County moves on land swap audit

Monday, Jan. 31, 2005 | 8:51 a.m.

Clark County management moved forward with a plan to conduct an audit of land deals involving the county's airport property and specifically a land swap that led to a contentious zone change earlier month.

Clark County Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald and other commissioners asked for a review last week after residents of the unincorporated town of Enterprise complained that they were promised a cemetery on land that was rezoned for commercial purposes. Friday, county management established the scope and timeline for the review.

A team of county auditors with assistance from the county departments of property management, comprehensive planning and the district attorney's office will take about two months to complete the work, the county said in a written statement.

Officials from both the Clark County Aviation Department, which negotiated the 38-acre land swap and the developers involved in the deal have said they welcome the review.

County Manager Thom Reilly, who has said the county could bar all trades involving airport land, also announced Friday that there would be a moratorium on land trades until the audit is completed.

Jerry Carroll, audit department director, said the review will probably include outside experts, among them auditors, real estate appraisers and others who can shed light on the issue. Also invited to participate and contribute in the review is the federal Bureau of Land Management.

The BLM's transfer of 5,300 acres to the county in 1999 for creation of a buffer zone around McCarran created the conditions for controversy.

The county, parcel by parcel, sold off land mostly for commercial purposes. The goal was to limit residential development that might harbor complaints from homeowners about aircraft noise.

The commercial development that has gone with the sales, however, has prompted complaints from residents already living within the zone, dubbed the Cooperative Management Area.

A component of the audit will include recommendations for improvements to the land disposal process, especially since the development of the Ivanpah airport south of Las Vegas could involve the creation of a new zone with residential restrictions that is three times larger -- 17,000 acres.

Carroll said the auditors' work would not be a screen for any problems at the county. The final products of the review will be public and will likely receive a great deal of sharp scrutiny, he agreed.

"It's important for the public to know we have an ordinance we follow," he said. "It requires we audit in conformance with generally accepted government audit standards."

The auditors and their work is judged by professional disciplinary boards and the state board of accountancy, Carroll said.

"I feel that we're very independent in respect to this," he said. "You stick to the facts and you write the facts, then you don't have anything to be nervous about."

The work is starting today, Carroll said.

"It is a lot of work," he said, which is one reason outside auditors could be called in. "The first aspect is to look at the cemetery work. The other aspects start getting a little more complicated."

Nearly 50 land deals, some going back before the federal legislation gave the county authority to manage BLM land in the Cooperative Management Area, could face scrutiny.

Among the issues that are on the table are the appraised values of the land, the conformance with Clark County and federal and state land-use rules and the laws surrounding those issues.

An important issue also will be to determine the "reasonableness" of the land transactions, a judgment that Carroll agreed could be somewhat subjective.

"We may get into larger things," Carroll said. "We don't know yet. Typically, we do a preliminary survey. We will look at the state and local laws governing those kinds of transactions."

Participation of the district attorney's office will be critical for the audit, he said. That could be particularly important if the review finds that legal lines have been crossed.

"If we find something is amiss, we contact the district attorney's office."

Sue Allen, president of the South West Action Network, a citizens group of activists that has focused on land-use issues affecting Enterprise Township in the southwest Las Vegas Valley and the airport management area, said the audit could provide some important clarity "whatever it demonstrates."

"With people in such a tumultuous uproar, you have to do something to basically answer their questions," Allen said. "It may be a positive answer, it may be a negative answer, but you've got to answer the questions.

"The light of day can be a wonderful thing."

The airport-managed land has sparked particular contention because, she said, the processes of selling, leasing or trading the land often "looks more like Las Vegas' old days."

"It's perceived as being one of the last good ol' boys bastions," she said.

She noted that even the BLM no longer swaps land in Southern Nevada except by federal legislative fiat. The agency had been criticized for swaps before the 1998 Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act barred the practice.

Allen said that with land trades, there usually appears to be a winner and a loser, and that often, the taxpayer looks like the loser.

"One person can look at the situation and say it's a fair trade. Another person can look at the situation and say the taxpayer got scammed."

Allen said she believes the county auditors can do a fair job of looking at the situation and the land deals conducted by the aviation department.

"If it was within the airport, I'd say no, but I believe that Clark County is independent enough, and they're working for (County Manager) Thom Reilly," she said. "They're not working for (Aviation Director) Randy Walker."

Allen said she and her neighbors will be looking carefully at the final product of the audit. If there are any outstanding issues, they could push for another look.