The UNLV regents have embraced a plan aimed at securing a parcel in North Las Vegas three times larger than was first suggested several years ago.
The regents' unanimous Dec. 2 vote allows the school administration to discuss with Nevada's congressional delegation how UNLV can take ownership of 2,000-plus acres of Bureau of Land Management property. It is merely a short step in what is expected to be a lengthy process, said Jerry Bomotti, UNLV vice president for finance.
Proposed legislation would be submitted to Congress only after further review by the regents, Bomotti said following the vote, and no one can predict how long it might take for a bill to be signed into law.
When the city of North Las Vegas first approached UNLV about the site, a section of 761 acres was discussed. The additional 1,200 acres were offered by the North Las Vegas City Council on Nov. 16. The land stretches north toward the Sheep Range from Interstate 215.
Regent Jack Lund Schofield, who aggressively supported the move to triple the acreage, has more than a passing familiarity with the land. As a young aviator during World War II, he shot it up during gunnery training.
"Do you realize what lots cost in North Las Vegas?" he asked his colleagues. "Let's get it done as fast as we can and move forward ... Do you realize what a windfall that is? Let's go."
A mid-November auction of BLM land in North Las Vegas, not far from the proposed campus, ended with the Olympia Group agreeing to shell out more than $238,000 per acre for similar property.
The only foreseeable difficulty presented by the site stems from Schofield's era, when pilots and aerial gunners sprayed great quantities of live ammunition across the landscape before shipping out for overseas duty. But Bomotti said an environmental study done by the Air Force in the early 1990s brightens the prospect of a cleanup.
"We know where the targets were," he said.
He added that the acreage in question is only a small portion of the 36,000 acres that were used for gunnery school.
Regent Jim Rogers also was eager to get going.
"This has all sorts of potential," he said. "I'll tell you that I'm 100 percent behind this."
However, Regent Steven Sisolak reminded the board of problems UNLV had to confront after its past purchase of Rainbow Garden land to the east of Las Vegas and said he is worried about the cost of simply owning and providing security for a big chunk of land until work on a new campus can begin.
Such concerns, said Bomotti, were premature. The school was seeking only permission to discuss, not conclude, the acquisition. It might be several years before the administration is prepared to come back to the board with a specific dollars-and-cents proposal.
"We're not bringing up a specific development plan at the moment," Bomotti said. "There is no liability attached to this section."
According to documentation provided to the regents, the master plan for the site has been prepared by UNLV in conjunction with Nevada State College, the Desert Research Institute and CCSN, along with Nellis Air Force Base, the Veterans Administration and the city of North Las Vegas.
Eventually, UNLV wants to create a new campus north of I-215 and between the future lines of Pecos Road and Lamb Boulevard.
The general plan is to create a campus and community center in close proximity to a transit center. The campus would offer a full academic environment, including general education and graduate studies, research, student services and housing and an array of support services. Its position close to the mountains would offer opportunities for both research and recreation partnerships.
But specific plans don't exist. Bomotti said there are any number of possibilities, although he does not expect that the proposed new campus would ever overshadow the university's Maryland Parkway home.
One suggestion has been made to shift Pecos Road to the west to allow for private development along that side of the campus, Bomotti said. Other issues include controlling and making use of drainage from the Sheep Range immediately to the north and deciding how to use the northern 600 or so acres. Bomotti said those might be left more or less as is for research purposes.
The maps on which some of the suggestions were outlined, he stressed, amounted to just a first look to understand the property.
Even the School of Medicine might wish to get into the act, he said, since the VA plans a hospital just across I-215 to the south.
UNLV President Carol Harter told the regents in no uncertain terms that acquiring the property is a priority, and perhaps one that is time-sensitive. She asked them to act now to take advantage of a window of opportunity that may guide university development in the valley for decades into the future.
Bomotti told Regent Jill Derby that the inclusion of several different agencies and colleges in the project can be a model for a higher education partnership that was previously non-existent.
Bomotti stressed that the project is long-term in nature and predicted that his office will be coming back to the board frequently.
"We're in the very early stages of planning," he said.
Derby agreed there should be greater availability for higher education to accommodate state residents seeking degrees.
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