Editorial: Getting best deal imaginable

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has been criticized in the past for not getting the best price possible when it sells federally owned land. But the agency was confronted with a dilemma recently when it considered relinquishing more than 7,500 acres of federal land located within the boundaries of North Las Vegas. City officials there wanted the land to be sold in one huge parcel so that a master-planned community could be created similar to the successful Summerlin and Green Valley developments. The problem with this, though, was that the BLM feared that selling the land in one large chunk -- instead of smaller, individual parcels -- could result in the federal government getting less money when auctioning off the land.

Despite their previous differences, it appears the goals of both North Las Vegas and the BLM can be attained. The BLM commissioned Restrepo Consulting Group of Las Vegas to conduct a market study, assessing how the real estate market would respond to various scenarios involving the sale of this land. The consultant, in a report released this week, agreed with North Las Vegas that the land should be master planned. But rather than a sale to a single buyer, the consultant recommended that the land be sold in 10 to 15 blocks to the highest bidders at an auction.

One of the trends in real estate has been the development of master-planned communities. North Las Vegas has been trying to do the same, but it just didn't have the kind of acreage available to replicate these other successful developments. Under the consultant's plans, these sales could result in 3,900 acres for residential areas, more than 2,300 acres for parks and schools, 475 acres of business parks and 775 acres of retail commercial space.

A key provision of federal legislation passed in 1998, which allows the sale of public land in Southern Nevada by the BLM, requires that much of that money generated will stay here. Under the law, 85 percent of the proceeds from the sale will go back to the BLM, which in turn is to use this money to buy environmentally sensitive lands elsewhere in Nevada. Meanwhile, 10 percent of the money will help pay for Southern Nevada water projects, and the remaining 5 percent will be spent on public education. As the Sun's Diana Sahagun reported Wednesday, the sale of BLM lands can be lucrative. The BLM's last auction, in November 1999, resulted in $9.5 million for just 100 acres in Southern Nevada. So it's obvious that the potential for the sale of land in North Las Vegas is promising.

Now it's up to the North Las Vegas City Council to decide whether it will go along with the recommendations. This is a sensible plan that North Las Vegas should endorse. This is a proposal in which everyone wins. While it won't be on the grand scale it once envisioned, North Las Vegas still will be able to develop master-planned communities, and the BLM will get more funds to buy environmentally sensitive lands elsewhere in this state.

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