City to study annexing land in valley

Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008 | midnight

The city will study the economic impact of annexing privately owned land in the Eldorado Valley.

Four of eight potentially affected property owners polled in August expressed interest in joining the city's borders if they are provided water and other utilities, City Manager Vicki Mayes said.

The City Council voted 3-2 on Oct. 14 to award the $60,000 analysis contract to Slater-Hanifan Group, a Las Vegas firm the city has not worked with before. It was the only firm that responded.

Council members Andrea Anderson and Linda Strickland voted against the study.

Though the city has considered the annexation for years, it has never performed a study on the impact of adopting the 385 acres.

It has annexed two areas in its history, neither of them involving private property: the Western Area Power Administration and the Eldorado Valley transfer area.

State law requires the annexation study to identify present and future streets, sewer and water lines, the city's plans to provide police and fire protection, garbage collection, street maintenance and traffic effects.

The land, if annexed, couldn't be used for residential developments, gaming, sexually oriented businesses or airfields. Gambling or sexually oriented businesses are not legal in Boulder City, and the study assumes similar zoning on the parcels as they have now with Clark County.

The owners who responded positively were MTEA Family LLC, John and Micki Floyd, Eldorado Land Corp. and Eldorado Hills LLC.

The city did not hear from Falcon Pointe Limited Trust, which Mayes called a "critical parcel in the annexation of the northern section of the private land holdings," because it would provide the link between the current city limit and parcels owned by MTEA Family LLC, which operates a gravel pit, and Eldorado Hills LLC, which has a gun club on the site.

MTEA Family LLC said it was interested in annexation, provided it could build a truck stop with gaming, which the city would not agree to, Mayes said. It was taken out of the annexation study.

All utility and road extensions would be paid for by the annexed parties.

Anderson said she was concerned the areas were too far away from the city's current development, and the parcels were in a patchwork — not in a complete block of land.

"I really don't see a benefit for Boulder City at this point," she said. "It's almost like we're creating an island out there."

Strickland said she has always opposed the "premature" annexing, and felt the rest of the town opposed it as well.

"Water is something that we need to protect, and ensure that we're not giving it out in an irrational fashion," she said. "I'm not in favor of spending $60,000 on something I'm not interested in doing."

Councilmen Travis Chandler and Mike Pacini and Mayor Roger Tobler said the annexation was important for the long-term future of the city and could help the tax base.

Mayes said several years ago, the Bureau of Land Management, which owns most of the land around the proposed area for annexation now, said it wasn't interested in annexation.

Cassie Tomlin can be reached at 948-2073 or cassie.tomlin@hbcpub.com.