Park money from public lands dries up

By Jeremy Twitchell

Thursday, Oct. 30, 2008 | midnight

Since its passage in 1998, the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act has been the biggest funding source for parks and trails development in Henderson.

But as the construction slowdown continues to take its toll on the Las Vegas Valley, the flow of money the act generates through land sales has dried up and is limiting the funding available to Henderson and the other eligible cities and counties.

The act allows counties and municipalities in Southern Nevada to nominate local parcels of land held by the Bureau of Land Management for public auction. After they are sold, 85 percent of the proceeds go into a fund that supplies grants to fund parks and trails projects in Southern Nevada.

Each fall, cities and counties submit a project wish list to the BLM. When business was booming in Southern Nevada, Henderson routinely had millions of dollars in projects approved each year.

But as growth has slowed and the demand at the land sales has plummeted, Henderson has adjusted its expectations accordingly and has requested funding for just two projects this year.

"The projected amounts are significantly lower than they have been in previous years, and so are our nominations," Henderson Park Planner Patricia Ayala said.

The final numbers haven't been processed yet, Ayala said, but the total price tag for the two proposed projects should be between $900,000 and $1.5 million. For comparison, the city averaged more than $22 million and almost four approved projects per year in the first nine years of the act.

Henderson's proposals for the upcoming year are for improvements on the River Mountain Loop Trail and construction assistance at Paradise Pointe Park, to be built on Horizon Ridge Parkway, south of Paradise Hills Drive.

Ayala said the River Mountain improvements would consist of informational signs, safety improvements and restoration of desert areas that have been damaged by illegal off-roading.

"We want to give a little bit more on the history and the exploration of these mountains," Ayala said. "There's a lot of history there and we wanted to try to capture some of that."

Paradise Pointe Park will be built on five acres that Henderson purchased from developer KB Homes earlier this year, using money from the city's land fund.

Ayala said the first phase of the park will be built using money from the city's Residential Construction Tax Fund, while the federal grant money, if approved, would be used for future improvements that would possibly include an educational component.

"To the south you have BLM land, and the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area is just to the west, so we thought it would be good to educate residents about the federal lands around these neighborhoods," Ayala said.

Planning for Paradise Pointe Park will continue during the grant process, Ayala said. There is no time frame for construction yet, she said, because the park is in the earliest planning stages.

The BLM is expected to review and rank all of the proposals sometime next spring and then make funding decisions by August. Though the review process will likely be tighter than in years past, given the funding issues, Ayala said, she is confident in Henderson's proposals.

"We're positively looking forward to both of these being funded," she said. "These are both worthy projects that we think meet the funding guidelines given to us."

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