Tuesday, June 14, 2005 | 9:41 a.m.
As the June 7 election results showed, Boulder City's land may not be for sale, but it's definitely up for lease.
A group that 18 months ago proposed building a $25 million sports complex at the abandoned Boulder City Airport is now seeking to lease city property near Bootleg Canyon.
It will unveil its plans at tonight's City Council meeting when the council will also hear a presentation from another group wanting to lease city land for a go-cart facility. The council will also consider asking its Planning Commission to consider leasing 10 acres for a solar energy plant.
The discussion over leases comes one week after Boulder City residents by a 54-46 percent margin rejected a plan to sell 46.5 acres for a 90-home subdivision. The sale of the land would have helped the city pay down its $22 million debt for building the Boulder Creek Golf Club.
The sports complex group, Hang Time Sports, dropped plans to build on the former airport site after an appraisal showed the lease of 80 acres would have been prohibitive at about $3.2 million a year. Boulder City leases property for 10 percent of its appraised value per year.
The city-owned property on the northwest side of Boulder City near Bootleg Canyon would run about $3,000 per acre for much of the 60 to 80 acres under consideration. That's based on an appraisal of $30,000 an acre for land zoned for recreational use, according to Jim Ferrence, Hang Time's vice president and a campaign consultant to Boulder City Mayor Bob Ferraro. A small section is zoned for commercial use and would have a higher price, Ferrence said.
A Hang Time lease could generate more than $200,000 in lease revenue a year for Boulder City, officials said.
But that's just one of several planned and possible leases under consideration by the city, which has been relying on the practice to generate revenue.
Boulder City expects to generate about $1 million a year from the lease of 120 acres, 15 miles south of the U.S. 93 and U.S. 95 intersection, for the Cooper Mountain power plant. The city is to take in about $440,000 a year in lease revenue and other benefits for allowing a solar energy plant called Solargenix.
The city has agreed to lease 50 acres over 30 years to build a motorcross recreation park off U.S. 95. That is projected to generate about $60,000 a year for the city, city officials said.
Boulder City is considering a proposal for leasing 50-acres for a go-cart facility west of U.S. 95. There are also proposals by Zorb USA for leasing 10 acres west of U.S. 95 where it will charge people to ride down the hillside in an inflatable sphere.
And then there's Bonar Development Group, which wants to lease 10 acres for a solar generating operation.
City officials said lease revenue is important for paying down the debt on the golf course, which hasn't generated the revenue expected. It also provides the city some cushion to deal with inflation because revenue doesn't grow that quickly in a city that limits growth.
"I think the present leases we have and the leases under consideration will benefit Boulder City financially," Ferraro said. "That is important to the city. That is the single source of revenue that is not subject to the economy or the state. We have control over leases, but the others we don't."
The proposed leases are likely to face some opposition from residents who fear they constitute end-runs around the city's charter, which requires voters approve all land sales above one acre.
Sherman Rattner, who led the opposition to last week's ballot measure on the land sale, said the city needs to halt any more leases and develop a long-term vision. The leases are no different than selling property and said he would like residents to vote on a measure that prevents long-term leases unless they are approved by voters.
The leases will bring in projects that will generate more traffic and could increase the need for housing in Boulder City, Rattner said.
"We want to preserve and protect this community and the riches of it," Rattner said.
Ferraro said any concerns of development are unwarranted because the city's ordinance allows only 120 new homes to be built each year. He said he opposes having residents decide every long-term lease because that would have a crippling effect on the city that counts on tourism.
"The concern about leases is that it may mean more people, and they don't want more people," Ferraro said of opponents. "Somewhere they have to realize that if Boulder City is going to maintain its vitality, we have to have an infusion of people from the outside.
Hang Time wants to construct 10 indoor basketball courts, eight baseball and softball fields, six soccer fields, two tennis courts and a fitness center.
The complex will be used to host basketball and other camps that attract kids from across the country, Ferrence said. There also would be national baseball and softball tournaments for kids and adults and fantasy sports camps for adults that feature sports stars, he said.
Ferrence, who grew up in Boulder City, said the proximity of the complex to Las Vegas is the key to its potential success. That will attract adults who can have their children participate in camps in Boulder City.
"A lot of place you go have fields, but they don't have Las Vegas right over the hill," Ferrence said. "That's the beauty of it. Boulder City is perfect for kids participating in camps while their parents have their own fantasy camp."
Ferraro said he believes the proposal is legitimate and will have the necessary financing. Ferrence said the complex could open in 2007.
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