Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Commissioner calls for new airport lease policies

A Clark County commissioner has proposed an overhaul of the county's handling of leases on land owned by the Aviation Department two weeks after the existing policies sparked a land-use controversy.

The County Commission was stung when it learned that it had approved a lease for a big-box Wal-Mart Supercenter in March, a move that commissioners said they did not know they had made.

The changes proposed by Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates would have prevented the Wal-Mart controversy had they been implemented earlier, she said.

The County Commission on March 16 approved a lease revision on airport-owned land with a master developer that included specific, multiple references to the planned Wal-Mart.

Nearby residents objected to the proposed store during a June 2 review of parking and design of the project, arguing that the store would attract tens of thousands of cars to a neighborhood already overburdened with traffic.

Commissioners responded by ordering the developer to schedule meetings with the neighbors and setting a date next month for another design review.

Commissioner Rory Reid, who represents the neighborhood, and county staff have said the county has the legal ability to return to the previously approved zoning and re-do the planning for the project, a move that could axe the Wal-Mart at Russell Road and Eastern Avenue. Attorneys for the developer and Wal-Mart disagree that the county has that ability.

Atkinson Gates, who for years has expressed concerns about the airport's leasing practices, said the proposed changes include two principal parts: The commission would hold a public hearing on the future uses of airport land before any lease would be considered, and a general "request for qualifications" would go out for any qualified developer to respond.

These measures would have prevented the Wal-Mart controversy, she said.

"We should have done it a long time ago," Atkinson Gates said. "I've been talking about this for a long time."

But without a controversy to propel the changes, they probably would not be made, she said.

"This will take care of it so we don't have any more crises anymore," she said.

"The public process I'm talking about is before the board, as well as the community, decides what the proper use of that land is," she said. "Then we go out and find the person to do that.

"If it is written correctly, we are going to get the best offer," Atkinson Gates said.

Commercial leases for airport land are generally handled with a standard formula: A developer is selected, and the developer must pay for infrastructure and development costs.

The developer then subleases the land to an entity such as Wal-Mart. The airport receives half of the rental paid by the final user. Airport officials have argued that the procedure encourages the developers to maximize income and insulates the county from exposure to development costs.

Aviation Department Director Randy Walker said his agency will follow the policies and processes set by the County Commission.

"There's nothing new about that," he said. "That's the way it should work."

In the past, the airport has used requests for qualifications or negotiations with developers either identified by airport staff or who have made proposals to the county, Walker said. Either way "has its good points and bad points."

Requests for qualifications can be controversial because many factors have to be considered before the commission makes a final selection, Walker said.

"That's the downside, but it certainly works," he said. One of the high-profile leases issued after a request for qualifications went to golf-course developer Billy Walters, who built the Bali Hai golf club on airport land at Las Vegas Boulevard and Russell Road.

Walker said the airport has 10 leases with eight developers around the airport.

The deal with master developer Marnell Corrao was not a product of a request for qualifications, he said. The company, noted for its construction management on the Strip and elsewhere, including the city's most expensive resorts, Bellagio and Wynn Las Vegas, was selected by the airport a development deal with an out-of-state aviation company failed to progress, he said.

Atkinson Gates said the process, in which the County Commission generally approves leases on its "consent agenda" without discussion, has not been as open to public scrutiny as it should.

A developer brings a proposal to staff, she said, "and next thing you know it's on the agenda. There is no public process."

County Manager Thom Reilly said the proposal should come before the commission during a regular board meeting next month.

"We're going to get input from the whole board," he said -- but the proposal appears to have support from the entire commission, most of whom expressed surprise earlier this month that they had approved a Wal-Mart.

"Any time a lease would proceed, on the conceptual stage, the leases will be discussed," he said. "The board will be able to discuss what kind of zoning should be done.

"They'll look at the current zoning and what type of use they would like to see, and then do a RFQ (request for qualification) based on what was envisioned," he said.

The policy in place would have prevented the Wal-Mart controversy from going as far as it has, Reilly said.

Reid, who has met with residents and the developers in an effort to diffuse the controversy, said the policy, if it were in place, might have helped, but would not be a panacea.

"I support what she (Gates) is doing," he said. "It's more public scrutiny. It's good public policy when public land is involved.

"So long as we're briefed on it and there is public discussion when warranted, it's probably a welcome policy change," Reid said. "One of the problems with the Russell and Eastern (location) is that there was not sufficient opportunities for public input. Both the airport staff the the commission would welcome additional public input."

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