Las Vegas Councilman Bob Beers says he was threatened politically if he failed to side with residents of the posh Queensridge community in their effort to halt a multi-family residential development planned nearby.
In blog and Facebook posts, Beers wrote, “A really rich person who lives in Queensridge told me this morning he’s going to put endless financial resources into defeating me” in next year's municipal elections.
Beers refused to tell KNPR News who it was, but he describe the person as "angry" and he said he spoke directly to the councilman after a public meeting about the issue.
Many Queensridge residents oppose a plan by owners of the neighboring Badlands Golf Course to plow the course under and build more than 3,000 multi-family residential units and 75 multi-acre estates on the 250-acre site near Rampart Boulevard and Alta Drive.
Beer said the problem is the zoning.
“The underlying issue at Queensridge is complex, but the land, somehow, is zoned for quarter and half acre lots," he said, "250 acres of golf course is zoned for quarter and half acre lots and they built a golf course on it instead.”
Beers said if the city stops the development of the course into homes, the developers could sue the city for "inverse condemnation" and if the city loses that lawsuit taxpayers would have to pay the judgment.
“I don’t think that is fair to other tax payers in the city. I’m pretty resolute in that opinion,” he said.
According to Beers, the developers are willing scale back the number of homes and not build all that they're allowed to build on the 250 acres. Instead, they'll put fewer homes on bigger lots and turn 180 acres of the 250 acres into open space with lots of trees.
Higher-density residential construction is planned along Rampart Blvd., at the eastern end of the property.
The proposed development is before the Las Vegas Planning Commission, which put action on hold until October. This allows more discussion among the developers, Queensridge residents, and city staff, which endorsed plans for the project earlier this summer.
Beers said that endorsement made the possibility that the course was going to be taken out real for many people living along it. He said many of those people now understand that it might happen.
Beers hopes those homeowners understand it is really not a choice about whether the course will stay or go.
“If the choice was between the golf course and what they’re proposing? The golf course would win hands down, but the problem is that’s not what the other choice is,” he said, "I hope they understand that the alternative is quarter and half acre lots with 5,000-square-foot houses.”
For Beers, the bottom line is: if the residents had read the fine print when they bought their homes, they would know that the course could go away at some point.
“These people all signed disclosures that they had no rights to the golf course and the golf course could go away,” he said.
Bob Beers, councilman, Las Vegas Ward 2