Tuesday, April 29, 2003 | 11:17 a.m.
Nevada's U.S. senators are proposing legislation that the two hope will settle the ongoing controversy of land largely surrounded by the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.
Sen. John Ensign, a Republican, and Sen. Harry Reid, his Democratic colleague, presented the plan Monday to buy 2,400 acres of strip-mined land surrounded by the national conservation area, then turn it over to Clark County for environmental reclamation. Eventually, the land would be turned over to the federal Bureau of Land Management for inclusion within the 196,000-acre conservation area.
Also backing the proposal is Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, who has supported efforts to limit development on the land on top Blue Diamond Hill and has suggested federal intervention might end the ongoing debate over the future of the property.
The deal would be funded with revenues from the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act, a federal law backed by then-Rep. Ensign and former Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev. The act has provided tens of millions of dollars for environmental purposes in Clark County through the sale of BLM land in and around Las Vegas.
Reid and Ensign said the price that the federal government could fund would be limited to an independent appraiser's "fair market value," even if that came at less than the $50 million Rhodes said he spent buying the land.
Environmentalists and recreational users of the canyon, a favorite day trip for residents and visitors, have rallied against proposed or potential development on the "in-holding" on top Blue Diamond Hill over the last two years. "In-holding" is development jargon for private property that is largely or completely surrounded by public land. Developer Jim Rhodes bought the property from James Hardie Gypsum last month and has indicated that he wants to build neighborhoods on the land.
Rhodes and his representatives have also railed against state legislation now in the Assembly and a Clark County ordinance, both of which would limit him to about one house per two acres on the gypsum mine property. An unsuccessful proposal last year for development by another company would have put more than 8,000 homes on top the hill.
State Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, who drafted the state legislation, said she backs Ensign's proposed legislation on the issue. The federal moves make the state law even more important, she said.
"Rhodes would rather swap that land," she said. "They will need my bill to put the pressure on to sell it.
"If (Rhodes) thinks he can still develop it, he won't try to sell."
Last week, a Rhodes' media representative said the developer is not interested in selling the property, but would consider a swap for federal land somewhere else in Southern Nevada.
Ensign said a swap is not the goal of his proposal. He noted that James Hardie Gypsum "was completely uninterested" in offers for conservation easements or sales earlier this year.
But with the state and local development restrictions apparently moving forward, the time may be better for Rhodes to accept a buyout, Ensign said.
"Initially, the county would use the money from the act to buy the land and use other monies from the act to reclaim the land," Ensign said. "Then once reclaimed, Sen. Reid and I would have to act to include the land as part of the Red Rock conservation area.
Ensign said the process would likely take at least several years. James Hardie Gypsum has said it would cost at least several million to restore the property's natural environment.
Paul Brown, Southern Nevada director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, a liberal advocacy group, provided one of the few cautionary voices following Monday's announcement.
"It's one of those tough choices," Brown said. "You don't want to see this guy (Rhodes) rewarded for basically trying to despoil a natural wonder. On the other hand you don't want to see development out there on that hill.
"It does show the tremendous clout that the developer, Mr. Rhodes, has. This has been a politically connected job all along, and it still looks that way.
"I'm sure he'll come out of this smelling like a rose. If the rest of us don't smell manure, we'll be happy."
But Ensign, Reid and Woodbury said the deal would not be a bail-out for Rhodes whose development options now appear to be limited because of the state and local proposals for development restrictions.
"It's anything but that," Woodbury said. "Citizen activists out in Blue Diamond and many, many people in the community concerned about development in Red Rock have encouraged the acquisition by the federal government of this property.
"Even if the legislation proposed by Sen. Titus passes along with the county overlay, there would still be the possibility of the property being developed," Woodbury said. "You could still see hundreds, possibly thousands of homes.
"This proposal would prevent any potential development of that site and restore what is a pretty ugly mine to as close a natural state as we could get it," he said.
Woodbury is likely to win solid, perhaps unanimous support from his colleagues, who indicated earlier this month that they wanted the federal government to provide the funding for a resolution to the controversial issue.
Evan Blythin, chairman of the Red Rock Citizens Advisory Council and an advocate for any alternative to development of the 2,400 acres, said Rhodes is probably entitled to whatever profit he could achieve from any future deal.
Last week, Blythin said he had met with the developer and come up with a plan that would swap the land near Red Rock for an unspecified amount of federal land elsewhere in Southern Nevada.
"He is a businessman and he slipped in there while the feds were snoring," Blythin said. "He bought a property. He makes whatever he can make, and if he is a robber baron, then he is a robber baron.
"I think he should make a profit. ," he said. "He's worked his fanny off weaseling his way in there. ... We can fear and loathe Jim Rhodes, which I think a lot of people do, but I don't think he is any different from any other businessman."
BLM representatives who have said for months that they are not eager to take over the land because of the mining reclamation required shifted gears rapidly Monday, welcoming the proposal.
The difference, they said, is that the job of reclaiming the land and eliminating safety hazards posed by the mining would be taken on by the county under the proposal.
"That has always been our major concern -- the safety and liability issues," BLM field office spokesman Phil Guerrero said. "Our concern all along has always been who would be left holding the bag for the work on top of Blue Diamond Hill.
"It seems to be a win-win for everyone involved," Guerrero said. "It would forever protect Blue Diamond Hill from development."
Jo Simpson, spokeswoman for the statewide BLM office in Reno, said that her agency would welcome a nomination for the use of the federal funds to buy the property. Her agency has about $100 million available for environmental acquisitions from land sales under the 1998 Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act.
But among the chorus of support for the proposal, one question remains unanswered. Under the terms of the 1998 law, Rhodes would have to be a "willing seller."
Rhodes, father of several huge master-planned communities in Las Vegas including Rhodes Ranch, has until now said he is not interested in a straight sale of the property under any terms but would like more land for development.
Lynn Purdue, a Rhodes spokeswoman, said she does not know what kind of deal the developer favors at this point.
"Right now he's willing to listen to anything anybody has to say," Purdue said. "We don't even know what offer we're talking about."
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