By vernon Robison

Moapa Valley Progress

The Moapa Town Advisory Board, at a meeting held on Tuesday, March 29, approved a zoning request from Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) to vacate and abandon a portion of right-of-way being Layman Blvd. located on the west side of State Route 168 approximately 1.1 miles southeast of Warm Springs Road.

SNWA spokesman, Bronson Mack explained that the SNWA had planned to make improvements to the ranch property in that location which includes the residence of land manager Robert Johnson. These improvements would include a 100 ft. x 60 ft. warehouse structure and a private access drive to the property.

Since the drive would only be used to access the single property, the existing full right-of-way was unnecessary, Mack said.

“It doesn’t make sense to have a full public right-of-way to a single property,” Mack said.

During the public comment period, Bill Parson who owns the property adjacent to the SNWA parcel, expressed concerns that the new road be designed to handle any floodwater passing through a natural wash running through the property and across the path of the proposed road.

MTAB member Craig Wolfley asked if Parson would be satisfied if the SNWA access road just had nothing more than a dip through the wash to leave it the same as it is now.

“I have no preference if they do a dip, a culvert or an overflow basin,” Parson said. “Just as long as the water doesn’t end up back ing up into the yard.”

Parson also asked if SNWA traffic currently running along his own private access drive would stop once the new road was built.

“The previous property owners asked if they could use that drive to access the property back there and I said okay because it was maybe 2-3 cars a day,” Parson said. “But now there are commercial vehicles going back and forth all day long.”

Mack explained that one of the primary purposes of the project was to get the SNWA traffic off of Parson’s access road. “Once our road is built there will be none of our vehicles on your drive anymore,” he said.

MTAB Chairwoman Ann Schreiber made a motion to grant the request for Vacate and Abandon provided that they satisfy the neighbors on flood issues. The motion was approved with a unanimous vote.