Consensus Reached On Town Boundaries

A special committee tasked with redrawing the town boundaries in northeast Clark County met on Tuesday May 19 in Las Vegas and quickly came to common ground. The committee was made up of a single representative from each of the three town boards involved and members of county staff. It was chaired by County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani. The Moapa Town Advisory Board was represented by board chairman Craig Wolfley. For the Moapa Valley Town Board, Guy Doty was present. And the Bunkerville board sent its chairman Brian Haviland.

According to members of the committee, a consensus on the issue was not difficult to reach. “The meeting was amiable,” said Wolfley. “Everybody came with the desire to figure out something that would work for all of us. It was really not too hard to figure something out.”

“It was a very friendly environment,” said Doty. “It was great that once the three boards got together it wasn’t hard to come to consensus. It went as well as it could have gone.”

The town boundary change has been in process for over two years now and in recent months has become a very controversial issue in the communities. It was begun by the Riverview major development project proposed for the Glendale/Moapa area. The developer was seeking to simplify the process by bringing all of its land into a single township and tax district.

To accomplish this, the developer requested some small boundary changes that would shift a two square mile corner of Moapa Valley, the old Glendale town area and a strip of 12 square miles of Bunkerville into the town of Moapa. Both the Bunkerville and Moapa Valley boards agreed to these changes immediately as presented.

But the Moapa Valley Board also requested that its boundaries be increased to include the area directly to its north up to the Lincoln County line. This would give the lower valley community access to two I-15 interchanges and jurisdiction over what the town residents considered an important viewshed area. Currently the town of Moapa Valley includes no I-15 frontage; not even its own exit.

All of the land requested by the lower valley is currently part of Bunkerville. Thus, the Moapa Valley board conditioned its approval of the proposal upon the Bunkerville board’s approval.

Bunkerville heard the issue several times and finally agreed to yield the land to Moapa Valley up to a point one mile east of the Carp Elgin interchange. In return, the Bunkerville board also requested that a large block of land to its south, including much of the Gold Butte area, be included in the Bunkerville boundaries.

But before that vote was taken, County Commissioner Tom Collins had proposed a plan of his own to the county staff. His plan gave all of the land that had been requested by Moapa Valley, plus an additional five miles past the Carp Elgin interchange, to the town of Moapa. The plan caused disagreement and confusion among the three communities. It was proposed to the three town boards and was accepted by the Moapa board. But it was adamantly rejected by the Moapa Valley and Bunkerville boards.

When Collins’ plan came before the County Commission earlier this month, the Commissioners were uncomfortable with approving it over the strong protests of two of the three affected communities. The Commissioners voted to hold the decision for thirty days and form a committee to try and work out the differences and come to consensus. Each town board sent one representative to the committee. Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani agreed to work with the communities to find a common solution.

In last week’s committee meeting, the three parties quickly agreed to split the difference. Bunkerville agreed to give up the land out to six miles east of the Carp/Elgin exit. This was five miles past what had been agreed to with Moapa Valley. In return, Bunkerville would receive the Gold Butte land that it had requested.

Moapa Valley and Moapa then split the land given up by Bunkerville with the center line of I-15 forming the new town boundary. North of I-15 would go to Moapa, south would go to Moapa Valley.

Both committee members from the upper and lower valley were content with the result. “Nobody got 100% of what they wanted,” Wolfley said. “But everyone got what was needed. It was nothing near what Tom Collins set up. But I think that everyone knew up front that that wasn’t going to work. I think even Tom knew that.”

“I felt that we all came out in the end in really good shape,” said Doty. “I am very appreciative to the Commissioners for giving us a listening ear on this. Our voice was heard. The governmental process worked and my faith has been renewed in the county government.”

The County Commission is set to hold a vote on the town boundary ordinance at a meeting to be held on Tuesday, June 2.