved the specific development plan for the area, the town board will watch specific zoning requests carefully, he said.
"It's going to have a dramatic effect on that whole southwest area," Hiatt said.
But John Ritter, Focus Property Group president, said the company has worked to mitigate any negative impacts on nearby residents in rural preservation areas.
Those preservation zones will be buffered from higher-density housing with parks and trails, he said. The entire project will include 550 acres of open space and parks to be jointly developed by Focus and the county.
Ritter said traffic will mostly flow along two principal arterial roads -- Rainbow Boulevard, which connects to the Las Vegas Beltway, and Blue Diamond Road, which connects with Interstate 15.
"It works well," he said. "It's going to be a very nice, Summerlin-style project."
Focus hopes to begin construction in early 2003, but the company will have to win the bid at the Nov. 15 auction first.
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