LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — "A staggering sum."
"A tough road ahead."
Those are the words used by Las Vegas City Manager Mike Janssen in a message to staff about the effects of the battle over Badlands.
Janssen's email to city staff, which was re-printed in a city-wide newsletter, lays out, for the first time, the stark reality of how the city council's decisions will affect city jobs, projects and property.
Once a golf course, Badlands is now a hazard-filled eyesore bordered by buckling sidewalks no one's bothering to fix. The land may look worthless, but it's costing taxpayers $235 million and counting.
And now, the city has to figure out how to pay for that.
In recent weeks, the city began paying developer Yohan Lowie a portion of a court-ordered judgment—about $48 million so far in a series of cases that could end up costing nearly half a billion dollars.
I recently sat down with Janssen to discuss everything Badlands. It was the first time any member of city staff has agreed to talk about Badlands on camera.
"You've said this is a very tough road we've got ahead of us," I said.
"It is and it's one that I think we need the entire city team to be a part of," Janssen told me.
That's why he said he sent the email to city employees.
"I wanted to give them as much accuracy as I could but also let them know that we're working on a strategy to work through this."
The first strategy? A hiring freeze.
"We're not freezing any positions related to the Fire Department or related to our Marshals — things related to public safety. Unfortunately, the positions that are being frozen are things like some of our engineers, some of our planners, some of our administrative assistants."
So far, he says there are 30 positions on the freeze list.
"So someone who needs a job and might have otherwise gotten that job, it's not available to them," I said.
"Yeah. I mean, it's a strategy that's worked in the past when we've been facing some economic challenges," Janssen explained. "And so, with a challenge like this in front of us, freezing positions is a relatively easy step for us to take versus other options."
Janssen says layoffs are not on the table ... for now. But other cuts are capital improvement projects paid for from the city's General Fund. Capital improvement projects include roads, sidewalks, bike lanes and streetlights as well as parks, trails, fire stations, community centers and athletic fields, just to name a few.
WATCH: City makes first payments on massive Badlands legal tab
Janssen says they're working on a recommendation list of projects for the city council to consider putting on hold, but he had no specifics.
They're also evaluating selling some city property.
I pointed out that the need for affordable housing is staggering within the city and county and asked whether the city was considering selling property that could potentially otherwise be used for something like that.
Again, Janssen said they're still working on a list of properties to present to the city council.
"What do you say to the taxpayers about what you've called a 'staggering sum'," I questioned.
"I would tell our citizens that we've been doing our very best to make the best choices out of the situation, recognizing that it's a very tough situation," Janssen replied.
It's a situation former Ward 2 City Councilman Bob Beers says was, "totally avoidable."
When Beers was on the council as the Badlands battle began more than seven years ago, he said councilmembers were "fully warned by the city attorney at the time that it would result in this outcome."
Despite residential zoning, and later confirmed in legal rulings, the city's elected leaders effectively prevented Lowie from developing homes on his property by putting up administrative roadblocks, and denying applications and permits against the advice of their own staff and planning commission.
It was a battle backed by a handful of wealthy Queensridge homeowners who didn't want development on the shuttered golf course behind their homes.
Former Ward 2 Councilman Steve Seroka, who unseated Beers in 2017, tried to appease those homeowners by falsely telling them Badlands was open recreational space.
However, it's not. It's private property and it always has been.
Even so, Janssen says, "I think the decisions we made were based with best intentions."
Four Nevada District Court judges and a unanimous Nevada Supreme Court determined the city engaged in egregious and systematic actions to illegally take Lowie's entire 250-acre property without paying the constitutionally-mandated just compensation.
The city has lost three out of four lawsuits so far. One remains pending. On the case the city lost on appeal to the state Supreme Court, justices called the city's actions "hostile."
"Justices called the city's actions 'poor decisions with no basis in law.' And now, that's coming home to roost not only for taxpayers — who are in a giant hole — but now city jobs and city property and projects are getting sucked into that hole too. How do we reconcile that with the people on whose backs this is falling," I asked.
