Commissioners may revise rules for development on county land

Stephen Curran

Wednesday, June 8, 2005 | 9:06 a.m.

The wounds appear to be partly reopened in the year-old controversy surrounding what Clark County commissioners said was their unknowing approval of a big-box store on Aviation Department land.

Fallout from the March 2004 approval of a Wal-Mart Supercenter at Russell Road and Eastern Avenue resurfaced Tuesday with the presentation by Sandra Norskog, the county's real property management director, who outlined how she said the commission should approach future deals with developers looking to build on property leased by the county.

Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates, a harsh critic of the Wal-Mart transaction, said the Wal-Mart matter was one in a string of "shoddy deals" that included vague plans that often came as news to commissioners long after they had been approved.

"That's a classic example of the concern I'm feeling," she said. "It's impossible for us to know, from one project to the next, what's happening."

Norskog's eight recommendations to the board included hiring an outside consultant to review terms of any leases approved by the commission and submitting all requests related to airport-owned property and land within the county's Cooperative Management Area first to the Long Range Planning Committee for review

The presentation was part of an ongoing investigation into the legal status of agreements already approved and those negotiated by aviation officials, she said.

"We believe that these steps will allow for greater communication," Norskog said.

It could also potentially stem what had become an embarrassment for commissioners, who have said they were out of the loop when they approved a lease revision on airport-owned land with a master developer that included multiple references to the planned Wal-Mart, Commissioner Chip Maxfield said.

Rules for commercial leases on airport-owned land now require developers to pay for infrastructure and development costs on the property. But then the developers may sublease the land to another tenant.

"We would hear about an item (for the first time) at the design review," Maxfield said. "That's not how it should be."

Commissioners Bruce Woodbury and Lynette Boggs McDonald said they were concerned the review into existing transactions could create a scenario in which the board is forced to "micromanage" projects spearheaded by private developers.

Boggs McDonald, who said she supported changes to future transactions, added that jeopardizing leases now in effect could bring costly litigation to the county.

"I don't feel comfortable that somehow we could go back and renege," on past deals, Boggs McDonald said. "I don't want us to get into the business of micromanaging."

In what became a back-and-forth exchange among all seven commissioners, Atkinson Gates said she was "offended" by Boggs McDonald's characterization of the effort to alter the leases.

"I'm just trying to make sure the taxpayer was taken care of," Atkinson Gates said of reviewing prior transactions. "I'm saying, 'we've got a problem. Let's fix it.' " Atkinson Gates last June proposed that the commission hold a public hearing on the future uses of airport land before any lease would be considered, and require a general "request for qualifications' to go out for any qualified developer to respond.

She was among the six commissioners who in April unanimously approved centralizing land sales under Norskog's staff. Under that policy, land parcels for sale must be independently appraised and verified by at least one other independent appraisal.

Complaints about as many as 40 previous sales sparked a probe into deals between airport officials and land broker Scott Gragson that made millions of dollars for private interests. Clark County auditors, joined by the district attorney's office, Metro Police, the FBI and other federal officials, have since launched an investigation into the deals.

The audit's first phase began in February. It is expected to wrap up sometime this summer, county officials said.