KSNV: "A commonsense way to cut government red tape" and accelerate housing development

Las Vegas (KSNV) — Although there is desert space for the city to expand into, absorbing that land into the Las Vegas metropolitan area can take years. A bipartisan bill was signed into law last month to expedite the process and more quickly appropriate land for housing projects.

Nearly 80% of the land in Nevada is owned by the government. Bureaucratic procedures have bottlenecked efforts to utilize the land for housing, conservation, and infrastructure projects, said Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, (D) Nevada.

Before government-owned land can be sold, it needs to be appraised to determine its fair market value. Due to increasing demand, the department had to contract private land appraisers — but previous regulations only allowed them to work with appraisers who were credentialed by Nevada.

"That appraisal process was slowing us down from actually developing some essential land," said Cortez Masto.

Nearly two-thirds of the land surrounding the Las Vegas metropolitan area is owned by the BLM. Land distribution in Clark County is partially regulated by the 1980 Santini-Burton Act, later updated with the 1998 Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act.

Maurice Page, executive director of the Nevada Housing Coalition, said that some of their appraisals with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) took nearly two years to complete.

"It comes down to supply and demand, and we do not have enough supply," said Page. "Our demand is only increasing. And so, being able to increase or speed up the process of getting these lands appraised, moved on, and put them into the system only will help our developers move forward as far as building out."

The Accelerating Appraisals and Conservation Efforts Act (AACE Act), signed into law by former President Joe Biden, enables the Department of Interior to contract private appraisers, who can be credentialed by any state, to do the job.

"[It's] very simple. Its sole purpose is to speed up federal land transactions," said Congresswoman Susie Lee, (D) Nevada, of the legislation. "It's not a silver bullet, but it's certainly a commonsense way to cut government red tape and speed up home building."

Lee said that the current priority is turning federal land into residential housing.

Cortez Masto said next in land management priority is the Clark County lands bill. The senator is hopeful the bill will advance due to the bipartisan support it received last year.