Thursday, March 27, 2003 | 11:12 a.m.
Las Vegas developer Jim Rhodes has purchased the gypsum mine outside the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, company officials said Wednesday while protesting an attempt to limit development in the area.
Rhodes' company acknowledged that he bought about 2,400 acres of land from the James Hardie company near Blue Diamond for $50 million, and Rhodes' representatives asked the state Senate Committee on Government Affairs to kill a proposal by Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, that would permanently restrict high-density residential development on the hill and throughout the conservation area.
After hearing the presentation, Red Rock enthusiasts said they were concerned about the future of the area, which they are trying to preserve through Titus' bill.
Titus warned that without a permanent freeze on high-density zoning, the future of Red Rock and Blue Diamond Hill is bleak. The gypsum mine is about three miles from those areas.
"First it will be homes, then convenience stores, then shopping centers. ... You know how the story goes," she said.
The committee did not take action on the bill.
Rhodes, who controls the company Gypsum Resources that bought the property, said he has no specific plans for the land but said gypsum mining will continue on the property.
Rhodes, who bought the property outright, said Wednesday that he wants to preserve Red Rock Canyon, but he suggested that development might be preferable to continued mining on top of Blue Diamond Hill.
"This land has been mined for more than 80 years, and there remains a 20-year supply left on the mountain," Rhodes said in a written release. "Unfortunately, those many years of mining have devastated and scarred the property.
"One of my main priorities will be the restoration and reclamation of this wonderful area."
His purchase comes after a deal between Hardie and John Laing Homes fell through because the home builder couldn't get zoning for the property. John Laing wanted to build as many as 8,400 homes on the land surrounded on three sides by the conservation area.
Wednesday's announcement opens up the possibility of a repeat of last year's controversy over John Laing's development proposal for the hill.
John Laing, facing stiff and growing resistance from Clark County residents and the Clark County Commission, last fall withdrew the zoning request that would have allowed the project.
The John Laing deal was contingent upon winning zoning for the property. Lynn Purdue , a Rhodes spokeswoman, said Rhodes instead has purchased the property outright.
Red Rock Canyon is widely considered an environmental jewel of Southern Nevada, just a few miles outside the urban sprawl and one of the region's favorite day trips for both locals and visitors.
About 20 Clark County residents waited more than three hours to show their support for Titus' bill, which would freeze zoning on top of Blue Diamond Hill, the site of the mine, at one house per two acres. Also speaking in favor of the bill were representatives from the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association, Associated General Contractors, and Clark County Assistant County Manager Rick Holmes.
Speaking against the bill and announcing for the first time the news of the sale were John Pappageorge, a Rhodes lobbyist, and via videotape, former Clark County Commissioner and frequent Rhodes ally Erin Kenny.
Kenny, in the videotape, urged the Legislature to reject the bill, saying it would "violate property rights" Rhodes acquired, for "more than $50 million" on Friday.
Pappageorge and Kenny argued that the intent of federal legislation that created the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area was specifically to prohibit additional buffers around the area. They also argued that restricting development on the hill would force taxpayers to clean up the scarred mining area and that the Clark County Commission should control local zoning issues.
The Red Rock enthusiasts did not welcome the message.
"Mr. Rhodes was well aware of the zoning when he purchased the property," said Pauline van Betten, a resident of the tiny village of Blue Diamond, which sits below the hill and has been the epicenter of opposition to development on the mine site.
Titus and other bill supporters said much the same thing, emphasizing that the bill would not stop all development, but would freeze the existing zoning in place.
"When Mr. Rhodes bought this property, he bought it after this legislation was introduced," she said. "What we're saying is we must keep it a rural designation."
Titus told her colleagues on the committee that the danger is not from the existing county commission, but from a future commission that might receive a development proposal with more enthusiasm.
Titus said she has the support of the county commission, including Commissioner Mark James, who represents the area. James had earlier balked at the bill, the lone commissioner who had publicly opposed the preservation effort.
The surprise announcement of the sale from the Rhodes' contingent came after testimony that uniformly supported the bill.
Without the bill, "zoning changes for high-density residential could be requested time after time," said Hermi Hiatt, president of the Red Rock Audubon Society.
She said rare animals and plants, including a rare cactus found only on the hill called the Blue Diamond cholla, need the protection that Titus' bill would provide.
"I'm very concerned that if this bill does not get accepted, the Blue Diamond cholla will cease to be," she said. "It will be extirpated."
Van Betten, who helped write a proposed county law to create new restrictions on development in the area, said she brought more than 6,000 signatures on petitions to the senate committee hearing in support of preservation efforts.
The county law, called the Red Rock Overlay, was on the verge of coming to the commission in January but stalled after James said he wanted to get comments from James Hardie Gypsum, the Australian company that owns the mine and most of the hill.
"The people have worked so hard to protect Red Rock, and to date Red Rock Canyon is in as much of a threat from development as ever," van Betten said.
"I've seen immeasurable love poured out by people who couldn't bear to see Red Rock Canyon destroyed," she said, and urged people to attend a rally to "Save Red Rock" scheduled for the conservation area overlook Saturday.
Evan Blythin, chairman of the Red Rock Citizens Advisory Council, which provides advice to the county commission on land-use issues affecting the conservation area and environs, said he does not trust the county board to make the best decisions for the area.
"You have heard that the Clark County Commission can deal with this issue, but the odds are against it," Blythin said before listing a half-dozen contentious zoning decisions approved by the board. "We all know what money can do."
And Titus asked her colleagues to ignore the pleas from Rhodes' men.
"I urge you not to be swayed by his very popular lobbyists," she said.
The original text of Titus' bill would temporarily freeze zoning, then bring the issue of permanent zoning restrictions to Clark County voters in a referendum. Titus, however, with the backing of Clark County staff, said the referendum language should be cut, simply freezing the zoning in place forever.
The committee took no immediate action on the bill. Committee Chairwoman Sen. Ann O'Connell, R-Las Vegas, could bring the issue back to the committee in a work schedule and bring the bill to the Senate floor.
During Wednesday's discussion, O'Connell did not comment on the merits of the bill.
archive
