Comment on Development near Red Rock Canyon draws conservationists' ire

Development near Red Rock Canyon draws conservationists' ire

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Compared with the classic battle between development groups and activists, the forces in this decade-long scuffle are friendly, or at least familiar with each other. [...] as Las Vegas developer Jim Rhodes restarts an effort to put a master-planned community on a hill overlooking Red Rock Canyon, the groups are again in conflict. The proposed development, near the town of Blue Diamond on a hill where Rhodes' Gypsum Mine unearths the mineral used in plaster and chalk, would extend east in the direction of the Red Rock Visitor Center. Opposition groups worry that a master-planned development is an encroachment on Red Rock. When Nevada and Clark County passed rules in 2003 that prohibited increased density near Red Rock's outlying areas, Rhodes' company successfully challenged the statutes in court. Before the vote, the panel's chairman cited concern that the plan might deviate from the county's comprehensive master plan and that ongoing Gypsum mining and processing could impact residents after they moved into the development. After years of negotiations, though, the agency denied that request because it saw little resource value in the Gypsum land, largely because of years of mining activity that the BLM saw as a liability. Krater said the land is going to be developed regardless and argues the master-planned proposal is a balanced approach that tries to correct many of the past concerns.

 

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