A former longtime Bureau of Land Management official said there's nothing to prevent the agency from freeing up prime land in the valley to help ease the current real estate crisis plaguing the Las Vegas Valley.
Mike Ford, co-owner of Las Vegas-based public lands consulting firm Abbey, Stubbs & Ford, said there are some magic numbers to keep in mind when considering the issue.
“We have 2.9 million acres of BLM land in Clark County and that's where we really need to focus because lands managed by other (federal) agencies typically can't be disposed of because they have environmental characteristics or are part of special management units designated by Congress.”
Ford said the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, passed in 1998, identified about 67,000 acres of the 2.9 million disposable acres in the Las Vegas Valley that could be used for commercial or residential development, adding that there are about 33,000 other acres of BLM parcels scattered throughout the county that are also designated for developable disposition.
“The original idea was for the BLM to be completely out of the business of managing urban land in the valley within five to 10 years,” he said of the original 1998 law giving Congress direction to the federal government regarding the land, “but that never happened.”
The federal government owns more than 80 percent of the state, the highest percentage in the nation, and about 88 percent of Clark County is federally owned, with more than half of that being administered by the BLM.
Several commercial brokers, stakeholders and analysts who spoke to the Las Vegas Review-Journal expressed two complaints about the valley's land shortage: tough zoning issues and permitting delays by Clark County, and the BLM's unwillingness to part with or auction land in a timely manner. Ford said it's simply bureaucracy and excessive control over what is now a critical resource that is driving up prices, slowing projects and hindering development throughout the valley.
“Clark County has 2.9 million acres of land, some of which is environmentally sensitive land and is very important to manage in rural areas, so why would (BLM) spend 90 percent of their time on 67,000 acres of urban land that are easier for local governments to manage? That's the million-dollar question.”
Is this an example of government bureaucracy?
John Restrepo, president of RCG Economics, a Las Vegas-based economic consulting firm, said many of the complaints he's heard over the years have to do with the BLM's appraisal process for lands that are up for auction.
“The process of putting a value on land is too expensive, and I think the BLM had political concerns about not wanting to be seen as giving away taxpayer-owned land, so they created very restrictive valuation guidelines and slowed down some of the process.”
A master-planned community with more than 3,000 homes is set to be built on 505 acres of former federal land in the northwest Las Vegas Valley, which was sold at auction last November.
In an emailed response to the Review-Journal, BLM Southern Nevada District Manager Teresa Coleman said the agency works closely with local governments regarding land that will be offered for disposal.
Parcels available for sale are determined through a collaborative selection process, she said. To offer for sale a parcel of land within the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act disposition boundary, interested parties must first identify the parcel to the local government where the land is located. If the local government agrees the parcel should be sold, it submits a nomination for the sale of the land by the BLM. The BLM then completes the necessary processes to make the parcel available for sale.
The BLM has disposed of 44,000 acres in the Las Vegas Valley since 1998, leaving 27,000 acres within the boundary, Coleman said, adding that land sales typically occur twice a year, but “the frequency varies depending on the demand for the land being designated.”
The city of Henderson recently asked the federal government to auction 58 acres across eight city parcels, located south of St. Rose Parkway, west of East Bruner Avenue and Raiders Way.
The private sector is already sorting itself out, said Steve Nager, a commercial real estate broker, CAST representative and board member for the Southern Nevada chapter of the commercial real estate development association NAIOP. He said the commercial sector works regularly with the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association, and if there is more land available, anything that is needed, commercial or residential, will be built.
Housing stakeholders who spoke to the Review-Journal echoed similar sentiments, with Nager saying it's time for government to get out of the way and let the private sector do the work.
“From a commercial perspective, our organization, our members, build what we think the market needs. We don't build what we can't rent, right? So, whatever there is demand for.”
Contact Patrick Blennerhassett at pblennerhassett@reviewjournal.com.