Contour report suggests town should incorporate

Town board members were slated to discuss the latest developments on “Adventure Springs” during last night’s regular board meeting.

Board members were to decide whether to receive and accept Contour Entertainment’s third interim report, which is part of the second phase of the project.

Adventure Springs is the proposed tourist destination approved by town board members more than two years ago.

According to the original contract dated May 6, 2011, this latest report is one of four that will be reviewed by board members as plans for the project slowly move forward.

To date, the town has already invested more than $255,000 on the project.

Board member Dr. Tom Waters said Tuesday’s discussion would help to determine the next crucial steps.

“I’m sure we will come up with some recommendations that are contained in the report and basically we will just decide on accepting the report. If we don’t accept the report, it’s like going to McDonald’s and ordering a hamburger, paying for it, and walking out without the hamburger,” he said.

In the report, Contour Entertainment’s Chris Brown provided a recap on how the project is shaping up.

He suggested that two failed attempts to pass an important piece of legislation created a setback.

“The 2013 session was from February 4 through June 3rd. During this session, the Town of Pahrump, in coordination with Nye County and an effort put forth by Front Sight Firearms Training Institute and Don Holbrook submitted a Bill Draft Request (BDR 21-92) resulting in Senate Bill 337 (SB337) being submitted by State Senator (Barbara) Cegavske on March 18, 2013. On April 13th, the bill’s fate was sealed pursuant to Joint Standing Rule No. 14.3.1, no further action was allowed. Basically, the bill did not pass. Mr. Holbrook made an additional effort to get it attached to another bill being passed as an administrative amendment. This effort also failed. The intended bill provisions cannot be considered again until the 2015 State Legislative Session,” he wrote in his report.

Brown was also quick to remind the board that the BDR attempt was not connected to the original contract agreement.

“The effort to support the BDR and to pursue the passage of this bill through lobbying efforts is not a part of Contour’s scope under contract. This effort was pulled out of our agreement prior to approval and was undertaken directly by the Town of Pahrump. We have recommended that this bill be supported as it would have provided ready access to state funding programs that are likely unavailable under their current implementation programs. Fundamentally, SB337 provided for some adjustments to allow access to state incentive programs that already exist for projects, districts, and zones for development support in locations within counties with populations of less than 55,000 residents. Naturally, this would include Nye County and the Town of Pahrump. In addition, it would allow certain adjustments to the current programs, such as allowing a Tourism Improvement District (TID) to be created within a Redevelopment Zone (RZ),” Brown said.

Brown noted that the ongoing power struggle between the town and the county must quickly be resolved amicably in order for the project to continue, let alone succeed.

He also uttered the “I” word when making his point.

“The discord between the Nye County Board of Commissioners and the officials of the Town of Pahrump seems to support the argument for the Town to seek incorporation as a city. This would provide Pahrump additional authority independent from the county. We would not expect the Town incorporation to be supported by the county, however, the majority of the Nye County residents are in the Town of Pahrump and the county should be doing everything they (sic) can to support and serve the needs of their people,” he said.

Town board member Amy Riches who was still a private citizen when the town contracted with Contour, said she believes that the project is dead.

“That BDR has failed and now the only way that they can raise funds for that property is to buy it outright from the BLM,” she said.

Town Manager Bill Kohbarger recently said that there are still some alternatives the town may fall back on now that SB 337 failed.

“They still have two years to tweak it and I think they will bring it back in 2015. You can’t do anything without the financing aspect,” he said.

Brown, meanwhile, provided a few additional thoughts on the tourism project’s fate.

“We were encouraged by the discussions we had with the town manager and town board members in Pahrump a few weeks ago at their enthusiasm to push forward on whatever initial steps may be possible. We will provide our recommended options to support this direction while we also strongly recommend the pursuit of resolution to the issues that have driven apart the county and town politicians,” Brown said.