Proposal would expand Las Vegas

Officials seeking input on opening 39,000 acres of federal lands

Clark County officials are quietly floating a plan to open almost 39,000 acres of federal land for development and allow the Las Vegas metropolitan area to spill beyond its current boundaries.

Commissioners are expected to vote later this month on a resolution calling on Congress to free up land for more growth at the outer reaches of the community, including a large swath along Interstate 15 south of the valley. The sweeping proposal also would designate new wilderness and set aside tens of thousands of acres as areas of critical environmental concern for desert tortoise and other protected species.

Officials will host an open house on the proposal from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Clark County Library on Flamingo Road east of Maryland Parkway.

The county provided few details about the proposed lands bill when it announced the public meeting on Wednesday.

A county spokesman later supplied a draft of the resolution up for consideration by the commission. The four-page document outlines 15 separate transactions but does not include specific acreages for any of them.

BILL

Vegas police Lt. Tim Bedwell, who is running against Lombardo.

Campaign contributions suggest that Lombardo is facing no serious competition in the race, although he has four challengers. He raised more than $522,000 in the reporting period that began Jan. 1 and ended May 22, followed by Bedwell, who raised about $48,000.

The other three candidates reported no contributions. They are Clark County school police Detective Matt Caldwell, former Metropolitan Police Department Detective Gordon Martines and Gregory Heiny.

Lombardo is seeking a second term as sheriff.

What the numbers say

The Metropolitan Police Department provides two averages in its wait-time statistics: the average wait time in general, and the average of the longest wait times of each day.

Lombardo’s claim compares the average maximum wait time for August 2016 with the much lower average wait time of 2017. According to data provided by his campaign, the average longest 311 wait time in August 2016 was just over two hours. In a mailer, his campaign states that the new wait time is just 31 seconds.

“If, in fact, what he is presenting is the worst-case scenario against the During Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo's first year in office, the average wait time for 311 calls was just over three minutes. By 2017, the average was 31 seconds. Between 2015 and the next year, the average maximum wait time went from about 32 minutes to about 46. In 2017, the average maximum dropped to 19 1/2 minutes. current average, that is disingenuous,” Bedwell said.

The nonemergency line has traditionally been a troubled system