Red Rock threatened by development

From: Save Red Rock, info@saveredrock.com
The timing couldn’t be more critical, as this Thursday, Save Red Rock is going to court to defend its right to speak out against developer Gypsum Resources' proposal to build 5,000+ homes in Red Rock Canyon, adjacent to the conservation area. Clark County took the unprecedented step of suing Save Red Rock, seeking to bar the public from raising issues before the County Commission. Also, the developer just hired an expensive lawyer to tag team with Clark County on its lawsuit. We believe our legal team has a good case, so we're asking you to chip in today to support the cause.

If you're in town, you can also support us by showing up tomorrow (Thurs. Feb. 9) for a media event at the courthouse steps before the court hearing. Details below:

Who: You!

What: Media Event and court hearing

When: Thursday, February 9, 2017, at 8:15 a.m., followed by court hearing* at 9:00 a.m.

Where: Clark County Regional Justice Center, 200 Lewis Ave. Las Vegas, NV 89101. Meter parking available on South side of Justice Center.

Meet on the sidewalk on the Northeast entrance to the Justice Center and wear red (or we will have Save Red Rock t-shirts there at 8am). Seating in the courtroom is limited.

media advisory

County Commissioners' phone number: 702-455-3500

• If you can only afford to take one time off for the cause, please make room for the County Commission hearing on February 22. Seating is not limited there, and that's where the Commissioners vote on whether to approve or deny this plan and whether or not to keep Red Rock rural. That is, if we win tomorrow's court case for the right to testify at it!

Sometime post-recession, maybe 2010 or 2011, I attended a dinner in Blue Diamond. Approximately 10 senior local climbers/hikers who had vested an inordinate amount of time in Red Rock. Someones spouse who I did not know personally, was either a city council person or county commissioner, I forget which. Vegas and Phoenix had just been rocked to their foundation by the recession. For those too young or too new to Vegas, allow me to give you an example of what I am talking about. A family of four had their credit ruined by pending foreclosure. I knew him because he was a local park ranger. I loaned them money to buy a home back in Wisconsin where they were initially from. Neither had lost their job (she was a teacher). They paid approx. $265K for their home in Vegas. They simply got stuck paying a mortgage on a home that lost 65% of its value. That is hard to stomach when you are a working young couple with two children. The bank took it back and resold it for $90K. Those are the numbers we are talking about in Vegas during the recession, x 10s of thousands of homes.

I had just done this when I had dinner with these folks in Blue Diamond, several who I knew really well. At that time it was hard socializing without discussing the economy in Vegas. Clark County building permits had raised back to 1000 residential permits per month which to me seemed a significant number for a city faced with water issues and a lack of job diversification within its economy. I voiced my opinion to the elected official in the room. We had a polite argument about Portland’s’ strategy vs Vegas’ strategy regarding construction growth. Most in the room seemed to be disinterested in the conversation. These are folks who have the most to lose by the proposed development you are discussing here. If you ignore an issue until it shows up on your doorstep, more than likely it is way too late to do anything about it.

Over the course of my life I have visited Portland on occasion. I was always amazed at how appreciatable yet stable their home values were. I soon learned that Portland had put a cap on building permits within the city limits. A stingy one at that. The result? Regardless of any ups and downs in the general economy, home values rose or remained relatively steady. Who this benefited greatly were seniors and locals who were committed to staying in Portland. As long as they had homestead exemptions, they continued to pay property taxes on an inflation adjusted increase only, not true appreciation. Portland’s strategy was to benefit its current citizens first and foremost before rewarding builders, developers and outsiders with real estate deals=permits/rezoning. The result was a very stable and diverse local economy without volatile ups and downs in home prices. The downside was the loss of permit revenue that could be used to build more roads that would spur more growth which would result in more pollution.

Las Vegas and Phoenix took a different approach. They focused primarily on development growth and construction jobs, which exposed both cities to volatile economies. As a result, Portland has at least stable public education whist Vegas schools are a complete failure causing the state as a whole to languish at the very bottom (50th for quite a few years).

Since the recession, Reno has done a much better job at diversifying their economy with hi-tech, automotive jobs, etc. Vegas is still set up for great volatility. Growing at all costs has been and still is Vegas’s primary agenda. Unless you can influence those in your very own community to see the error in their ways, the light and air pollution will continue to encompass Red Rock National Reserve.

My advice to younger adults? Move. It is futile. The public schools of Clark County have continued to sour. Construction growth is back as the darling of your economy. Casino employee unions will all but disappear under the Trump administration. NV is a right to work state. These massive amount of folks earning low wages will always put Vegas in the headlights during recessions when much better paying construction jobs, which have ramped up large again, go through their natural cycles. Vegas learned the least of any town I can think off during this past recession. I understand folks who have lived in Vegas a long time putting in the fight. But younger folks who care about such issues would be better served investing their time and money into communities where you at least have a chance. A median home in Portand is $227K, in Vegas it is $115K. There is a reason one can sustain value in its citizens’ most important asset and the other can’t. Reno is not perfect by any means, but has made ten times more progress than Vegas.

Very insightful and poignant post Dow. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Dow Williams wrote:A family of four had their credit ruined by pending foreclosure. I knew him because he was a local park ranger. I loaned them money to buy a home back in Wisconsin where they were initially from.

What does this have to do with Red Rock? I really didn't need to know about that. Maybe start your own post about your lending practices and leave this thread for Red Rock issues?

Next Wednesday is a crucial step in this fight: Clark county will be voting whether to change the zoning from rural to higher density.

NOW is the time to hit it hard with emails/calls to commissioners. See list of addresses below. No need to write a long letter, just voice your opposition to the proposed zoning change and ask the commissioners to oppose it. Don't wait until it's too late.

