IN ATTENDANCE:
Mayor Michael Montandon, Chair, City of North Las Vegas
Mike Dwyer, Bureau of Land Management
Mayor James Gibson, City of Henderson
Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, Clark County
Colonel Bob Lynn, alternate, Nellis Air Force Base
The meeting of the SNRPC Federal Lands Disposal Subcommittee was called to order by City of North Las Vegas Mayor, Michael Montandon, Chairman, at 11:45 a.m., Thursday, June 29, 2000, in the City Manager's Conference Room, at the City of North Las Vegas City Hall, 2200 Civic Center Drive, North Las Vegas, Nevada, 89030.
The agenda for the June 29, 2000, meeting was duly posted in compliance with the Open Meeting Law.
A motion was made to approve the June 29, 2000, agenda. This motion was approved unanimously.
A motion was made to approve the minutes of the May 11, 2000, meeting. This motion was approved unanimously.
Mike Dwyer, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) gave a report on the June land sales. The auction was held at the Clark County Government Center on June 8th and 9th. During those two days, 87 parcels were offered for sale. Of the 87 parcels offered, 60 were 2 1/2 acres or less and more spread around. Bids were received on 37 parcels, but only 35 were sold. Two bidders did not show up before the end of the day to pay the required 20% down payment for the land; therefore, the two bidders defaulted on the purchase of the land. Mr. Dwyer stated, fortunately, there were no other bidders on the two properties that defaulted. Arrangements have been made to deal with this type of situation in the future. In the future, if a person defaults, the next highest bidder on that property will be notified and will have 24 hours to pay the 20% down payment, otherwise the land will be available for sale in the next auction. In addition, two checks were returned on two of the 35 parcels that were sold. The next auction is scheduled for November 2, 2000, and all the properties that did not sell will be offered during the November auction. The November auction will be available online via the Internet. Approximately the same number of parcels will be available during the November auction; however, the auction will be held for only one day. During review of the June sale, thirty action items for improvement were developed.
After discussion, no action was taken on this item.
Phil Rosenquist, Clark County, distributed a copy of the SNRP Appointments to the Process for Allocation of the Special Account (Exhibit A) to each member present. In accordance with the committee structure to review submission for parks, trails, and natural areas, in addition to the working group, the three appointments, plus the possibility of one additional appointment, a rotation list was developed to accommodate all of the participating jurisdictions of the SNRPC. The list does not include the Clark County School District and the Coalition. The proposal that was approved by the Coalition allows Boulder City, because of their interest in trails, to always be a part of the parks, trails, and natural areas working group. The seat on the working group would rotate on an annual basis according to the chairmanship of the SNRPC, with the exception of Boulder City and the School District.
Mr. Dwyer stated that he received a letter from Phil Speight, SNRPC Technical Committee Chairman, that named the four appointees to represent local government in the process; however, the BLM has not yet approved a fourth appointment for local government representation. A response will be sent back to Mr. Speight requesting who will be the voting members, and the issue will be taken before the working group for approval of a fourth appointment.
After discussion, no action was taken on this item.
Mr. Dwyer stated that round one and round two of the land sale is in process. He stated that in round one, the process begun with the BLM receiving information from the federal agencies. The BLM wanted to know what lands were federal agencies interested in acquiring, what capital improvements were being considered important in the federal facilities in Las Vegas, what cooperative agreements were in progress or that they contemplating creating with local governments for parks, trails, or natural areas, and what, if anything, they wanted to do with the multi-species plan. The list of federal agencies' potential land acquisitions was made public in February 2000. After public comments were received, the BLM met to formulate a recommendation report to be forwarded through the process. The recommendations included eleven land acquisitions. Nevada's Secretary of the Interior received the report and viewed it favorably. He is scheduled to visit Las Vegas during the early part of the August Congressional recess to personally make the announcement of his decision. The BLM has revised the process for round two. The new process will follow the flow chart (Exhibit B) that was distributed during the last Federal Lands Disposal meeting on May 11, 2000. Mr. Dwyer stated that the Secretary of the Interior indicated that he would like to delegate the decision making process to the Director of the BLM.
After discussion, no action was taken on this item.
Damon Ohlerking, Boulder City, distributed a copy of a map (Exhibit C) outlining the Red Ridge Loop Trail. He stated that Boulder City is requesting assistance in the development of the River Mountain Trail System and a Kiosk. The four-mile trail will cost $8,000 per mile and the Kiosk will cost $8,000. The total request is for $48,000.00.
