Thursday, March 30, 2017 | 1:23 p.m.
A date has been set for the next step of a legal battle over a proposed housing development located miles from the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.
District Court Judge Jerry Wiese will hear arguments from Clark County and the nonprofit Save Red Rock on May 2 regarding controversial plans to turn a gypsum mine into a 5,000-unit residential community on Blue Diamond Hill. The case was originally scheduled to be heard on April 18, but Wiese postponed it at the request of lawyers who requested more time to prepare.
The biggest thing up for consideration is the validity of a 2011 plan for development.
Clark County, Gypsum Resources and developer Jim Rhodes have taken the position that the 2011 plan, which was approved by Clark County commissioners that year, never expired and that the developers have the right to move forward with the planning process.
Save Red Rock disagrees, pointing to county documents published in the years since that referred to the 2011 plan as expired.
After hours of passionate public comment at a meeting in February, Clark County commissioners voted 5-2 to allow the developers to withdraw a similar 2016 plan up for consideration with the understanding that the 2011 plan had not expired.
Commissioners Chris Giunchigliani and Lawrence Weekly were the dissenting voters, with the former saying she was not convinced the 2011 plan was still valid.
At the time, Chairman Steve Sisolak acknowledged that the issue of the 2011 plan and its expiration would likely be decided in court.
Save Red Rock is also claiming the county violated open-meeting laws at that February meeting. They have characterized that meeting as a “bait-and-switch.”
The county wants the case dismissed. A court hearing was held this morning to consider dismissal related to a lawsuit filed in December, but Wiese opted to continue the hearing until May 2 to hear the new counterclaims made by Save Red Rock.
Meanwhile, in a separate attempt to halt the proposed development, Assemblyman Steve Yeager has introduced a bill with the Nevada Legislature that would protect areas located directly around national conservation areas from zoning changes.
A hearing for Assembly Bill 277 is scheduled for 8 a.m. Friday at the Grant Sawyer Building in Las Vegas.
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