"Yeah. It's interesting how all of the other entities in Southern Nevada and many in Northern Nevada signed onto our amicus brief on that first case because they all agreed that the action that's been taken by the court is just not proper. And when I say not proper, it has to do with, if you want to develop property, there's a process you go through where you hear everyone's comments on that property and you try to come to a decision that's harmonious and compatible with the surrounding area and that's just how land planning has been done for decades and decades, all over the country for that matter."
"But the court's calling it an 'illegal taking'," I pointed out.
"The court is calling it an illegal taking and I think that's where all of the local agencies have said there's a problem here," Janssen said.
One of those local agencies — Clark County — recently settled a similar case with Gypsum Resources and its owner Jim Rhodes over the Blue Diamond Hill housing development.
That cost taxpayers $80 million, much less than what the city is facing by continuing to fight the Badlands cases and delay paying judgments.
Some say the county saw the writing on the Badlands wall.
The city had a chance to cut its losses in 2022 with a $64 million settlement that was scuttled at the eleventh hour.
"Several other opportunities to settle this have been blown off by the city, although the city says they didn't do it," Beers told me. "I was involved in the first one and the city absolutely did. They changed the terms of the agreement at the last second and you can't do that."
As Janssen sat in a conference room under a reminder on the wall that 'good judgment' is one of the city's core values, he said the city intends to continue fighting the fourth case that's still pending in court.
"Do you think the other three cases are substantially different enough to warrant millions more in legal bills for the taxpayers to take it all the way up to a Supreme Court that's already on the record as not looking at this favorably," I asked.
"Yeah. I think the parameters behind the four cases are so unique," Janssenn said.
Not according to the city’s own private attorneys who've stated dozens of times on the record that the four cases are identical and that the Nevada Supreme Court opinion in the one case it ruled on would resolve all issues of fact and law in the other cases.
"And so, what I would tell you is we've been working in parallel. On one side, the cases have continued to work their way through the courts and on the other side, we've been meeting at regular intervals with their attorney, trying to facilitate a proposal that we think could be fair for everyone and that's going to continue to be our mission until the last case is decided," Janssen said.
Beers calls the whole thing "very frustrating."
"Where can a taxpayer find accountability for bad acts? That's what this was. Make no mistake! However whitewashed the rhetoric is coming from the city, make no mistake. This was a bad act, an illegal act, by politicians. Where is the accountability?"
Badlands has become the central issue of the Las Vegas mayoral race, so accountability may come from the voting taxpayers who are stuck paying the staggering price of the city's losing strategy.
That price goes up every day the city doesn't pay off the full amount of the judgment in the 35-acre case—which is the one they lost on appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court.
Interest fees in the amount of $1,557.79 accrue each day the balance remains unpaid. Currently, the interest on the unpaid balance is nearly $70,000 and counting.
We asked the city when they planned to pay it in full to stop the bleeding of tax dollars, at least in this case We received the following reply.
"The court is still working out details on the disposition of the 35-acre parcel that is to be transferred to the city. We will pay the final amount when we have an order from the judge regarding the title to the 35 acres."
WATCH: New Channel 13 drone footage shows defunct Badlands golf course
The developer's attorneys dispute that.
"Contrary to what the city states, there is nothing left to work out," attorney Jim Leavitt said. "The city has been ordered to pay the remaining funds owed in the 35-acre case no later than 30 days from Monday, August 12, 2024 and the court ordered the city to pay an additional $1,557.79 per day for every day the city delays payment.
"Judge Timothy C. Williams signed five orders on Monday, August 12, 2024, ordering the city to pay the remaining funds owed and each order states, that 'The City pay these funds by depositing payment with the Clerk of the Court no later than thirty (30) days after notice of entry of this Order.” This is in line with NRS 37.140, which states the government in eminent domain cases 'must, within 30 days after final judgment, pay the sum of money assessed.'
"NRS 37.160 then provides that after the city pays the funds, the court will enter a final order of condemnation transferring title to the city subject to the landowners reversionary right to repurchase the 35-acre property for the price paid for the land."
A court hearing has been set for September 9 for the parties to appear and report to Judge Williams on the status of the city’s compliance with the court’s orders.
You can follow our continuing coverage at ktnv.com/badlands.
