Signatures gathered at Red Rock

Monday, Sept. 9, 2002 | 11:17 a.m.

Opponents of a proposed development adjacent to the Red Rock National Conservation Area brought their issue to the canyon Sunday.

Harley-Davidson motorcycles mixed with sport utility vehicles while toddlers and gray-haired retirees mingled at a protest rally held at the Red Rock Canyon overlook. Opponents of the proposed development collected dozens of signatures on petitions to send to the Clark County Commission.

About 200 people dropped in during the morning rally. Some stayed, but others stopped just to sign a petition. Protesters on horseback gathered petition signatures from traffic driving by the overlook.

The target of the protest is developer John Laing Homes, which has applied for county approval of a planned community of up to 8,400 homes and more than 20,000 people on the site of an active gypsum mine on top of Blue Diamond Hill.

The project would be surrounded on three sides by the Red Rock National Conservation Area.

Representatives for the developer were not available for comment Sunday, but have in the past argued that they can keep the environmental impact to a minimum, and that their project would have less impact than continuing to mine the area.

Those at the rally do not agree. Although the developer has said most of the traffic would be diverted onto a new, four-lane highway to the east of the project, many were concerned that traffic would increase on the south, west and north.

"We are totally against development out here," said Carolyn Gilmore, a volunteer with the nonprofit group Friends of Red Rock Canyon. "We want to keep it natural. We don't want the cars."

She said the gypsum mine, operated by James Hardie Gypsum, does not disturb the conservation area.

"There's little traffic and no light pollution," Gilmore said, citing two of the main concerns about the development.

Bicyclists said the project could affect one of their last open recreational areas.

"We don't want to see development on the highway," said Jim Smallridge, president of the Silver State Bicycle Coalition. "Just the shear number of vehicles out here would create a hazard."

Smallridge, representing a large contingent of bicyclists, said the 20-year timeline for development of the planned community, dubbed Cielo Encantado, would mean construction equipment and rock trucks for the entire life of the project. And tens of thousands of new residents would also mean more traffic speeding through the conservation area, Smallridge said.

Tom Zuppa, who lives off Las Vegas Boulevard South, agreed. He said he often brings his two children out to the canyon for hiking.

"It's going to ruin our environment and the beauty of the land here," said Zuppa, one of dozens of motorcyclists who rode to the rally. "We have enough development in the valley. Let it stay there.

Billie Young, president of the Nevada Wild Horse Association, said that allowing the development to go forward would affect the herds of horses and burros that range through Red Rock. Drought and collisions with automobiles already have hit the herds hard, she said.

"We fear greatly that the number of fatalities will increase," Young said.

Terri Cernuto, a banquet server at a Strip resort, was one of those on horseback, asking drivers to slow down and sign her petition.

"It's vital for these resources to be protected," she said. Cernuto compared the planned community to development in her home state of Florida, which has turned many former wetlands and cays into residential subdivisions.

But community activism has helped pass laws protecting some of the remaining wild areas of Florida, she said, and could do the same here. Cernuto warned that developers will destroy the desert if they are not stopped.

"They want the Wild West to be gone and have it like New York or Chicago," she said.

Some of those attending the protest targeted the Bureau of Land Management, which manages the conservation area.

The BLM is studying a land swap with James Hardie Gypsum of several hundred acres. The swap would give the developer access to a single, contiguous stretch of property for the project. The swap also could protect the rare Blue Diamond cholla, a rare species that lives only in the Blue Diamond and Red Rock area.

Jason Helprin, a master's degree student of sociology at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, said he is opposed the swap.

"We oppose the BLM swap, but we're against the development as well," he said.

The BLM has said a decision on the swap would be done independently of the development proposal.

The Sunday rally came three days after a raucous meeting of the Clark County Planning Commission. Development opponents booed the commission after it granted a John Laing request to hold consideration of its application until Oct. 3.