Las Vegas airport eyes options for development of 5,300 acres

The value of land is more than its monetary worth, and must be developed with that concept in mind.

That was the message delivered Thursday by Clark County Aviation Director Randy Walker to the Southern Nevada chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties.

Walker said the 5,300 acres under his department's authority are integral to the growth of both the county and McCarran International Airport.

"I think it's very important that we manage the development of that land in a way that is compatible with the growth of McCarran," he said. "We're not in it for the money. We want to do this right, and that's why we're in the process of doing a master plan to create a clear vision of how to develop the land."

The 5,300-acre parcel of land, dubbed the Co-operative Management Area, reaches north to Flamingo Avenue, east to Eastern Avenue, west to Fort Apache and south to Cactus Avenue.

Profits from the sale of the land will be shared between the federal, state and county governments; the lion's share -- 85 percent -- goes to the federal government, the county receives 10 percent, with the balance going to the state educational system.

On March 30, control of the land was transferred from the Bureau of Land Management to Walker's department. He told the NAIOP meeting that fully developing the expansive area is a challenge due to previous missteps by the BLM.

"This land was transferred to our authority by the BLM, and quite frankly they did a poor job as custodians," he said. "They parceled out various small areas to both residential and non-residential development, and that complicates the (development) process for us."

Walker said the law precluded any further residential development in the CMA, meaning most of the land will likely only be available for commercial and industrial use.

"There's certainly a lot of land along the Beltway that would be well-suited for both commercial and industrial development," he said.

The county is currently considering various methods to best dispose of the CMA land, said Walker.

"The three methods of releasing the land would be to either auction it off, trade it for other land or lease it for up to 50 years," he said.

However, Walker cautioned developers that he wasn't interested in selling off prime portions of CMA land at the expense of the greater good.

"We're not going to allow people to come in and cherry pick the very best of the property," he said. "We're looking to create something nice for the community as a whole.

"We don't want to end up like Chicago or New York, with all the noise problems that they have surrounding their airports. There won't be any residential or hotel development on the (CMA) land. We want to do things differently here, and plan to do it right."

Other aviation issues discussed by Walker included the necessity of building a 6,600-acre airport in the Ivanpah Valley between Primm and Jean.

"The environmentalists are not happy about building this airport, but if we don't succeed in building it the whole valley may suffer," he said. "We estimate that McCarran will be completely built out by about 2010. We simply won't have any more room to grow (the airport).

"Currently about 50 percent of visitors to Las Vegas arrive by air. So, if we can't accommodate the arrival of more planes, the entire valley's economic growth is in peril."

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