Southern Nevada: 'Dumping ground for land exchanges'

The federal government is fueling Southern Nevada's growth by providing the land needed for master-planned communities, the hottest development trend since the invention of tract housing.

It's gotten to the point that Commissioner Paul Christensen recently dubbed Southern Nevada a "dumping ground for land exchanges" as he called for a moratorium on future land deals.

A prime example is the recent sale of 950 acres in the remote southwest Las Vegas Valley to developer Jim Rhodes, who's using the land as the centerpiece of a 1,330-acre master-planned community called Rhodes Ranch.

Rhodes got the acreage through the Cashman Land Exchange. The Bureau of Land Management traded 950 acres of southwest valley desert for 1,300 acres of privately owned forest on Mummy Mountain in the Spring Mountains west of Las Vegas. The U.S. Forest Service got the mountain property and Rhodes got the desert land.

The Rhodes deal was finalized three weeks after Christensen called for the moratorium.

The land transfers "place an inordinate amount of pressure on the board to continue to say yes to development because there's a lot of demand for these master-planned communities," said Richard Holmes, comprehensive planning director for Clark County.

The BLM has about 20,000 acres in its disposal area surrounding the Las Vegas Valley. Most is in remote areas miles from the nearest water and sewer lines, isolated from fire and police protection, and accessible only by dirt roads.

About 12,000 acres of federal land are under consideration for trade or sale with private landholders who would like to swap their property for parcels in Southern Nevada.

County commissioners are hoping a bill introduced in Congress, the Nevada Land Exchange Act, could give them some control over what can be sold to the public, and give them 50 percent of the proceeds to help pay for public services.

Some county officials are worried that the BLM is selling the land before the bill can be approved.

"At the rate they're going, all the land in the disposal area will have been sold before the bill is approved and the county gets any money to pay for the infrastructure," Christensen said.

The BLM admitted that offers from private landowners to exchange theirs for BLM land in Las Vegas have speeded up, but the agency's negotiation process has slowed down.

BLM Associate District Manager Gary Ryan said the county should try to control growth through its zoning process.

"When we dispose of land, we dispose it with no control, no strings," Ryan said. "How the county chooses to allow development of that land is up to them."

Christensen said there's little the commission can do to stop rezoning once the land is in the hands of private interests.

"Unfortunately, the courts have taken away that right," Christensen said. "The law says the owner is allowed to get the highest and best use for the land."

Christensen doesn't fault the developers, nor does he blame the local BLM office for following policies from Washington.

"Environmentalists are selling out the Las Vegas Valley for land with trees on them," he said. "They figure that land is more sensitive and saveable than the desert."

Holmes said the BLM has gotten better about planning issues in the last 18 months, trying to work within the county's community district guidelines, which specify what areas are developable based on the necessary public services and utilities being in place.

The legislation in Congress would formalize that loose cooperative arrangement, Holmes said.

Meantime, land exchanges continue apace.

"The BLM makes the land possible; we have to do what we can," Holmes said. "It's a matter of money, and so far there's plenty of money."

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