Land approved for development disappearing fast

Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2004 | 9:42 a.m.

While Clark County's population keeps growing, the amount of land to house all those new people and businesses is not -- and the two trends will collide sooner rather than later, local officials warned Tuesday.

Officials told a meeting of the county's 17-member Growth Management Task Force that restrictions on development reached in an agreement three years ago with the federal government give the county a total of 130,000 acres for new homes, businesses and other uses. While the total disturbed land in the county is now less than 30,000 acres, demand is using it up fast.

Alan Pinkerton, assistant Air Quality and Environmental Management director, said development is eating up about 8,000 acres a year, giving the region less than 13 years until no more land is available for development. The restriction stems from a permit issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is charged with protecting land for dozens of rare desert species including the desert tortoise.

When the permit was issued, negotiators believed it would allow at least three decades of growth.

"It's a lot shorter than 30 years," Pinkerton said.

One of the issues tackled by the growth task force has been the price of housing, and some argue that one of the primary forces driving up new housing prices 26 percent in the last year alone has been the lack of land for new homes.

Former Clark County commissioner and homebuilder Jay Bingham argued that the federal government should open up more of the land in Clark County for development as a means to keep housing prices low.

Alan O'Neill, executive director of Outside Las Vegas, a conservation organization, said the growth task force and government agencies have to look at the issue of land and the federal restrictions.

"I think it's a critically important issue," O'Neill said.

Under the terms of the federal agreement, land that is designated important habitat for desert plants and animals that is disturbed or fully developed needs to be made up for with mitigation elsewhere. O'Neill said discussions should begin to see if Fish and Wildlife could open up more mitigation techniques to allow more acreage to be developed.

Christine Robinson, Air Quality director, said policy makers need to take a look at the issue.

"We need this county to come together to talk about how to deal with this because it's very real and it's (the lack of land for development) coming, probably pretty soon," she said.

The growth task force, which has been meeting since March, also discussed the parameters of its mission. Member and Las Vegas attorney Gabe Lither and other members said Tuesday that the mission of the group should be sustainable management of the region's 6 percent annual growth rate, not stopping growth altogether, a comment with which most members appeared to agree.

The group also discussed extending the timeline of the task force's work, which was originally scheduled to end in December, into late January or February. No decision on the timeline was immediately made.

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