Editorial: Zoning not enough for Red Rock

Thursday, Jan. 16, 2003 | 8:49 a.m.

A group of citizens has been working since November to draft restrictive zoning proposals for the private lands adjacent to the Red Rock National Conservation Area. Appointed by former Clark County Commission Chairman Dario Herrera, their task is commendable but not ideal. The group wants to remove threats such as the proposal in Blue Diamond last summer to build 8,400 homes on land overlooking Red Rock that was formerly a gypsum mine. The County Commission will review the group's proposals, possibly next month. If they are adopted, development along the 70 square miles of Red Rock's borders will be limited.

Ideally, development bordering Red Rock would be prohibited instead of merely limited. This cannot be accomplished through zoning, however, because it would amount to total devaluation of private land. Governments that have tried such extreme zoning have found themselves in costly legal battles over the Fifth Amendment, which states that private property cannot "be taken for public use without just compensation." Zoning that restricts all development amounts to a "taking," landowners argue. The most that zoning can do -- without inviting lawsuits -- is to restrict development to low density.

To achieve the ideal goal of no development, Clark County should study ways to purchase the privately held land that borders Red Rock. Cash outlays, land swaps and working with such groups as the Nature Conservancy are strategies to consider. The purchases would be in the public interest because they would permanently protect the national treasure that is Red Rock.

In the mid-1960s and early 1970s, volunteers hauled tons of junk out of the 83,000-acre Red Rock area that until then had enjoyed no environmental protections. These volunteers recognized the potential for hiking, rock climbing, horseback riding, bicycling and just gazing amid the spectacular scenery. From this effort, Red Rock went on to gain classification as a recreation area in 1967 and then designation as a national recreation area in 1990. Southern Nevadans of yesterday worked hard to create Red Rock and Southern Nevadans of today should work hard to preserve it -- and its borders.