Message goes out: Nature will be nurtured

Friday, April 18, 2003 | 11:20 a.m.

The state Senate sent a clear message to would-be developers of Blue Diamond Hill: Leave it alone.

A bill from Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, to freeze existing zoning within the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area and on top of the hill passed 21-0 Thursday. The bill would keep high-density and new commercial development out of the area.

The hilltop is the focus of both the legislation and almost two years of controversy. In the latest chapter of the ongoing issue, Las Vegas developer Jim Rhodes purchased 2,400 acres on the hill, the site of an active gypsum mine, and local activists are concerned that he will try to repeat a failed effort last year to build thousands of homes on the land.

Titus' bill would freeze existing zoning on the property at one home per two acres. Rhodes and his representatives, including former Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny, are battling both the Titus bill and development restrictions proposed at the Clark County level.

Rhodes issued a two-sentence statement on the passage of the bill through the Senate.

"We are obviously dissappointed in this decision," he said. "We do not feel the state Legislature is the appropriate place to decide issues of local concern or the appropriate place to decide local private property rights."

Titus' bill has the support of the County Commission, the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association, the Associated General Contractors and environmental and recreational groups.

Titus said Thursday that the only opponent appeared to be Rhodes.

"It took Mother Nature 600 million years to create Red Rock, an awe-inspiring desert playground, sculpted by the winds and rains of time," Titus said on the Senate floor. "It takes only one developer to destroy it and only one vote to save it."

The developer's representatives, however, have argued that development will actually save the scarred hilltop, much of which has been denuded of vegetation through more than 80 years of gypsum mining.

They have argued that construction would provide the impetus and funding to reclaim the mined area, and that builders can keep the impact on the conservation area and the tiny village of Blue Diamond -- epicenter for development resistance -- to a minimum.

Despite what Titus characterized as a concerted effort to defeat the bill, it received support from senators from throughout the state and from both parties.

Titus said the strong support bodes well for the legislation when it goes to the Assembly.

"I'm real optimistic," she said. "I think the big hurdle was getting it out of here. If something comes out unanimously, it's going to be really hard to oppose."

She said Rhodes' effort to derail both the state and county measures has backfired. The effort has grabbed local attention as Rhodes filed a so-far unsuccessful lawsuit against erstwhile ally Commissioner Mark James to block introduction of the county ordinance setting development standards.

"The more Jim Rhodes did, the more it convinced people of the need to do something on the state level," Titus said.

In a court hearing Tuesday, Rhodes argued that James provided him advice as an attorney on the potential development of the land.

But James said he discussed the issue with the developer only as a candidate, and in a dramatic affidavit charged that Rhodes and his representatives made political threats to stop his support of the local measure.

District Court Judge Kathy Hardcastle declined to block James' introduction of the county bill, and the commissioner -- with support from at least five of his seven colleagues -- set a public hearing and vote on the issue for May 21. Rhodes' lawyer Steve Morris said they may go back to again try to block the county effort.

Titus said the suit and surrounding controversy, along with James' apparent switch from Rhodes ally to opponent "convinced the public that something needed to be done on the state level."

"Those two things (the Carson City lobbying and the controversy in Las Veags) worked together," she said.

The bill will go to the Assembly Government Affairs Committee. Committee Chairman Mark Manendo, D-Las Vegas, said he has not yet read the full bill, but is committed to preservation of environmentally important land around Red Rock.

"We need to do all we can to protect its treasures," he said.

Manendo said he will try to schedule a hearing on the bill for a Saturday in Las Vegas, so community members can easily attend.

Gov. Kenny Guinn has not formally endorsed the legislation, but echoes Titus and Manendo in his support for Red Rock protection.

"As a longtime Southern Nevadan, Gov. Guinn recognizes how important it is to preserve this pristine area, which is important to our entire state," said Greg Bortolin, Guinn's spokesman. "The governor is hoping the Legislature does the right thing."

Red Rock activist and Blue Diamond resident Pauline van Betten agreed. She said the Titus bill is the best way to provide long-term protections against intensive development in the area.

"Oh, gosh, it's a dream come true," van Betten said after the bill came out of the Senate.

She said activists seeking support for the measure have been collecting 300 to 600 signatures a day and faxing them to senators. Those faxes will now go to assembly members, van Betten said.

"We're going to show them more of the same," she said. "The biggest level of commitment to development control is a moratorium on zone changes. That's the biggest piece of the puzzle."