BLM review creates snag in long-term growth plans

Sito Negron

Thursday, Nov. 4, 2004 | 11 a.m.

The Bureau of Land Management dropped a "nuclear bomb" on long-term growth plans by recommending that it withhold some federal land that local governments assumed would be part of an auction in February after rare desert plants and fossils were found, the Las Vegas City Council was told Wednesday.

"This does have significant implications for the city," said former Sen. Richard Bryan, who lobbies the federal government for Las Vegas.

The BLM draft of its environmental assessment -- which is mandated by federal law -- recommends withholding about 5,000 acres from the next land auction, scheduled in February. The BLM now is taking comments on the draft, with a final recommendation due by the end of January.

The assessment found two species of rare plant -- the Las Vegas buckwheat and the Las Vegas bear poppy -- as well as significant sites holding fossils and other records of animal and human history in the valley. The plants and the paleontological sites generally are along the northwest Las Vegas Wash.

Bryan said the assessment was expected, but not the recommendation to withhold so much land. He said that the issue mostly affects North Las Vegas, because the land the BLM recommends withholding is in an area that city had requested be sold.

However, he said, it could affect the city of Las Vegas by delaying the February auction if local governments contest the recommendation. It also could alter the city's growth plans by cutting a swath of conservation in an area of northwest Las Vegas that will be developed sooner or later.

Bryan said a delay in land sales would be a de facto moratorium, and said of the BLM, "they dropped a nuclear bomb on us at the last minute."

Las Vegas is proposing that the BLM sell about 1,700 acres in northwest Las Vegas for the Kyle Canyon Gateway master plan. Last year, the city annexed the property in preparation for the auction, and laid the groundwork for annexation of another 7,600 acres.

City officials have said Las Vegas will continue to grow in the northwest, with up to 400,000 people living north of Ann Road in the coming decades.

Councilman Michael Mack, who represents northwest Las Vegas, asked Brent Heberlee, another lobbyist at the Wednesday City Council meeting, whether the news meant that "it's highly unlikely we'll see the land sale go forward?"

"It's a little unclear at this point. I'd say it's better than 50-50 that they will not," Heberlee replied.

The BLM sells land under a 1998 law that directs the agency to inventory its Las Vegas Valley land and sell what it deems surplus, upon request from local governments. The program was updated in 2002.

The 1998 law made about 52,000 acres available for sale, and the 2002 update added about 22,000 more. About 40,000 acres remain for sale, according to the BLM draft report.

An average of about 4,000 acres per year have been auctioned, although the BLM report expects that to climb to 10,000 acres per year for the next several years. The land is expected to be completely auctioned off by 2015, according to the report.

Much of the money goes back into recreation and conservation programs in the valley; $120 million worth of such projects, mostly parks and trails, was announced last week.

Conservationist John Hiatt said the situation should not have been a surprise.

"When the act was passed, somebody realized eventually, not right away, that it was a major federal action involving federal land and therefore an environmental impact statement analyzing the impact of the sale would be required," he said.

"So they kind of hurried up and went out and said OK we have to look at this stuff ... we don't even know what's there," Hiatt said. When deciding what lands to sell, he said, "people just looked at maps and nobody ever went to see what's out there.

"Had people done their homework initially ... they could have saved themselves an enormous amount of work but no one ever did that. They just looked at a map, and based on a flat map decided, 'We'll just take all the contiguous land to the northwest.' "

Now, Hiatt said, "what the BLM is faced with is looking at how to protect plant species and paleontological and archeological resources that will be destroyed if they sell the land for development with no agreement or stipulations by the buyer in terms of what has to be done to protect those resources."

While the BLM is recommending taking 5,000 acres out of the area eligible for sale, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is recommending even more be preserved.

"They have already come back with a boundary close to 3,000 acres more than the draft environmental impact statement," said Jeff Steinmetz, a BLM environmental protection specialist and the team leader on the draft assessment.

He said any delay in the land sales would be up to the local governments.

"Without a court action stopping us we'd go ahead with the sale and we wouldn't be offering (the set aside portion)," Steinmetz said. "We're going to do everything possible we can do to ensure the February sale can continue but it's going to be different from what's proposed. If anybody takes an action to stop that, the courts would end up deciding if there's a sale or not."

North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon issued a statement through his city's spokeswoman, saying that "we're meeting and working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to discuss recommended remediation."

Las Vegas City Council members expressed concern over a slowdown in land availability.

Mack said that when land becomes scarce, prices go up. When land prices go up, so to do home prices, which already have exploded.

"The word moratorium would really send fear through our community," Mack said.

Councilman Steve Wolfson said that if land sales stopped, the money local governments get for recreation and conservation projects would dry up. He asked if the city could work with North Las Vegas, which Bryan said had hired a consultant to scrutinize the science behind the BLM draft assessment.

"I don't see why we couldn't be a community of interest," Bryan said.

Chris Knight, administrative services director for Las Vegas, said that not allowing development on a piece of land that separates pieces of Northwest Las Vegas leaves unanswered questions. He said among those are how that would relate to an open spaces plan the city is working on, and whether it would allow for infrastructure to pass through the conservation area.

Hiatt said a slight delay in growth plans might not be a bad thing.

"The people running the local governments for a long time here have had a very strong penchant toward growth with little regard toward some of the long- term consequences," Hiatt said. "The politicians holding elective office would do well to reflect on the long-term goal rather than how quickly we can develop another 2,000 to 5,000 acres."