Last week I laid out the proposed plan to develop upwards of 7,000 homes and other buildings just outside of Las Vegas’ Red Rock Canyon. There was an incredible push throughout the climbing community to make our voices heard leading up to the August 17th hearing before the Board of County commissioners where the plan would be up for initial approval. Unfortunately, as often seems the case these days, we made our voices heard, but it seems as though nobody was really listening in the first place.
The board voted 5-2 to approve a “conceptual” plan to build 4,700 homes and a business park, and with lines like this:
In the end, lawyers, not residents, appeared to sway commissioners.
and this:
Still, to deny Rhodes’ plan now, the county would have to back up that action in court with facts supporting the contention that the project should not be built and not simply point to public sentiment being against the project, said Rob Warhola, deputy district attorney.
The county has no solid data showing the project will hurt Red Rock, he said, adding that people’s feelings carry no legal weight.
in the Las Vegas Review Journal’s story about the meeting it doesn’t really give much cause for optimism.
However, according to some updates posted to MountainProject during the hearing there were conditions put on the approval relating to density and BLM access so perhaps there is still some hope?
This is not good!
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BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Well. This is frustrating.
Anyway…for folks who are interested in context, a few interesting articles came out of that MountainProject link.http://www.lasvegascitylife.com/articles/2010/04/29/news/local_news/iq_35584277.txt
http://www.lvrj.com/news/8242852.htmlAnd I don’t have much else to say, other that the first few articles that pop up when you Google “Jim” “Rhodes” “Las Vegas” are rather telling about his track record. This guy hires corrupt city officials as standard business practice and he filed for Bankruptcy in 2009. So good on you, Clark County.
Good on you.
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Well what the hell. Driving down Charleston Blvd. into Red Rocks is like entering into a different world outside the city. This is going to totally ruin the wilderness feel. Stupid bastardos.
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There’s quite a bit of hope left, we think. The biggest condition with the best possible scenario is the BLM land swap- Rhodes has to swap land with the BLM to acquire the land he needs to build the road from the east AND get the land on the hill he needs to make the project viable.
The local community (the LVCLC, among others) is working with the Access Fund to figure out if we can use this as a way to stop the project. Keep an eye out on Mountain Project or go to the Save Red Rock page on Facebook for updates.
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Yeeeah John. Put the breaks on it. It’s not like there is a housing shortage in Vegas right now.
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That’s good to hear John. Thanks to you and everyone down there for your hard work on this issue.
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monkey wrench gang time
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whatevs, this just mean closer parking lots for me to sleep in while i climb there
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I have asked this every time it came up, and still not gotten an answer. WHY is this an access issue? As far as I recall, there’s no climbing in the area that they’re talking about building, just a bare hill, so who the fuck cares? Is it because it’ll ruin our view of the brown hill in front of sunny Las Vegas? I hope not.
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One doesn’t drive to Red Rock from another part of the country (~29 hour drive for me, and I’ve done it, no side trips) just to experience the climbing moves alone. Those come part of an entire package of experiencing a desert environment, complete with incredible rock formations, wildlife, and, yes, big brown hills that are unlike anything else in the country. I think we can agree that Las Vegas, and its surrounding suburbs, are anything but part of that environment. This project, as I see it, will bring additional crowding, air pollution, and noise pollution to an area, that despite its proximity to the big city, has a decidedly “out there” feel to it. I’d rather not Red Rock become just a bunch of cliffs that we can climb on rising above a bunch of green bland suburbs (or ugly brown empty suburbs if a common pattern in the region is repeated). It is not the climbing itself, but the character of the climbing experience, that we are trying to preserve here.
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Any chance we can return to a thumbs down feature for Angus’ post?
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I’ve been thinking about that. I like many of the features of this commenting system since it makes my life easier, but not being able to thumbs down people has been a real drag this week.
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