House panel OKs gift of heliport land

Suzanne Struglinski

Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2004 | 11:03 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The House Resources Committee voted to give Clark County 229 acres of federal land to use for a new heliport.

The committee passed a bill this morning sponsored by Nevada's House members that would transfer Bureau of Land Management land to the county for the heliport site if it passes an environmental assessment. Helicopter tours bringing visitors to the Grand Canyon and other local sites would move their operations from McCarran International Airport to the new site once it is completed.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., vice chairman of the committee, said once the bill becomes law it will allow the Clark County Aviation Department to complete its obligation to the helicopter tour operators and the residents who expect the noise to move away from their homes.

The new heliport will be created to relieve Las Vegas residents from noise associated with daily tour flights to and from McCarran International Airport. But residents from Henderson's Anthem community and other neighborhoods complained about the potential noise from the tour helicopters flying to the county's proposed site at Sloan.

This led to the congressional delegation introducing bills in the House and Senate that would free up federal land farther south along Interstate 15 than the initial site that was the top choice.

Bureau of Land Management officials objected to the county not paying for the land, but no changes were made to the bill. Gibbons said he wanted to get it on the floor as soon as possible and did not expect any changes to the bill.

Clark County Aviation Director Randy Walker said environmental assessments of several sites in the state are still going on and he hopes to have a final report done in the spring that will settle on a site.