Land swap plan would protect area

Tuesday, April 22, 2003 | 11:07 a.m.

The chairman of a Clark County advisory panel will ask the County Commission to push for a federal land swap that would take 2,400 acres adjacent to the Red Rock conservation area out of danger of development.

The land, purchased last month by Las Vegas developer Jim Rhodes for $54 million, is the site of an active mineral mine and surrounded on three sides by the national conservation area. Activists have protested the potential development of the land for more than a year, and a county ordinance and a bill in Carson City would bar high-density residential or commercial development on the site.

Evan Blythin, chairman of the Red Rock Citizens Advisory Council, said he has met several times with Rhodes and that the developer is amenable to a land swap, most likely with the federal Bureau of Land Management, that would allow Rhodes to recover his investment and would restore the mined-out land's environmental assets.

If passed by the advisory council, the measure would go to the commission. The commission could then pass a resolution asking Southern Nevada's congressional delegation to sponsor a federal bill including a land swap, Blythin said.

"The best possible solution would be to have this as a nonpartisan effort with our whole congressional delegation behind this," he said.

So far the members of delegation are non-committal until they see a specific plan that local parties have agreed to.

Blythin said he suspects Rhodes "would ask for the sun and moon" in a swap.

"I don't care what they give him," said Blythin, who is a resident of the tiny village of Blue Diamond, the center of resistance to development proposals on the mining property on top Blue Diamond Hill.

"This is priceless. This is the completion of the Red Rock conservation area," he said. "Any development would seriously mar the purity of the canyon."

Rhodes is not fundamentally opposed to the prospect, Rhodes spokesman Bill Marion said Monday.

"It isn't Jim Rhodes' first choice, but he's willing to discuss it," Marion said.

A land swap or a straight purchase of the land has also been suggested by Clark County commissioners, most of whom said during discussion on the county's Red Rock protection ordinance that federal control would be the best option for all players.

Marion, however, said Rhodes wants land to develop, not money for the property.

Sierra Club activist Jane Feldman opposes the property's development, but said she doesn't favor a land swap either. The danger would be that a swap would push the urban boundaries farther away from the city center, she said.

"We don't need to be giving away any more public land and have it paved over," she said. "People are just looking at saving Red Rock, which is commendable. But there are people who don't see the whole picture."

Feldman and the Sierra Club have pushed for more development of vacant land within the urban area and other "smart growth" measures. The group is concerned that building farther out from the urban center encourages longer commutes, which causes more air pollution.

Blythin said he also would expect opposition to come from other developers, who would view the proposal as bailing out one of their competitors.

"They'll see Jim Rhodes as having done something they can't, getting favored treatment," Blythin said.

Nevada's congressional delegation is largely waiting to get a recommendation from the county.

Robert Uithoven, chief of staff for Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nevada, said his boss will look at any proposal forwarded by the county.

"Congressman Gibbons looks forward to hearing from the Clark County Commission, Jim Rhodes, as well as the advisory council on this issue," Uithoven said. "We're open to any recommendation from any of the group."

Nevada's senior Sen. Harry Reid, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, is wary of getting involved, but would take a look at the issue if a formal request came to his office.

Sen. John Ensign, Reid's Republican colleague, believes money collected by the federal government from the sale of land under the 1998 Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act could be used for purchase of the property, but he does not support a land swap.

The fund from federal land sales has over $100 million, according to Bureau of Land Management officials, but the agency is not eager to take over the environmentally devastated property on top the hill.

"There are obviously some very real concerns as far as reclamation, safety and environmental quality that would have to be looked at," BLM spokesman Phil Guerrero said. "We must assume that there are some liability issues that must be addressed.

"We would hope that those issues would be addressed in any legislation or potential legislation."

If directed by law to swap land, the agency would not have a choice, Guerrero said.