Here's the announcement sent out by the SaveRedRock group:

THIS IS URGENT: The time to take action is NOW!
Save Red Rock is fighting to keep Red Rock rural and the critical vote is upon us. Clark County Commissioners will have a public hearing on Wednesday, February 22nd at 9:00am and we need you there to tell them to VOTE NO! If Commissioners change the developer’s rural zoned property to allow high density, he proposes to build a city of over 14,000 residents, businesses, and commercial institutions on the mountain just south of the Red Rock Canyon visitor's center.
KEEP RED ROCK RURAL! MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!

What you can do:

Be at the hearing if you live in Vegas.
Clark County Commissioner Hearing
Wednesday, February 22, 2017, 9:00a.m.
500 S. Grand Central Parkway
Las Vegas, NV 89155

Tell 5 neighbors/friends to sign the petition to keep Red Rocks rural: ipetitions.com/petition/sav…(County_Sues_Save_Red_Rock12_15_2016)&mc_cid=f5c76c2022&mc_eid=1907472b97

Call Commissioners:
702-455-3500

Email Commissioners:
ccdista@ClarkCountyNV.gov
ccdistb@ClarkCountyNV.gov
ccdistc@ClarkCountyNV.gov
ccdistd@ClarkCountyNV.gov
ccdiste@ClarkCountyNV.gov
ccdistf@ClarkCountyNV.gov
ccdistg@ClarkCountyNV.gov

Tag Commissioners (Twitter):
Commissioner Chis Giunchigliani: @Giunchigliani
Commissioner Steve Sisolak: @SteveSisolak
Commissioner Susan Brager: @SusanBrager
Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick: @MKNVspeaks
Commissioner MaryBeth Scow: @MaryBethScow
Commissioner Larry Brown: @larrybrown and @LB4NV
Commissioner Lawrence Weekly: @LawrenceWeekly

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Gratuitous bump.

This is a disaster waiting to happen. Climbers: please take action. Go to saveredrock.com and also see the contact information for Clark county commissioners below. Please contact them.

Also see an earlier post about the topic here: mountainproject.com/v/red-r…

And if don't believe it, read the developer's official application to the county here: reviewjournal.com/media/dow…
Of special interest to climbers is their claim that much of the proposed development will not be that visible from the state road or the parks' loop road... anyone who's climbed at RR knows that the entire Blue Diamond Hill is plainly visible from most of the cliffs and ridges in the area. If this monstrosity is allowed to become reality, it will completely change the experience of climbing in this gorgeous area.

Popular opposition to this CAN make a difference, but we need to get off our butts and contact the interested parties (actually in this case, we can even stay on our butts and e-mail them!)!! Noone else will do it for us.

ACT NOW!

Here's the contact info (sources: saveredrock.com & blm.gov):

BLM Southern Nevada District Office:
Mary Jo Rugwell, District Manager,
4701 North Torrey Pines Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89130
Phone: 702-515-5000
Fax: 702-515-5023
Email: lvfoweb@blm.gov

Clark county commissioners:
All commissioners can be reached at: (702) 455-3500
All commissioners can receive faxes at: (702) 455-3271
Clark County Commissioners, 500 S. Grand Central Parkway, Las Vegas, NV 89155
Steve Sisolak, District A, ccdista@ClarkCountyNV.gov
Tom Collins, District B, ccdistb@ClarkCountyNV.gov
Larry Brown, District C, ccdistc@ClarkCountyNV.gov
Lawrence Weekly, District D, ccdistd@ClarkCountyNV.gov
Chris Giunchigliani, District E, ccdiste@ClarkCountyNV.gov
Susan Brager, District F, ccdistf@ClarkCountyNV.gov
Mary Beth Scow, District G, ccdistg@ClarkCountyNV.gov

US Senators and Representatives for NV: (and yes, even if you don't live in NV, it doesn't mean you shouldn't contact them)
Senator Harry Reid (D- NV), 202-224-3542, reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm
Senator Dean Heller (R- NV), 202-224-6244, heller.senate.gov/contact_f…
Representative Shelley Berkley (D-01), 202-225-5965, shelley.berkley@mail.house.gov
Representative Joe Heck (R-03), 202-225-3252, heck.house.gov/contact-me/e…

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JWG wrote:There is a meeting in Blue Diamond tonight the 27th at 07:00PM on this topic please come and join

Do you mean a week from tonight?

What is the latest on this issue? Most of these posts were dated from last summer.

That post was from 2011.

William Thiry wrote:What is the latest on this issue? Most of these posts were dated from last summer.

Read pages 10 and 11 of this thread for the latest.

Right between my spokes is the blue diamond hill, the land slated for development

One last chance... county commission meeting is Tomorrow at 9AM. If they change the zoning, there's nothing more we can do, and you'll have a brand new city right above Blue Diamond.

climbing friend,

you are riding white stallion shirtless into meeting, with your warhammer ready for crushing action!

yes!

myah!

Here's the number to call:

Please call 702-455-3500 and tell our county commissioners to keep Red Rock and the adjacent area rural.

John Wilder wrote:Today, the county commission punted. As of today, the 2016 concept plan has been withdrawn. Also as of today, the 2011 concept plan is still in effect and the development is officially moving forward as previously planned. I suspect that there will be litigation on this one, as it's a bit dicey as to whether or not this was kosher, and as to whether or not the plan is legal. Assuming the developer prevails in court, the next possible action is to try and limit the number of homes built up there.

Thanks for posting this John.

It was nice to see a healthy turn-out of concerned peeps this morning!!!