Friday, March 7, 2003 | 11:34 a.m.
Rally planned
Groups working to stop development proposed for land near the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area are planning a rally 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 29 at the Highpoint Lookout of the conservation area's scenic loop.
A proposal in Carson City to stop high-density residential development on a gypsum mine adjacent to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is clashing with a local proposal that supporters hope will do the same thing.
The bill proposal in the Legislature, sponsored by Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, is moving forward. Local supporters who worked on the county's Red Rock overlay, on the other hand, say their effort has been stalled for weeks.
And while the local overlay is debated, representatives for developer Jim Rhodes have met with Clark County Commissioner Mark James, who represents the area.
James said this week that he has met with representatives from Rhodes Homes, activists in the Blue Diamond area and James Hardie Gypsum, the company that owns the mining area at the center of development controversies.
"I plan on meeting with everybody involved," James said. "Anything adopted should be a consensus."
James said the recent death of his mother delayed his active participation in discussions on the issue, but he plans to renew those talks with all parties and include a professional mediator.
He said the discussions on the county restrictions, which supporters hope would limit overall development, did not include the potential developer or James Hardie Gypsum -- and since those companies would be directly affected, they should have been included.
Supporters said Thursday that those players chose not to participate in the widely reported and publicly noticed discussions on the issue. They said they are frustrated that the overlay proposal, which county staff said was ready to go to the commission a month ago, has not been scheduled for introduction as an ordinance.
The overlay proposal is in part a reaction to an aborted effort last year to put as many as 8,400 homes on top of Blue Diamond Hill, which overlooks the conservation area, the Las Vegas Valley and the small town of Blue Diamond. Widespread opposition helped scuttle the development planned by John Laing Homes.
"The overlay -- that just smells worse and worse as time goes on," said Evan Blythin, a Blue Diamond village resident and chairman of the Red Rock Citizens Advisory Council, which provides input to the County Commission on land-use issues.
"All it's doing is miring things down and creating a real headache here," he said. Blythin added that he suspects the lack of movement on the overlay can be chalked up to development schemes for the hill.
"I think it's just dead," he said. "Rhodes will be starting whatever he's going to do, so he'll be grandfathered in before the overlay gets established."
Lynn Purdue, a spokeswoman for Rhodes, said she could not comment on any potential project on the hill involving her client. Cece Tripi, an attorney for James Hardie Gypsum, the company that owns the land on top Blue Diamond Hill, could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Bob Abbey, state director of the federal Bureau of Land Management, said his agency has offered to buy the property and set it aside for permanent protection. James Hardie Gypsum, he said, emphatically rejected the offer.
The BLM does not have the legal authority to take the property, more than 2,000 acres on top the hill, without a willing seller, Abbey said.
Since the beginning of this year, both companies have declined to comment on any plans to develop the hill.
Pauline van Betten, a Blue Diamond resident who worked on the proposed local overlay, said she is still hopeful that a county law could come in that would at least hinder efforts to develop the hilltop.
"Mark James is right to bring stakeholders to the table, but I don't think James Hardie should be the single deciding factor as to when the overlay should be vetted," she said. "I think the typical developer play is to ask for some outrageous thing and them get some sort of compromise.
"I don't feel there is a need for it to be watered down."
But James has support for another look at the proposed development restrictions from at least one other county commissioner. Chip Maxfield, who represents the northern part of the proposed overlay, said residents in the Calico Basin area adjacent to the conservation area have concerns about the impact the law would have on their properties.
Maxfield and James agree that they do not want to see high-density development on the hill. They also agree that Titus' proposal in Carson City is not the best way to stop that sort of development.
"I have concerns with the Legislature trying to pass land-use ordinances," Maxfield said.
Titus said she is responding to the lack of action locally. She said she has worked and will continue to work with county planners and leadership, but the area needs to be protected.
Titus is putting the finishing touches on her bill, which would freeze current zoning in the mining area to one house per two acres.
"It would take the map that was drawn from the overlay zone and it would say that you could not have any denser development than you could have now," she said. "They wouldn't be able to change the zoning."
The Legislative Counsel Bureau has signed off on the legality of the bill, Titus said.
The senator, who has watched the controversies over the fate of the area closely, said she expects James Hardie Gypsum and Rhodes Homes to lobby her colleagues on the issue -- but she believes there is "a lot of support for it."
If the opposition is able to kill the central proposal, Titus said her backup plan would be to bring the issue to a popular referendum in Clark County. She is confident that the voters would vote to stop any high-density residential development outside Red Rock Canyon, one of the region's most popular day trips.
"It's not a Blue Diamond issue," she said. "It's a Red Rock issue. We've got support from all over the place."
While Titus' proposal is not popular with the Clark County Commission, it appears to have solid support from those who have opposed previous development proposals. Activists are asking people to attend a March 29 rally at the canyon to support her bill.
Van Betten said residents of Blue Diamond and Red Rock visitors will support the bill.
"Non-conforming zoning, or changing the zoning, is inappropriate for the Red Rock overlay," she said. "Titus' bill would answer that concern.
"I don't care who steps up to the plate," she said. "I'm just waiting for anyone to be a hero on this front." Rhodes will be starting whatever he's going to do, so he'll be grandfathered in before the overlay gets established."
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