Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2005 | 11:07 a.m.
A Clark County commissioner has asked county managers to review a land deal involving the airport and review a specific land deal that angered some residents in the southwest valley.
Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald said Tuesday she has asked for the internal audit of land deals affecting land controlled by the county aviation department. Her request stems from a rezoning of former airport land near Windmill Lane and Durango Drive to allow for commercial development, although the airport had sold the land two years ago with the understanding that it be used for a cemetery.
County Manager Thom Reilly said the scope of the audit will be determined by Friday. He said he could not immediately put a time frame for completing the audit.
Reilly said that along with the request from Boggs McDonald, other commissioners had requested a review of the land deal of the property at Windmill and Durango. Reilly said it made sense to have county auditor Jerry Carroll look at both the specific deal and the general issue of airport land.
Land deals affecting the airport have frequently been bones of contention for residents and developers. The airport leases, sells or, as in the case of the property at Windmill or Durango, trades land in the 5,300 acres along flight paths in and out of McCarran International Airport.
The Cooperative Management Area includes restrictions on new residential development to reduce noise-related complaints, although there are inholdings of existing homes scattered through the area. Sparks fly when commercial development comes close to the residential development in the area, or when flight patterns shift and aircraft fly over existing homes.
In July, the county commission approved an overhaul of rules governing sales, swaps or leases of airport land. The new policy requires public hearings and a detailed request for proposal before land deals are approved, but the policy came two years after the original swap of the Windmill and Durango property.
Boggs McDonald said her constituents in the southwest, including those in the Cooperative Management Area, have expressed concern about land-use changes in the Windmill and Durango property and others. She noted that as a Las Vegas city councilwoman until last March, she did not have similar issues to deal with.
"It's one of those things that I did not have exposure to as a city councilwoman," Boggs McDonald said. "I noticed that even on day one there was a level of frustration among my colleagues as it relates to CMA land. it just seems to be a chronic issue that needs to be dealt with.
"I have heard from my constituents, and in this one example, I as a new member of the board did not fully understand the chronology and the context until recently," said Boggs McDonald, who voted with the other commissioners to approve commercial zoning on the 38 acres at Windmill and Durango. "My vote was within the context of a straight land-use question, not fully understanding the chronology of what led to that decision.
"I'm very troubled that I made a decision not understanding the full chronology and parameters of how we got there. I want to know if this is an isolated incident or if this is a pattern," she said. "I don't know if this was a straight oversight or deliberate or how this came to be.
"I don't feel comfortable making decisions about the CMA until I have answers to those questions. At the same time, you have this cloud of doubt that's hanging over these real-estate transactions."
Boggs McDonald said it is essential that controversies surrounding the Cooperative Management Area are settled before the county begins developing the planned Ivanpah airport 40 miles south of Las Vegas. A similar management area to restrict residential development is envisioned for the project, but the management area around the Ivanpah airport could be far larger -- some 17,000 acres.
One of those who said he welcomed the audit is developer Scott Gragson, who traded other property for land at Windmill and Durango from the airport. The estimated cost of the land when traded was $2.6 million and it was sold, for commercial purposes, for $7.8 million.
Gragson said he has been unfairly targeted in some news accounts of the land deal.
"I just think it's atrocious," he said. "It's absurd. ... It is only a story because someone is out to get the airport or the commissioners."
Gragson said he was not aware of a deed restriction on the land prohibiting commercial development, and when he sold the land, the master plan still called for a cemetery.
"I'm available for comment if we want to get all the facts out on the table. It's not a big conspiracy. It's fictitious."
He said property values have gone up, including land he traded to get the property at Windmill and Durango. Gragson noted that the vote to change the zoning for the new owner earlier this month was 7-0.
"I didn't zone it and we didn't sell it for anything other than (commercial development with) the back part being a cemetery," Gragson said.
One of those that has been concerned about disposition of airport-controlled property is John Hiatt, a member and former chairman of the Enterprise Town Advisory Board, which recommends land-use designations for much of the Cooperative Management Area to the county commission.
The advisory board had recommended against the commercial zoning for the property at Windmill and Durango.
"I think that the county commissioners probably feel obligated to do an investigation here," Hiatt said. "I'm not sure it will turn up much. The stipulation (for use as a cemetery) was there, then it wasn't, and I'm not sure we'll ever know what happened."
Hiatt said residents had similar concerns over a planned National Guard armory at Serene Avenue and Arville Street and numerous other land-use deals within the airport-controlled area.
The problem, he said, is not deliberate but a result of the airport planners failing to consult with the community.
"Their mission is to bring more visitors to Las Vegas," Hiatt said. "The citizens around Las Vegas are, in their view, a problem, not an asset.
"It's not hanky-panky, I don't think. We're all members of the community, and the community is going to work better if there is a high degree of cooperation with the citizens and the officials."
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