County postpones voting on development agreement for dormant residential project

Nye County commissioners postponed approving a development agreement between the county and Beazer Homes Holding Corp. for a residential subdivision in Burson Ranch at Tesora in Pahrump.

Commissioners said they will bring the document back at the Nov. 14 meeting after a number of officials and residents expressed concerns about water, safety and infrastructure in the proposed subdivision.

Pahrump Fire Chief Scott Lewis said he didn’t have a discussion with the developer about the fire service.

“The original agreement, in 2005 obviously was based on a certain set of parameters. Those parameters exponentially have increased over a decade, and so, our service requirements have also changed,” he said.

“I think we need to have a discussion, and I think we just all need to be on the same page as to what the expectations are, how we are going to serve that community in addition to our increased service demands,” he said.

Nye County Sheriff Sharon Wehrly said she would need another deputy sheriff for the subdivision.

“More people placed in that area are going to cause a problem as far as traffic control, as far as the sheriff’s office is concerned and also the signage,” Wehrly said.

Commissioner Donna Cox said she had concerns about the water.

“I don’t have a problem with you developing, I think that would be nice to have some extra homes. I do have a problem with a density because at the time you originally planned this, there was talk to be allowed water that we may not have today,” Cox said.

Nye County Planning Director Darrell Lacy said a single household in the proposed area uses approximately 250-270 gallons of water per day. Pahrump Utility Company, Inc. General Manager Gregory Hafen II said the company’s average customer uses roughly 300 gallons of water per day.

“Currently, we dedicated I believe 0.88 acres feet of water per unit. So that 3-to-1 ratio appears to be happening in practice. Additionally, we have roughly 70-acre feet of water dedicated to maintain the common areas,” Kaempfer Crowell attorney Anthony Celeste said.

“Our goal is to help alleviate and not use more (water) than our fair share,” he said.

The proposed development agreement is an update and readoption of the previous agreement between the county and the company that would allow for the construction of 586 single-family residential homes, along with approximately 13 acres of park and open space. The previous development agreement was adopted in 2005 and expired in 2015.

Beazer Homes Holdings Corp. was unable to finish the project when the economy tanked, and the agreement subsequently expired. The company built 33 residential homes in the subdivision off Malibou Avenue south of Manse Road.

The builder is requesting an additional 10 years to complete this project. In addition to the new development agreement, Beazer Homes Holding Corp. has submitted a new subdivision improvement agreement updating the status of the performance bond.

The agreement approved in 2006 required the firm to secure a performance bond of $19.2 million. Since securing the performance bond, this bond has been reduced to $4.8 million, 25 percent of the original amount.

With the approval of the previous development agreement, Beazer Homes Holding Corp. was required to make contributions to the county because of the anticipated impact of the project to the county, according to the documents.

The firm satisfied several obligations, including contributing to the Nye County Sheriff’s Office, conveying 12.6-acre feet of quasi-municipal water rights to the Nye County School District, submitting final maps for the property, forming a homeowner’s association and providing improvement plans.

Additionally, the $150 impact fee per unit is included in the agreement.

The proposed agreement also includes the requirement for approximately 3-to-1 dedication, for every gallon expected to be used the developer must dedicate three gallons to the utility.

About 75 percent of the required infrastructure has been completed to date, and the performance bond has been reduced to 25 percent of its original amount, as approved by Nye County commissioners previously, according to the documents.

Contact reporter Daria Sokolova at dsokolova@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @dariasokolova77