Commercial zoning in Eldorado approved

The going-on-a-year-long process of adding four acres of land to Boulder City and approving it for commercial use is all over except the shouting as the city council voted unanimously and without discussion as part of the consent agenda to approve the changes to the city’s land use map as well as amending the zoning map to allow for future commercial development.

The stated use on the small parcel west of US-95 is for two “office/warehouse buildings” according to the introduction provided by Acting City Manager Michael Mays. The applicant is John Winston, whose address is listed as being in Henderson and who is also one of the property owners.

Starting in the late spring of last year, Mays told the council that city staff had been working with the owners of a small plot of land in the Eldorado Valley who have requested annexation. In other words, they would like to be a part of Boulder City.

Boulder City is, in terms of land area, the largest city in Nevada. The purchase and annexation of most of the Eldorado Valley in the 1990s expanded the city limits to cover an area of more than 200 square miles.

So, what is the issue with adding four more acres?

As public comment showed last year, it was all about the passions at play over the issue at the heart of almost every issue in Boulder City. Development. Or, rather, how to control and limit it.

The land in question, which was officially annexed late last year, was already bordered by Boulder City land on three sides and US-95 on the other side. At the time of the initial annexation request, the owners of the land also submitted an application to have the zoning of the land changed in order to allow them to build an office/warehouse complex.

The process for annexation consists of multiple steps. The request was made and brought to the council back in May. The council unanimously approved a resolution directing staff to begin the process of considering annexation. A staff report on extension of city services to the land proposed for annexation was the next step. That report was prepared and accepted by the council on June 10.

The next step in the process was a public hearing, which happened on July 9. However, if one looks at state law, it is pretty obvious that the kind of hearing that happened on July 9 is different from what was assumed in the statute.

This is because annexation is usually an adversarial process. The hearing, as described in NRS 268.590, is envisioned as the time when the owners of the property can protest the annexation and, if a majority of the owners protest, then the annexation can’t take place.

But in this case, the owners themselves had requested the annexation. The question is why they would want to subject themselves to an additional layer of governmental scrutiny and regulation and taxation. The answer, as is often the case in the Mojave, is water. Or, rather, access to it.

With the land now being part of Boulder City, the city has to provide services. The owners of the property have said that they plan to get electricity from a third-party provider and will use a septic system for wastewater. But, according to the report to the council, the latest addition to BC will get water via the extension of an existing city water line to service the property.

Seven months ago, the public had questions.

One commenter in the room asked how this would impact infrastructure and worried about setting a precedent for other property owners. He asked for answers but, as council can’t respond to public comment during the meetings, none was proffered.

Former Mayor Kiernan McManus gave comment via a phone call. “What can be said other than this violates nearly all of the tenets of growth in Boulder City that have served the city so well for decades,” he said. “This annexation simply shatters the master plan directive that development occur with contiguous development by only developing parcels that are within close proximity to existing development.”

But, those questioning the land use seemed to have run out of steam by last week. Although a major part of the action taken by the council was to include a public hearing on the matter, no one showed up in chambers and not even the reliable regulars called in with comments.

Now that the zoning has been approved, the owners of the land will need to begin working with the planning commission on getting permits for whatever they plan to build. No timeline was provided for future steps.