Legislative panel recommends site for vets' home

A legislative subcommittee Tuesday recommended a 40-acre site in Boulder City for the state's first veterans' home after considering several potential Las Vegas Valley locations.

The unanimous recommendation delighted several veterans and Boulder City officials in attendance at the Grant Sawyer State Office Building. But there were concerns that the site was too far away for visitors from Las Vegas and from the University Medical Center's level II trauma unit.

The 180-bed skilled nursing care home is expected to cost $19.3 million, with two-thirds of the money coming from the federal government and the balance from the state. The facility for aging and ailing veterans could open as early as 2000. Nevada is currently one of only five states without a veterans' home.

The recommended site on the western edge of Boulder City is about one-half mile north of U.S. 93, due north of the city's airport.

Four of the six members of the Interim Finance subcommittee -- Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, Sen. Lawrence Jacobsen, R-Minden, and Assemblymen Bob Price, D-North Las Vegas, and Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas -- were present and made the recommendation.

The recommendation will be considered by the full Interim Finance Committee at its June 25 meeting in Carson City. The site must also be approved by the state Board of Examiners, which includes Gov. Bob Miller, Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa and Secretary of State Dean Heller.

Price said he would have preferred a site in the Las Vegas Valley. But some potential locations were deemed either too small, too isolated from public transportation routes, or insufficient because of poor soil.

The recommendation also needed at least four votes to pass. With state Sen. Jack Regan, D-Las Vegas, and Assemblyman Jack Close, R-Las Vegas, both at meetings out of state, that meant the four remaining subcommittee members either had to agree on a site or make no recommendation. Price said that's why he voted with the majority.

"It's a very nice site," Price said. "But my first choice was to do something here in Vegas because the transportation would have been easier. Up until today (Monday), most of the people I talked to had been in favor of the location in North Las Vegas, the one on Craig Road and 5th Street."

That site, however, was rejected because of soil problems. Still there were some veterans who opposed the Boulder City site because it was more remote.

The state law that established the veterans' home stipulated in part that the facility had to be near a level II trauma unit. Price said the only hospital with that designation in Southern Nevada is UMC.

But he said he was convinced there would be sufficient helicopter service to transport the veterans from Boulder City to the hospital if necessary. Veterans' groups also are planning van service that would enable family members to visit residents of the nursing home.

Price said, however, that he may change his mind and vote for a site in the Las Vegas Valley if the Interim Finance Committee chooses to go that route.

Boulder City Assistant Mayor Bryan Nix hopes that isn't the case. He was thrilled with the subcommittee's recommendation.

"The site is a perfect site for a veterans' home," Nix said. "We feel we have a lot to offer. It's a quiet town with good community support and strong volunteerism."

The recommended site is on land owned by Boulder City. Nix said the city is proposing to swap that land for the shuttered 12-acre Southern Nevada Children's Home campus, which is owned by the state. The Legislature, in a controversial decision last year, closed the children's home. The children were relocated to other group and foster homes.

Nix said St. Jude's Ranch For Children is eyeing the Boulder City campus for potential expansion. The city itself would use the campus either for a library or for youth activities such as a skateboard park, Nix said.

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