HENDERSON (KTNV) — A 3,000-home development will soon be built on top of an old mine in Henderson.
In November, the Henderson City Council approved plans to construct the community on the Three Kids Mine site. The mine was in operation from 1917 to 1961 and has been inactive ever since.
Long-time Henderson residents, like Robbie Watts, said they love seeing their city grow but he has concerns about the mine, which is about 10 minutes from his house.
"My main concern is how do the potential home owners feel good about the fact that all that arsenic and what not is going to be out of there," Watts told me.
Developer Lakemoor Ventures plans to team up with the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, also known as NDEP, to clean up and remove any previous contamination, like asbestos, and bury the mine in order to build the community on top.
"Of course, I'm worried about that and I just hope that future buyers are enlightened to that information," Watts said.
Because of concerned residents like Watts, I reached out to Alan Pineda with the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection. He says future residents will not have to worry about the contaminants.
"The cleanup process will basically look like the asbestos and solid waste that's currently on the surface of the mine site is going to be taken off-site, for disposal, at a landfill," Pineda told me.
Pineda says all the waste left behind from the mine will be removed and buried in another area away from the homes.
Kirk Stowers is a professional geologist with Broadbent, an environmental consulting firm. He says the cleaned land will be covered with a lining and on top, there will be 10 feet of uninfected native soil.
"It's very difficult. It's impossible basically to access it," Stowers said. "And the most contaminated part of the property, which is the tailings ponds, will be approximately 150 to 200 feet below land surface already."
Mindy Wadkins, the project manager for Lakemoor Ventures says safety is their top priority.
She says the cleanup will commence in April, with construction of single-family homes, apartments, and senior living accommodations slated to start in 2025, aiming for occupancy by 2026. The project is expected to cost $400 million.
"The price ranges will be the market ranges, if you will. And, you know, won't be anything different than what you're seeing right now," Wadkins told me.
But some Henderson residents are still not convinced.
"Would you personally move in to one of the homes that will be built on top of this mine," I asked Watts.
"Absolutely not. There is no way I would ever do that," Watts said. "We consider that a main stay. It's like a memory and all of a sudden to have a development on it it throws those memories away. 3,000 homes. That is sad."
