Scouts learn to park it

Friday, Aug. 26, 2005 | 4:05 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

August 27-28, 2005

What do you get when you split the members of the nation's only Boy Scout Explorer post sponsored by a residential developer into two teams and ask them each to design a $3 million park?

You get Ozzie Nelson vs. Ozzy Osborne.

You get a suburban oasis with a baseball field, winding jogging path and fountains amid shady palo verde trees and sagebrush. And you get an urban refuge with skating half pipes and rails, eight-foot walls to serve as showcases for graffiti and an elevated stage for live, loud music.

And the winner, according to a panel of judges comprised of Las Vegas builders and parks experts is ... a tie.

Following Wednesday night's presentation and judging for the Mountain's Edge Explorer Post No. 26 yearlong park design contest, the sponsor, Las Vegas developer Focus Property Group, awarded each of the six competitors a $1,500 scholarship, an Apple i-Pod, retail discount coupons and movie theater tickets.

But the real winners might be the community of Las Vegas for, while neither 15-acre design may wind up being used to create an actual park, the program that is part of the Boy Scouts of America Las Vegas Area Council's Learning for Life program could produce some of the region's future builders of parks and homes.

"The issue here is quality of life -- helping good kids become better kids," said Philip Bevins, Scout executive with the BSA Las Vegas Area Council.

"This explorer post was designed for kids who are interested in this field, with lots of career opportunities in land planning, ecology, landscaping, conservation and the construction trades."

Bevins said that when Focus Property Group, developer of Mountain's Edge, a 3,500-acre master planned community in southwest Las Vegas, approached the Scouts last year about sponsoring an Explorer post -- a group for boys and girls ages 14-20 -- it seemed like a good idea and a unique one.

"If there is another Explorer post affiliated with a residential developer in the United States, we haven't found one, and we've looked," he said.

Explorer Post 26 is one of 25 Southern Nevada Explorer posts that total about 600 members. More than 32,000 Southern Nevada children are involved in Scouting, including 12,000 in the Learning for Life program, Bevins said.

Some of those who competed in the park contest said they jumped at the chance to be in an Explorer group that focuses on their career goals.

"At first I thought it was too good to be true," said 19-year-old Clayton Herman, a UNLV freshman who also works as a surveyor technician for Horizon Surveyors.

"There are so many Explorer posts out there sponsored by police and fire departments and other groups, but it's good to see diversity that allows at least one post to focus on the world of real estate development."

Stephany Solis, a 17-year-old senior at Spring Valley High School who also attends the Community College of Southern Nevada, said she believes being a member of a developer Explorer group will benefit her career.

"I plan to have my real estate license by the time I'm 18," she said. "Doing projects like this park contest is helping me understand the aspects of this type of work. We get help from so many experts."

Each team was assigned adult mentors in the field of residential development and was given access to computer software to help them design their parks.

Solis' team used the Computer Aided Design and Drafting technology to design the all-American park that likely would have been more appreciated by Ozzie, Harriet, Dave and Ricky. Herman's team used edgy freehand drawings to create the extreme park that Ozzy, Sharon, Jack and Kelly likely would have enjoyed.

Solis' teammates were Alejandro Montoya-Acosta, 16, of Southern Nevada Vocational Technical School, and Matthew Michnal, 14, of Hyde Park Middle School.

During his presentation, Montoya-Acosta said he was influenced by his visits to the plazas of Mexico, so he wanted to create "little relaxing places" near fountains.

Herman's teammates were Jorge Carrasco and Luis Ricardo Vela, both 17-year-old students at Vo-Tech.

During his presentation, Herman said his park would provide "an outlet for graffiti artists to express themselves" in a place that could be "monitored by Metro Police." If they have a designated place for graffiti, perhaps that would keep the taggers from marring other public property, Herman reasoned.

The designers of the $2.9 million Graffiti Park and the $2.89 million Riddler Park -- the jogging path is shaped like The Riddler's mask from the "Batman" comics -- agreed on at least one thing -- when it comes to such a huge project, $3 million is not a lot of money.

"We thought at first that $3 million was so much money that we could just put everything into our park, but to come in under budget we had to leave out a lot of things, including a community center with indoor pool," Solis said. "Who could believe that concrete could be so expensive -- $20 a square foot!"

Herman echoed that sentiment: "Three weeks ago, we were at $4.5 million, so we had to scrap it all and start over. We were going to have basketball courts and a sidewalk around the park, but they had to go."

Both projects featured lots of greenery, including grass, trees and shrubbery -- something both teams felt Las Vegas sorely needs.

"I have only been here since February, but there is nothing here compared to what I grew up with in Wisconsin and Colorado," Herman said. "We definitely need more parks in Las Vegas."

Solis, born and raised in Las Vegas, said: "My family always got an apartment or house close to a park so that I could grow up with access to parks. But there definitely should be more parks in Southern Nevada."

Elaine Houser, senior recreation program administrator for Clark County Parks and Recreation, one of the six judges, said both projects were representative of park concepts that are being brought before the County Commission.

"They were two very creative park concepts that addressed community needs," she said. "There are good elements in both designs."

In its first year, Explorer Post 26 has met monthly and toured residential developments to learn how they are planned and built. One of the post's first projects was planting creosote bushes and Mojave yuccas as part of the re-vegetation of the mountain at the Mountain's Edge entrance.

A portion of the historic Old Spanish Trail, from which explorers first discovered the Las Vegas Valley, runs through the development at Blue Diamond Road and Buffalo Drive.

"We want to build more than just homes, roads and parks," said Lynn Purdue, spokeswoman for Focus Property Group. "Philanthropy and reaching out is a huge part of what the company is all about.

"We felt that with the history of the area at Mountain's Edge our association with the Explorers was just a natural. Imagine all of the badges they can get for the good deeds they will do in the community through this program."

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