County delays action on school at Rhodes Ranch

Thursday, Sept. 23, 2004 | 8:56 a.m.

The Clark County Commission delayed until Oct. 6 action that would ratify a long-brewing deal between Rhodes Homes, developers of the Rhodes Ranch community in the southwest valley, and the Clark County School District, to select a site and build an elementary school for the community.

Before the county commission can approve the deal, the agreements need to be signed by the Las Vegas Valley Water District, Rhodes Homes attorney Paul Larsen said.

He said the company has already given the water district $3.9 million that would pay for water service to the school site, just outside and to the west of the Rhodes Ranch.

Rhodes Homes said in 1997 that Rhodes Ranch would be an age-restricted community that would not need an elementary school, but shifted its marketing strategy soon after it won approval for the subdivision. With about 5,000 family homes already built and another 4,000 to come, the school district said it needs a school.

Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald, who represents the area, has put a hold on new land-use approvals for the community until the developer agreed to find a site and pay for services to the school, a provision that was in the original development agreement approved by the county.

She said Wednesday that despite the two-week hold, she is optimistic that a school will be built.

"If everything is signed and on that (Oct. 6) agenda, we should have a school," Boggs McDonald said.

Matt LaCroix, zoning and realty director for the school district, said the timeline still works for the school district to open the elementary school at the site for the 2007 school year. The proposed school would be one of the last five approved in the 1998 school district bond issue.

"The whole critical line here is water," he said. "It would only be in jeopardy if the water district does not meet the timeline."

LaCroix said the school district Board of Trustees would still have to approve the final site for the elementary school.

The water district is tentatively scheduled to approve the deal to provide needed water to the school site at its Oct. 5 meeting. J.C. Davis, water district spokesman, said his agency has received the $3.9 million, but is waiting until "all agreements are signed" before the money can be deposited.

Davis said that if the agreements are signed and the water district board -- which has the same members as the county commission -- agrees to the deal, the water district should be able to provide the new school with water for the 2007 school year.