Monday, Feb. 21, 2000 | 11:44 a.m.
Clark County staff members say they felt uneasy and intimidated when a county commissioner showed up at a meeting to lobby for a developer's project.
Commissioner Erin Kenny's presence at the staff meeting was designed to influence their decision in favor of developer Jim Rhodes' request to renege on a prior agreement and move a drainage ditch off his property on to public land, staff members said.
Kenny, whose presence was called "unusual" by other county officials, showed up at the Feb. 11 meeting to advocate the request made by Rhodes, who owns the neighborhood in which Kenny lives and is a friend.
The staff meeting initially was scheduled to allow the Flood Control District and the county's airport, planning and public works officials to discuss the request with Rhodes.
Staff members, who ultimately answer to the Clark County Commission, said Kenny's decision to attend the meeting might have been an attempt to intimidate them.
Rhodes is planning to expand his Rhodes Ranch residential development on the west side of Durango Drive on property he acquired through a 1995 land exchange with the Bureau of Land Management.
BLM officials said the value of the property was reduced by about $186,000 because the Flood Control District had designated a 100-foot easement for the Tropicana-Flamingo Wash.
Rhodes officials said the ditch would pose aesthetics problems and want it moved to the east side of Durango, where a county park and golf course are planned and a high school is under construction.
County officials have declined to publicly offer their opinion about Rhodes' proposal, but in a staff report prepared for the Planning Commission, planners and airport officials firmly state their opposition.
"Such a use does not constitute a legitimate public benefit as the channel has already been sited and designed for a location west of Durango Drive...," the report said.
"Staff strongly recommends denial and that action on this item not be delayed."
The item was removed from the Planning Commission's Feb. 15 agenda because Rhodes requested additional time to meet with staff.
Kenny could not be reached for comment today.
County sources, who asked not to be identified, said not only did Rhodes have a deal with the BLM but that placing a 60-foot-wide concrete drainage ditch near a park and a school would create a public danger. It also would likely cost the taxpayers a significant amount of money.
Officials involved in designing flood channels said Rhodes could help with the cost of building the ditch on the west side and actually making it an asset to his neighborhood. Many channels are designed with natural resources and made into linear parks, which tend to increase the value of nearby homes.
Rhodes Design and Development Corp.'s Richard Chambers said last week that the request was made because of aesthetics. He said if the channel was moved, Rhodes could only add about 30 more homes to the 30,000-home expansion.
The land on the east side of Durango was acquired by the airport from the BLM and is part of 5,300 acres called the Co-operative Management Area.
Profits from any sale of the land will be shared by federal, state and county governments with the federal government taking about 85 percent.
Gale Fraser, director of the Flood Control District, said his organization will not pay a dime for the land needed to move the channel to the east side of Durango.
County staff members said Rhodes has offered to pay for the project.
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