County approves RV park minus artificial lake

Nye County Commissioners on Tuesday finally approved a rezoning and master plan amendment for a recreational vehicle park, but without the planned three-acre artificial lake.

Commissioner Frank Carbone’s motion was to rezone 17 of the 55 acres owned by American Eagle RV and Resorts as neighborhood commercial for the RV park and the remainder general commercial. The company was given a master plan amendment changing the entire 55 acres from mixed use and low density residential to general commercial.

American Eagle has plans for an Alzheimer’s care facility, a senior center, medical professional space and retail space, in addition to the 213-slip RV park.

The Pahrump Regional Planning Commission originally voted to deny the applications by a 5-2 vote Aug. 13. County commissioners Sept. 16 remanded the application back to the planning commission for reconsideration, after the applicants were supposed to discuss it with the Nye County Water Board and the county didn’t have information about the planned improvements to the rest of the property. One of the requirements was that developers acquire three acre feet of water rights to every acre foot used and relinquish the other two acre feet to the Nevada Division of Water Resources.

The Planning Commission recommended denying the project at a follow-up meeting Oct. 15. County commissioners Nov. 12 voted to table the item until Tuesday’s meeting.

CivilWise Services, which is representing American Eagle, said Leslie Street is a designated truck route with other commercial businesses. Visitors from California would travel up Highway 372 to Leslie Street, those from Highway 160 would travel three miles down Wilson Road. The traffic impact report estimates daily traffic of 1,150 to 1,500 vehicles per day, a figure the planning department said was vastly underestimated when including a proposed restaurant, retail shops and other establishments. American Eagle proposes to pave Wilson Road through their property, completing a portion between Leslie Street and Happy Lane.

CivilWise Services President Dave Richards said they still have to submit an application for a conditional use permit for the RV park. But he expressed impatience with all the meetings, saying, “we got a leap frog thing going on that we can’t seem to recover from.”

The water board suggested the acquisition of three acre feet of water rights for each acre foot used, a standard Commissioner Lorinda Wichman was told would apply to all projects from now on, to help balance the number of acre feet of water rights on record in the Pahrump Basin more in line with the actual water available.

American Eagle will be allowed to build up to 12 RV slips per acre. But Richards unsuccessfully asked for the right to submit a water development plan showing actual water used and water that goes back into the hydrographic basin, prior to the three-to-one water right relinquishment. Consultants said water usage doesn’t count recycled water for landscaping.

“It’s still a substantial amount of water that’s going to be dedicated to the state but it’s on calculated, determined water use projections,” Richards said.

CivilWise consultant Paul Strange said the project would employ 250 workers after construction. RV park residents will contribute to the local economy, he said. The plan is to install berms, either landscaping or walls, to help insulate neighbors from the noise. Water will be supplied from a sewer treatment plant. Strange said the Alzheimer’s center and senior assisted living center will be only one mile from Desert View Hospital down Wilson Road.

“As a good neighbor we want to ensure the longevity of the available water,” Strange said during his Power Point presentation. He mentioned American Eagle has 125 acre feet of fully certificated water rights.

“The current use of this project parcel is agricultural. if this master plan amendment and zone change are denied, the property owner has no choice but to plant the entire parcel in water. This would consume the entire 125 acre feet,” Strange said. They would have to plant a crop like alfalfa by next year, or lose the water rights, according to state engineer’s regulations which require water to be put to beneficial use every five years.

“If this parcel were converted to a residential subdivision there would be 55 homes. Each home would consume, or have entitled to it, two acre feet, or 110 acre feet of water,” Strange said.

Using an estimate of 100 gallons per RV space per day, he estimated the RV park at 100 percent occupancy would use 23.8 acre feet of water, the proposed commercial center would use 46.5 acre feet, a total of 99.47 acre feet. The owners would then have to obtain twice that many water rights to be donated to the state.

When it comes to the water situation in Pahrump Valley, Strange said, “The worst thing that can happen to this parcel would be to do nothing.”

Nye County Planning Director Darrell Lacy said American Eagle only has an entitlement today to build 33 homes on the property. Lacy said there hasn’t’ been an order by the Nevada Public Utilities Commission they wouldn’t approve any new utilities — he said several RV parks have their own water and sewer systems — but they discourage building new utility plants to the point no one else has applied. This application would be an “island” utility that would have to be operated by one of the existing utility companies, Lacy said.

“They’re going to have to do some research because they’re going to have to call on one of the other utilities to run their utility,” Commissioner Frank Carbone said. He said Utilities Inc. of Central Nevada serves the hospital, which he said consultants themselves noted was only a mile away, though CivilWise suggested dealing with another utility company.

A few residents showed up to complain. Carl Jakob, 791 S. Happy Lane, asked why they would want to put an RV park, senior center and commercial center in the middle of a residential area.

“I would recommend you not pass any project that requires a lot of (water) consumption until after the drought is over,” Jakob said.

“I think I can speak for the majority of my neighbors when I say enough is enough,” said neighbor Renata Yanello. “Every time we come to these meetings another proposal is added or they’re not prepared to go forward with the stipulations.”

“I think that they are all hoping the neighborhood will give up coming to these meetings so that they can just slip through with no outside objections. Well that is not going to happen because we are in for the long haul,” she said. “What happens 10, 15, 20 years from now when the now investors die off or get bought out or just lose interest in the project and the new people don’t want to take care of this area for whatever reason? We are the ones left looking at the eyesores and the rundown facilities that nobody cares about.”

RPC Chairman John Koenig said the developers were given a year to start construction and three years to finish, or the zoning reverts back to its original designation.

When Commissioner Donna Cox asked if the developers can use a commercial septic system, Lacy said American Eagle will have to apply to the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection.