By Jean Reid Norman (contact)

Thu, Oct 16, 2008 (midnight)

The city will be gathering ideas and studying possible routes for three trail systems to connect neighborhoods to trails in the surrounding desert.

The Henderson City Council on Oct. 7 authorized spending more than $500,000 for feasibility studies for two projects in the McCullough Mountain range, which borders the south side of town, and for another project that would connect trails in the River Mountains, east of town, to those along the southern edge.

Over the next six to 12 months, consultants will study the terrain, talk to frequent users of the areas and hold public meetings, so residents "can tell us what they're looking for," park planner Patricia Ayala said.

All three projects are funded by the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, which allows proceeds from federal land sales in the Las Vegas Valley to be used to preserve open space and improve parks and trails.

The largest of the three projects, the Black Mountain Open Space Project, encompasses 1,000 acres of land south of Horizon Ridge Parkway and Gibson Road on the west side of Black Mountain. The contract with Santec Consulting Inc. is for $208,900.

"We are looking for the best use of that land," Ayala said. "There are some wonderful valleys over there."

The second project in the McCullough range, the MacDonald Canyons Nature Park, could connect neighborhoods around Sunridge Heights and Horizon Ridge parkways to the desert trails south of the city that go into the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area, Ayala said.

The goal for the almost 40 acres is to create trails for hiking and similar uses along linear parks, perhaps with educational markers, she said. The land is to be dedicated to the city by Sunridge Development Co., which developed the Sunridge community, she said.

Nearby Sunridge Park has ballfields, lighted basketball, tennis and volleyball courts and other amenities, so the area does not need a neighborhood park, Ayala said.

"This is more about … allowing neighborhoods to have open space come into their neighborhoods," she said. "Part of the vision for open space is not to have a harsh edge of where the neighborhood stops and the desert starts."

The City Council approved a contract for $198,700 for the study with WLB Group, a landscape architecture firm.

The third project, on the southeast edge of the city, would connect the 35-mile River Mountains Loop Trail east of Boulder Highway near College Drive to a trail system being developed in the McCullough Mountains on the west side of Boulder Highway.

The 6.5-mile trail would begin at an informal trailhead on the River Mountain Loop Trail at Paradise Hills Drive and end at the trailhead of the McCullough Hills Trail, which is still in the environmental study phase.

"We are going to look at people and bicycles, multiuse and equestrian, just like we have along the River Mountains," Ayala said.

Alta Planning & Design received the contract for about $150,000.