By Vernon Robison

Moapa Valley Progress

The Moapa Town Advisory Board (MTAB) heard a zoning item requested by Nevada Power at a meeting held Tuesday, June 14. The item requested that the county Vacate and Abandon a portion of unnamed roadway in Warm Springs. The county-owned and -maintained roadway splits from the far western end of the Warm Springs loop, winding through fields owned by Nevada Power and touching a corner of BLM land, before it intersects with State Route 168 about a mile northwest of the Warm Springs road intersection.

Tom Dombrowski, a Sr. Land Use Consultant at NV Energy, explained that the company has plans for development of the property for a renewable energy generation facility. The current road stands in the way of this, he said.

“The road bisects the property,” Dombrowski said. “That doesn’t enable us to utilize the property for potential renewable energy resources. We are just asking that the previously dedicated right of way be abandoned so that we can develop the property to its fullest.”

Dombrowski said that, once vacated, the road would be closed to public traffic and the property would most likely be fenced in.

In return, Dombrowski explained that NV Energy had agreed with county staff to give a formal 50 foot easement on the segment of the more heavily accessed Warm Springs Road which is currently without a full public easement.

Warm Springs residents in attendance at the meeting put up resistance to the idea of the road being closed. They pointed out that the road had long been one of several points from which to access the Arrow Canyon area. Hikers could park at a point along the roadway, hike through the NV Energy property and through an adjacent private property to access the Arrow Canyon area beyond.

“We have seen more and more restrictions on the citizenry to access public lands,” said Warm Springs resident Bill Parson. “This would restrict our ability to get to the property. Is there any way that NV Energy can work with us to preserve access?”

An official from the BLM in attendance pointed out that there were other, more direct, access points to Arrow Canyon besides this route. But residents acknowledged this but insisted that they would prefer to retain this traditional access.

MTAB Chairwoman Ann Schreiber said that if the residents wanted to fight the action, they would need to organize themselves.

“When it leaves here it goes to the Planning Commission,” she said. “Are you that are against it willing to go down to the Planning Commission and fight it? Because no matter what we do here, they’ll approve it. And there is no chance of changing that if we don’t have at least 50 people there to speak against it. Otherwise it will be okayed if not enough people are there to fight it.”

Community Liaison Janice Ridondo said that she had spoken to Commissioner Tom Collins about this issue and that he had indicated that everyone was on board. “I’m a little surprised that there is so much of a reaction to it,” she said.

“But this is the first time we have heard anything about this,” responded MTAB member Jan Johnson. “We didn’t know enough to be on board or not.”

“And I can assure you, if the word got around on this, you’d find that these folks here aren’t the only ones who would raise cane about it,” added MTAB member Don Davis.

Davis sought a compromise.

“I’m a big private property advocate,” Davis said. “But on the other hand, people are used to using that road. It seems to me that we might could work toward NV Energy giving an equestrian/pedestrian access along the southern edge of their property. That would let them use the property but still allow people to access the land beyond.”

Ridondo suggested that the board ask NV Energy to hold the item to allow a neighborhood meeting and get further feedback from the residents. “We don’t need to send this straight to the Planning Commission to be approved,” Ridondo said. “I can assure you that this is not going to be pushed down anyone’s throat. We can work with you on it.”

Dombrowski agreed to hold the item to allow for neighborhood meetings to be held in the coming weeks.