State lawmakers want assurances park will not be developed commercially

Friday, Sept. 16, 2005 | 9:27 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Floyd Lamb State Park, a former city park turned over to the state in the 1970s, is set to be returned to the control of Las Vegas City Hall, but some state lawmakers are worried that the city will permit commercial development on part of the property.

The Legislative Interim Finance Committee on Thursday conditionally approved the return of the park, but the state and the city must first hold a public planning session to try to ensure all 1,680 acres of the park continue to be used only for recreation.

City officials have said they intend to leave the park in its present state, except perhaps renovating some of the existing facilities at the park. Also, the park transfer agreement OK'd by the City Council in June stated that only passive uses, such as hiking trails and picnic areas, would be allowed at the park.

City and some state leaders have said that under the ownership of the city the park will probably see more funding for maintenance than it receives from the state.

The state and Las Vegas officials have been working for years on handing over the 680-acre park to the city, plus an adjacent 1,000 acres now leased by the state from the Bureau of Land Management.

The Las Vegas City Council has already agreed to take the park, but Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, said she wanted to make sure that the 1,000 acres remains a park.

"I want to protect the wide open spaces," she said. The committee put a condition on the deal that the city and the state must hold a public session to sample the feeling of citizens. Assemblyman David Parks, D-Las Vegas, said he was budget director for Las Vegas in 1977 when the city gave the park to the state. He said he opposed it then. He called it a "priceless piece of property." Pam Wilcox, administrator of the state Lands Division, said the city has surrounded the park and "it's time to return it to the city."

In other action Thursday, the committee: