Saturday, May 25, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
Bob Verkota spent years looking for the perfect piece of property on which to build a secluded retreat for him and his wife. He found it on an isolated five-acre spread in the southwest Las Vegas Valley.
The landscape is rugged, dotted with sagebrush and mesquite, pocked with gullies and hills. A wash cuts through the road to his house.
"We bought it for privacy, the complete seclusion, and the unobstructed view of the mountains. They're just beautiful," said Verkota, former owner of the Railroad Pass hotel-casino and a shareholder in Circus Circus Enterprises.
"We spent the last four years developing it because we wanted a tranquil place here. We feed 200-300 quail and doves here. The coyotes come to the back door. Desert tortoises come through the yard."
But Verkota and others who have built their desert paradises are threatened by something that has plagued every other corner of the valley: encroaching development.
Local developer Jim Rhodes, mastermind of Spanish Hills Estates and Elkhorn Ranch, wants to build a master-planned community bigger than the original Spring Valley, and about one-third the size of Summerlin South.
The project could make him one of the valley's biggest developers.
Yet it wouldn't exist if it weren't for a 1,300-acre land swap with the federal Bureau of Land Management.
To county planners, Rhodes' dream is a bureaucratic headache and a prime example of leapfrog development.
"This is akin to when Pardee came in and built Spring Valley in the early '70s," county Special Projects Coordinator Bonnie Rinaldi said. "They're opening up a whole new part of town all over again. Nobody expected this part of the valley to be developing this soon and fast."
To the couple hundred people whose homes are scattered through the southwest scrabble, the project is a threat to their way of life, and the type of neighborhood once common to Las Vegas -- rural estates.
"This reminds me of the old Craig Road Speedway," said Hal Long, a local contractor who lives on Wigwam Road east of Durango Drive. "Had to take a goat trail to get there. People bought the land, built homes and complained about the noise. Now the speedway is gone."
Same thing will happen here, Long said.
"We're against as much development as he is doing," Long said. "People will move here and complain about the smell of horses and kids riding four-wheelers in the desert. I've seen this time and time again in the Las Vegas Valley."
Rhodes is pushing for approval of the zoning and development agreements by Oct. 2, and wants to get going on an 18-hole golf course now so he can plant grass by fall.
Rinaldi said that may not be time enough to resolve important issues such as water, sewer, transportation and fire suppression.
Fueling the controversy is a six-month permit Rhodes obtained for a gravel mine at the site for the proposed golf course.
Neighbors complain that the county has greased the skids for development, even though Rhodes has not identified the exact site for the golf course, and he doesn't have the water on site for dust abatement and mining.
George Holman, vice president and corporate counsel for Rhodes Homes, said the course and gravel operations will be in the area south of Warm Springs and west of Durango.
Richard Chambers, a civil engineer with Rhodes Development, said the gravel plant would use a temporary water supply until a permanent six-mile, $6 million, 42-inch main can be built.
"I wouldn't go putting a water main from Spanish Trail to Warm Springs Road unless I knew for damn sure I was going to be able to use it for those houses and golf course," Long said. "He's either an awful big optimist or he knows something we don't know."
The County Commission will hear the residents' concerns June 5, the same day Rhodes' concept plan comes before the board for its first review. Residents will get a chance to hear the concept plan at the Spring Valley and Enterprise town board meetings Wednesday.
"Why is he getting this approved before any zoning changes for the golf course or community are approved?" wonders Kevin Kenstler, a Northwest Airlines pilot who has invested $1 million developing his property on Mistral Avenue.
"We know we can't stop this project, and we're not opposed to development," Kenstler said. But he objects to the way the Planning Commission prevented neighbors from expressing their concerns before approving the gravel operations. "I object to the sleazy, underhanded way they're sliding this through."
Comprehensive Planning Director Richard Holmes said it was not unusual for developers to get permission to process gravel on-site, but it was unusual to grant permission before the project itself was approved and with no specific boundaries for the pit operation.
"There were a lot of questions about the timing, that it hasn't been before the board for a major projects review," Holmes said. "I think that's why the Planning Commission placed a time limit of six months."
Former County Commissioner Thalia Dondero, who has been hired as a consultant on the project, said Rhodes doesn't plan to have gravel trucks rolling down neighborhood streets.
"What he's doing is using that for his project," Dondero said. "He wanted to get the golf course started."
The golf course would be part of the 1,330-acre Rhodes Ranch to be developed in tandem with a 303-acre development Rhodes has tentatively called Southwest Ranch.
