Friday, June 18, 2004 | 9:22 a.m.
Representatives of the developer of Rhodes Ranch and various government agencies on Thursday got closer to agreeing on a site for a new elementary school, but a final decision is still at least three weeks away.
The Las Vegas Valley Water District, Clark County School District, Clark County Fire Department and Rhodes Homes were represented in a Thursday conference organized and conducted by Clark County Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald in an effort to find a site for the school, promised under the county's development agreement with Rhodes Homes.
The participants firmed up a tentative agreement for a school at Grand Canyon Drive and Ford Avenue, just outside the development's boundaries. Issues with water service and acquisition of the site from the federal Bureau of Land Management remain unresolved, however.
The site is outside of and uphill from the water district's service areas, so a $4 million to $6 million pump station would be needed to get water to the site.
In the late 1990s when development started at Rhodes Ranch, the company initially planned to make it "age-restricted" for seniors. But a change in the company's marketing has allowed families with children into the development, triggering the need for the school. The developer and the school district have wrangled over the site for the school for years.
Rhodes Homes' representatives said the company does not want to use a 10-acre undeveloped site inside Rhodes Ranch the company reserved "as a last resort."
The developer wants to use that site inside the gated community for more homes. About 4,800 homes have been built in the community in the southwest Las Vegas Valley; 9,000 are expected at build-out.
Boggs McDonald earlier this month directed county staff to stop accepting building permits for the community until the school-site issue is resolved.
Dusty Dickens, school district zoning and demographics director, said the site at Grand Canyon and Ford would work -- as long as the developer ensures that utilities are in place by July 2007, when the school would be open.
The school district staff could recommend the site to the district board of education in May 2005 at the soonest, she said.
"We would want to be assured before we went to the board and recommend that site that all these connections have been secure and the land has been secured," she said.
Rhodes Ranch can make that deadline, said Dean Walker, the company's vice president of business development.
"We have agreed to provide all the necessary utilities for the site," Walker said. "We've got to make sure we've got water to the site. We would actually build this pump station. We would take that responsibility on."
Tom Minwegen, water district deputy general manager, warned that building the pump station might take longer than the developer anticipates. He noted that even if the developer pays for the work, the water district has to be intimately involved in the project to ensure it meets water district standards.
While a deadline in 2008 could be met without a problem, "2007 is pushing it," Minwegen said. That might entail the developer having to build both a temporary pump station and a permanent facility, a requirement that could double the cost of water service, Minwegen said.
"When you're talking about accelerating the schedule, you're also talking about impacts to other programs," Minwegen said.
Walker said the job can be done, but should not require a temporary pump station.
"It seems to me that we could get something built in three years," he said. "We are prepared to do anything we can to make sure this stays on track, to ensure this school opening by 2007. This is not an impossible task."
The group set a July 8 date for a follow-up meeting to go over a firm timetable for the work to be done. Boggs McDonald warned that if a timetable cannot be agreed on, the school might have to be put on the 10-acre site within Rhodes Ranch.
"As far as I'm concerned, it's not off the table," she said.
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