Planning — February 2008

Sprawl Stops Here

Boulder City sticks to its guns.

By Brok Armantrout and Susan Danielewicz, AICP

For many of its residents, Boulder City, Nevada, is the "anti-Vegas." Of course, its more honest citizens will admit that one of the primary benefits of living in this small city is the convenience of having the really big city (with all of its blessings and vices) just over the hill.

This is a unique place — a federally planned and managed town built during the Depression for the construction of the Hoover Dam, one of the most significant public works projects of the 20th century. Even more unusual for Nevada, Boulder City prohibits legalized gambling — the only municipality in the state to do so.

The city was officially incorporated in 1959 on 33 square miles deeded from the federal government. The population then was about 4,000 and nearly 50 years later, it remains small, just 15,800, thanks largely to the efforts of the citizens.

In 1979, voters passed a referendum approving a growth control ordinance based on a similar law passed in Petaluma, California. The ordinance has been amended just a few times since then.

Also back in the 1970s, locals were concerned that the growth in the Las Vegas Valley would spill over into the adjacent Eldorado Valley, which includes part of Boulder City. In 1995, at the direction of the voters and after 25 years of bureaucratic delay, the city paid about $1 million to buy 163 square miles of vacant federal land from the Colorado River Commission for the specific purpose of not developing most of it. Today Boulder City encompasses 200 square miles, the largest geographic area of any Nevada city, but only about eight square miles of that is actually developed.

There is another far more important reason for Boulder City's success in controlling its growth. While there were many sales of city land in the 1960s and '70s, relatively little land was sold in the 1980s. In the '90s, after the Eldorado Valley land purchase, the city council decided to sell half a dozen parcels in order to replenish the capital improvement fund. That sale was in line with the city's master plan, but many residents feared that it would open the door to more development.

In 1997, an amendment to the city charter was passed requiring voter approval of any land sale of more than an acre. Three times since then, voters have turned down proposals to sell residential lots near the city's second golf course. The only approved land sale was for an old animal shelter, with the proceeds to be used for a new one.

To all those planners over the years who have contacted Boulder City because they've heard we have this really effective growth control ordinance, we repeat: It's easy to control growth when you own most of the vacant land and are largely prohibited from selling it.

Of course, we still must keep up with the ever-growing need for municipal services. Our logical, and profitable, solution has been to lease land. Given the city's vast resources of vacant land and the rapid growth in the Las Vegas Valley, there has been no shortage of offers.

Several proposals have been turned down (an animal refuge park) or never materialized (a movie studio), but others have come to fruition: a luxury golf course for the valley's casinos, a gas-fired electrical generation plant, and the world's third largest solar generation facility. A recent approval was for an aerial recreation business that will offer zip-line rides (described as a ski lift in reverse) down the mountains adjacent to Bootleg Canyon. (This attraction is expected to be open by the time of the APA conference in late April.)

It's no surprise that Boulder City residents are quite vocal in their demands, including calls from some for the city to become a "no-growth community" rather than a "slow growth community." Some citizens are now questioning the leasing program as well, such as the proposal for a resort hotel development that would bring more golfers (and revenue) to the city.

Others are worried about the impact on the city when a new bridge over the Colorado River opens in 2010. Once this occurs, heavy truck traffic along the CANAMEX Corridor will again move through the city. (Truck traffic across the Hoover Dam has been banned since 9/11.) The bridge will also make possible an easy commute from Arizona, where developers have already begun advertising new homes as only 45 minutes from the Strip. A bypass from the bridge around the city has been planned, but funding for it is estimated to be 20 years in the future.

The challenge today is how to pay for future needs, such as the third intake straw from Lake Mead. We still don't have an answer for that one, but we're working on it.

Brok Armantrout is Boulder City's director of community development; Susan Danielewicz is the city planner.

Resources

Images: Top — The compact city tucked in next to Lake Mead was built for the workers who constructed Hoover Dam in the 1930s. Bottom — The worlds third largest solar installation. Photos courtesy Boulder City Public Information Office.