Southwest Ranch is between Russell and Warm Springs roads, and Fort Apache Road and Hualpai Way, just catty-corner from the southern border of Summerlin South.
Rhodes Ranch stretches from just south of Sunset almost to Blue Diamond Road, and from Durango to Fort Apache. The proposed path for the southwestern leg of the beltway crosses the northeast corner of Rhodes Ranch.
The two projects are being planned as one development, although about 10 acres separate them. Rhodes said the two eventually may be connected.
Rhodes is asking for zoning that would allow him to build up to 15,000 homes and apartments, along with commercial and retail properties.
Dondero said the golf course would be surrounded by an adults-only community, which would take up about 55 percent of the 1,135 acres set aside for low-density residential use up to eight units per acre.
About 87 acres would be developed as medium-density residential, or up to 18 units per acre, and about 22 acres would be developed as high-density residential, up to 32 units per acre.
Ten acres would be set aside for low commercial development, 35 acres of general commercial and 40 acres of commercial tourist.
Almost 180 acres of the Southwest Ranch would be developed as low-density residential, while 105 acres would be developed as medium residential, with about 20 acres of commercial.
Rhodes Ranch would engulf Verkota and his closest neighbor, who owns a horse ranch.
Verkota bought his place because he thought neighboring BLM land would provide a buffer against the kind of development Rhodes is proposing.
"This is exactly why my wife and I spent three, four years trying to find something," Verkota said. "We zeroed in on this five acres because the BLM was on three sides and the wash was on the fourth side.
"Why would anybody jump over open land to us?"
Rhodes got his land from the BLM in March. The process began when the BLM picked up 1,300 acres of environmentally sensitive Cashman family property on Mummy Mountain for the U.S. Forest Service. In exchange, the agency turned over 950 acres in the southwest valley. Rhodes holds that tract, which makes up the bulk of the Rhodes Ranch project.
Verkota is bothered by the relatively short time it took for Rhodes to get the BLM property.
"I bought land from the BLM when I was at Railroad Pass," Verkota said. "It took nine years to get it through. It was very difficult."
Verkota said he got no prior notification of the sale, and that he was told there was no land sale two days before the deal was signed.
Larry Sip, realty specialist for the BLM's Las Vegas district office, said the land deals took several years to negotiate.
"We put it in the paper, published four times as a legal notice, and gave a 45-day public comment period," Sip said. "I don't know what else to say. I feel for him, I really do."
Holman wouldn't comment on how much the land cost, but Sip said it was appraised at about $9,300 an acre, or close to $9 million for 950 acres.
Holmes said Rhodes also acquired many smaller private properties in the area and assembled it into one large contiguous piece. A search of assessor's records shows those private holdings valued at about $8 million.
The problem for county planners is the property is set several miles outside the development boundaries set by the County Commission, miles from water and sewer lines and not contiguous to any current development.
"Jim Rhodes is really aggressive in terms of making this happen," Rinaldi said. "But it's a quick change for us. Until two years ago all that land was public, so we have no plans for development or providing infrastructure for that area."
In other words, the county has had no warning about the kind of utilities and public services needed for a project of this scope.
"There are a whole range of issues," Holmes said. "Water, traffic, flood control, etc. If the board wants us to proceed with something this large, we would have to appoint an internal coordination team to work with the project developers and look at these issues."
Holmes said the county has made it clear that even with the land exchange process, the county has not pre-approved this intense a development.
For one thing, the developers are going to have to figure out where water for the golf course is coming from, because the board won't permit them to use drinkable water.
Also, the Planning Commission action specified that the gravel permit in no way implies approval for early grading for the golf course.
Another golf course is a tough sell, said Rinaldi, since the board approved the 300-acre Champions layout and luxury condominium project south of Blue Diamond Road six months ago.
And then there are other issues such as schools, parks and fire and police service.
"It's going to cost a fortune to make this developable," Rinaldi said. "We're just now figuring that out."
But Rinaldi said the major projects review process is the best means the county has for addressing the needs that accompany such a huge project.
"I think this project would go through anyway, but this allows us to plan infrastructure," Rinaldi said.
Rinaldi said she sympathizes with the homeowners facing development.
"This is the first time this neighborhood ever had to face those pressures square in the eye," Rinaldi said. "They're experiencing the county's growth policy and it's not a nice experience."
And more major developments will be coming. The county recently opened 30 square miles, and the beltway is progressing westward.
"The fact the beltway is going to cross a corner of this property makes it more viable," Rinaldi said. "The beltway opens up that whole area of town, so it's time to plan.
"I haven't heard a commissioner say no to development. I don't see it stopping."
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