Developer wants controversial deannexation provision dropped

Thursday, April 14, 2005 | 10:39 a.m.

A development company asked state lawmakers Wednesday to drop legislation it sought to give Boulder City the power to deannex property.

Assemblyman Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City, said he submitted an amendment to Assembly Bill 487 on Wednesday removing the provision. The bill, which has an unrelated section involving Henderson,is scheduled to be heard today by the Assembly's Government Affairs Committee.

Hardy said he submitted the amendment to Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, and will introduce it at today's committee hearing.

"It is going to be amended," Hardy said. "Boulder City is going to be out of it. That is what the developer wants, and that is what the City Council wants."

The proposed bill generated controversy in Boulder City where residents and council members were upset that the development company sought the legislation without consulting them. Eldorado Valley unsuccessfully proposed the city swap its 640 acres in unincorporated Clark County on the city's western border for the city-owned Dutchman's Pass. The city land is further west and isn't visible to Boulder City residents.

On Tuesday, the Boulder City Council asked Eldorado Valley to remove the language in the bill. Louis Cervantez, the company's general manager, said the firm's lobbyist, Greg Ferraro, contacted Hardy about making the change. Ferraro has worked as unpaid lobbyist for the city but said Tuesday he will no longer do so for Boulder City.

Eldorado Valley manages the property for Las Vegas resident Bill Wadley. It plans to seek a zoning change from Clark County to increase the number of homes that can be built on the site. The existing zoning on the foothill property, which has a 50-acre gravel mine, allows one home per two acres.

"We are going to lay low right now and lick our wounds," Cervantez said of the company's timetable for seeking a zoning change.

Boulder City council members said they will ask Clark County commissioners to oppose any zoning change that allows more homes to be built on the Eldorado Valley land. That is what the developer wants, and that is what the City Council wants.