Action on Walters’ request postponed

Dan Kulin

Thursday, July 21, 2005 | 9:38 a.m.

The Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday again postponed action on golf course developer Billy Walters' request to have a deed restriction on his Royal Links Golf Club lifted so he can build homes there.

Mayor Oscar Goodman, saying he was concerned about a report delivered to council members, said city officials are still investigating the presentation of what he has called "inflammatory" material to one or more council members during their private briefing from city staff.

Concerns over the briefings, which were apparently done by staff from the city attorney's office, prompted the council to delay discussing the matter two weeks ago. Then on Wednesday, the council voted 7-0 to put off discussion and a possible vote on the matter until their Aug. 3 meeting.

Richard Bryan, a former governor and U.S. senator, represented Walters before the council on Wednesday. Bryan said they agreed with the delay, but refused to discuss any of the specific problems that may be of concern to the mayor or council members.

Walters said he was agreeable with the delay, and said it should not hinder his plan to start the process of gaining Clark County Commission approval for his proposal to put about 1,200 homes on the 160-acre course. The land is outside the city limits, but was owned by the city at one time because it is next to a city sewage treatment plant.

The city sold the land to Walters in 1999 under an agreement that restricted development to a golf course on the land east of Nellis Boulevard along Vegas Valley Drive.

Walters is now asking that the city lift that restriction in return for $7.2 million, which represents the difference between the $894,000 Walters paid the city six years ago and the 1999 value of the land if it had no development restriction, plus 6 percent interest.

Vacant land unencumbered by any deed restriction and which is in that general area is now worth a little more than $400,000 an acre, said Rocky Steele, assistant director of assessment services in the Clark County assessor's office. Using that figure, the 160 acres would be worth more than $64 million on the current market.

Walters said the land may be worth about $300,000 an acre if it is approved for residential development, which would put the estimated value of the land at $48 million.

But Walters said it is unfair to evaluate his proposed deal without taking into account the roughly $50 million he says he has invested in the property to build the golf club. He also said any examination of the value of the proposed deal should take into account the additional revenue from the sale of water to new homes.