Each member present received a copy of the Clark County Wetlands Park Acquisition (Exhibit D) Alan Pinkerton, Clark County, stated that Clark County's request is related to the request that Mr. Dwyer spoke of earlier, regarding acquisitions of private lands in the Wetlands Park and the construction of a trailhead facility adjacent to the Wetlands Park. The County's request is in three- phases. 1) Acquire the remaining parcels of approximately 2.6 million dollars of land within the Wetlands Park, 2) complete the construction of the trailhead facility adjacent to the Wetlands Park, and 3) begin the trails network. One phase will connect the Wetlands Park with the River Mountain Loop Trail. The next phase, using the Sloan channel going north from the Wetlands Park, moves up into the cities of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas. This will begin the regional interconnection, as well as the federal connection between trail systems within the Las Vegas Valley. The total cost is 4.2 million dollars. Mr. Pinkerton stated that it is requested that the BLM recognize that a portion of the lands outside the disposal boundary has high value from a recreational point of view
Misty Haehn, City of North Las Vegas, distributed a description of the City of North Las Vegas' trail project (Exhibit E). She stated that the project is approximately eight miles of the Western Tributary of the Las Vegas Wash. It extends from the beltway to the City of North Las Vegas' city boundary and will connect with the Sloan channel and onto the federal lands. The City of North Las Vegas has already put in approximately $800,000 into the trail system. The first phase will cost approximately 1.27 million dollars.
Frank Fiori, City of Las Vegas, distributed a description of the project proposed by the City of Las Vegas (Exhibit F). He stated that the City of Las Vegas is proposing three projects this year. The first is the Bonanza Trail Alignment. The City of Las Vegas has received a grant for $20,000 from the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) to study realignment and for engineering, which will being in the next few months. A complete cost estimate is not yet available. The actual estimate will be complete after the engineering work is done. The second project being submitted,
which funding is not expected for this year, is the Multi-Use, Non-Equestrian Trails Development. The City of Las Vegas has been developing this as an overall trail project for the entire city, whereby a person could take a trail and go through Las Vegas connecting to all other trails. The projected cost is estimated at 43 million and will be implemented over the next 10 years. For this year, funding is being requested for the Las Vegas Springs Preserve Development project. The cost is estimated at 13 million dollars. The request today is for 2.5 million dollars. The Las Vegas Valley Water District will contribute approximately 5.2 million for the project and other sources will be considered for the remainder.
Las Vegas City Councilman, Michael Mack, stated that there has been a great demand for a regional sequestering park. The City of Las Vegas has 320 acres east of Floyd Lamb State Park and has held some discussion agreement with the City of North Las Vegas, and Clark County to proposed a potential interlocal regarding the development of a regional sequestering park on that land.
Betsy Fretwell stated that now that more time is allowed by the BLM for submittals, the City of Las Vegas would work to amend their list to make their trail proposal more specific to the regional project. She stated that their initial project estimate is approximately $80 million dollars, but the portion of that amount for the nomination process is not clear. She stated that the City of Las Vegas is requesting that their project be approved conceptually in an effort not to delay the BLM's process.
Mr. Dwyer requested a map showing the regional trail plan developed by the local jurisdictions.
Stephanie Garcia, City of Henderson, distributed an outline and map (Exhibit G) for the Henderson project. Six projects are currently being nominated for funding from the SNPLMA Special Account. The projects currently nominated include trails and parks that would provide regional connectivity between jurisdictions and federal lands. The projects are ranked in order of priority as follows: The Wetlands Park Trail Connection will cost approximately $600,000; the River Mountain Loop Trail will cost approximately $1.5 million dollars; the MCCullough Hills Trail Connection will cost approximately $3.5 million dollars; the Union Pacific Railroad Trail will cost approximately $6.5 million dollars; the Secret Canyon Park will cost approximately $42 million dollars; and the Black Mountain Park will cost approximately $68 million dollars.
After discussion, a motion was made to accept to submit the nominations to the SNPLMA Working Committee. This motion was approved unanimously
Donna Gamble, City of North Las Vegas, was directed to coordinate a date and time in late September or early October for the next meeting.
There were no public comments.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:35 p.m.