Henderson looks to clean up former mining area

By Jeremy Twitchell

Published Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2008 | midnight

Updated Monday, Nov. 17, 2008 | 11:51 a.m.

As Henderson prepares to annex nearly 800 acres along the city's eastern border, city officials are planning for the cleanup and eventual development of the one-time mining operation.

The Three Kids Mine Area, which the city has renamed Lakemoor Canyon on annexation documents, is located south of Lake Las Vegas, across Lake Mead Parkway and bordering the Lake Mead National Recreation area. Lakemoor was the site of manganese mining during Henderson's formative years, providing the base mineral that drove magnesium production at the manufacturing plants that spawned the city.

Since the mining efforts ceased in 1961, the site has remained contaminated and undeveloped. Now, however, one land owner is interested in developing the area, and the city is interested in helping.

Last Tuesday, the Henderson City Council unanimously adopted a resolution of intent to evaluate the area for designation as a redevelopment area. The public hearing to discuss the annexation is scheduled for Nov. 18.

If the site is designated as a redevelopment area, the city would be able to finance its cleanup and then use special taxes levied on development in the area to pay the bill.

Henderson Assistant Community Development Director Tracy Foutz said the city has looked at some conceptual designs for the area, but that no applications have been submitted or reviewed.

Most of the land that would be annexed is still in the hands of the Bureau of Reclamation while a small portion belongs to the Bureau of Land Management, so between private purchase of the land, cleanup efforts and infrastructure development, any construction in Lakemoor Canyon is still years away, city officials said.

But Foutz said a private developer has expressed an interest and that the city has received indications that the federal government would be willing to sell the land to the right buyer in order to free itself of the cleanup burden.

"If (the BLM) has an interested buyer that the city is willing to work with and the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection approves a cleanup process, they would likely sell that land," Foutz said.

Henderson Redevelopment Manager Michelle Romero likened the process to the city's work with the Landwell Co., which is developing a 2,200-acre mixed-use project just a short distance away from Lakemoor in the city's Eastside Redevelopment Area. In that case, Romero said, the city has been able to finance infrastructure development that will be paid for through the tax increment generated when the land is developed.

"Nothing has been negotiated yet, but we could do something like that," Romero said.

A portion of the Landwell project that required environmental cleanup is being taken care of by the company, under the direction of the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection.

Jeremy Twitchell can be reached at 990-8928 or [email protected].