Last chance for Last Chance Park?

The status of Last Chance Park was heard by the Pahrump Town Board this week.

Board members listened to a presentation from Environmental Compliance Specialist MaryEllen Giampaoli.

Efforts to establish Last Chance Park began more than 10 years ago.

The site, on the far northern end of the valley, is at the base of the Shadow mountains.

In the original plan, the division of three 10-acre parcels of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land near Bell Vista and Bannavitch roads would be connected by horse and bike trails.

Earlier this year, the town scaled back the plan to make the project a bit more appetizing to the present town board, staff and the BLM.

Town Manager Susan Holecheck said on Tuesday that there is still much to resolve before actual work begins on the park.

She prefaced her statement by noting the heavy expenses associated with the project.

When and if completed, the facility would include a gravel parking lot, hitching rails and trail heads for area horse enthusiasts.

“There are water issues involved and that’s going to be costly. We still have to build the parking lot for the vehicles. We also need a dust control plan,” Holecheck said.

The town manager also said there are additional elements that could have been ironed out several years back.

“We probably should have completed the Environmental Assessment (EA) a long time ago. They found what is called ‘scatter,’ which are Native American relics and that was mitigated by the BLM,” she said.

Contained in the agenda backup materials, Giampaoli enumerated several challenges the town is facing in terms of federal, state and county laws.

Giampaoli said the state historic preservation officer has not completed the final regional context review of the proposal.

“State and county sanitation laws do not allow temporary sanitation at permanent facilities. ‘Porta-potties’ may be used only temporarily during construction or special events. The parking lot design is not compliant with Nye County dust control ordinances. Parking lot sections of the ordinance were required by NDEP (Nevada Department of Environmental Protection) and the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) to meet attainment goals,” she said.

Regarding the application status for the park, Giampaoli said there are still several steps to be completed by both the BLM and town officials.

“The BLM received the amendment but has not reviewed it. The BLM wants a preliminary EA that describes the project and can be used by BLM’s resource specialists to determine its potential environmental impacts to various natural resources,” she said.

Once the BLM reviews and comments on the preliminary EA, the agency may request additional information if necessary.

When complete, Giampaoli noted that a positive ruling will again move the project forward.

“The BLM will establish the level of impacts and may issue a ‘Finding of No Significant Impact’ (FONSI), and a decision to offer the town a lease for the Last Chance Park,” she said.

As for water to the facility, Holecheck said a well is not an option.

“BLM says we can’t have a well because of Ash Meadows and environmental issues. We still have to talk about costs because I just want people always to be advised of costs,” she said.

Also on Tuesday evening, board members considered approving the Davis Amusements contract for the 2014 Pahrump Fall Festival as well as the consideration to approve a contract for Movies in the Park this year.

Due to time constraints results from Tuesday’s action items will appear in Friday’s edition of the Pahrump Valley Times.