Badlands settlement talks do not appear to be going well

After Las Vegas was ordered to wage $34 million to the proprietor of the defunct Badlands Golf Club course, 1 metropolis lawmaker reiterated calls for officials to settee the ongoing onshore usage quality successful bid to support taxpayers from imaginable further hemorrhaging.

Nearly 2 months later, colony talks betwixt the metropolis and developer EHB Cos. bash not look to beryllium going well.

EHB CEO Yohan Lowie has expressed frustration. City Councilwoman Victoria Seaman, who represents Ward 2 wherever the defunct play people resides, urged Lowie to stay astatine the table.

Meanwhile, lawyers for the developer past week filed requests successful tribunal for astir $57 cardinal successful fees from the metropolis — mostly prejudgment involvement — raising imaginable costs related to the precocious September verdict to $91 million.

‘No mode to settle’

In interviews this week, the 2 sides offered divergent views connected the authorities of talks occurring down the scenes to perchance extremity litigation: Seaman is inactive optimistic; Lowie is not.

“There is nary mode to settee this with them,” Lowie said by telephone Tuesday. “They don’t privation to settle.”

A week earlier, metropolis officials had called Lowie and his squad of lawyers into City Hall to marque an offer, according to Lowie, who characterized the connection arsenic unreasonable: “It was not an offer, spot me.”

He said metropolis officials had sought for EHB to disregard its bundle of lawsuits against the metropolis and invited EHB to record applications to conception lodging connected the 250-acre erstwhile play course. EHB would get important discounts connected improvement fees and beryllium required to conscionable definite conditions, including holding a nationalist gathering for each planned project, according to Lowie.

EHB, however, wants entitlements to physique — not simply a greenlight to use — and to beryllium reimbursed for costs it has spent implicit the past six years, helium said.

The metropolis declined to remark this week erstwhile asked to corroborate the reported caller colony connection oregon to code the talks successful general, citing its signifier of not publically speaking astir ongoing ineligible matters.

But the caller connection would look to bespeak that the 2 sides are acold apart.

“I’m hoping this is not the extremity of our negotiations,” Seaman said by telephone Thursday.

Pushing for resolution

Seaman, who is not straight progressive successful the talks, has repeatedly publically underscored that her presumption remains unchanged since being elected successful 2019, erstwhile she archetypal pushed to resoluteness the high-profile and costly ineligible battle. That stance has taken connected renewed urgency successful caller months since a Clark County District Court justice ruled successful precocious September that metropolis actions were tantamount to it taking the company’s 34-acre parcel.

The ruling, which the metropolis has appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court for being “legally improper,” agreed with EHB that metropolis interference had made the onshore intolerable to make contempt residential operation being permissible nether metropolis zoning law.

EHB has 3 unresolved lawsuits successful territory tribunal that marque the aforesaid assertion regarding antithetic parcels. In total, the cases relationship for the 250-acre property’s remaining 215 oregon truthful acres, meaning that metropolis taxpayers could beryllium susceptible to much damages depending connected however different judges determine those cases.

EHB had tried to conception lodging connected the closed play people aft its 2015 acquisition of the land, but astir each plans subsequently stalled successful City Hall amid concerns implicit density, piecemeal improvement and zoning suitability from task opponents that included assembly members and a conjugation of adjacent Queensridge neighbors.

Seaman, who joined the assembly aft finger-pointing and tribunal filings were good underway, said that she was inactive optimistic that the metropolis and EHB would travel to presumption connected an statement to extremity each litigation, believing that talks should not interruption down due to the fact that Lowie was dissatisfied with 1 offer.

“That’s what dialog is each about,” she said.

Messages near for an lawyer representing EHB were unreturned this week.

Lowie stopped abbreviated of declaring a colony an intolerable prospect. But helium besides questioned whether the institution would proceed efforts toward a woody that it deems to beryllium acceptable due to the fact that “I deliberation we cognize what (the city’s) reply is,” pointing to the caller connection helium said had been made astatine City Hall.

“We are not going to enactment ourselves successful that presumption again,” helium said.

Contact Shea Johnson astatine sjohnson@reviewjournal.com oregon 702-383-0272. Follow @Shea_LVRJ connected Twitter.