After more than a decade of effort, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) conveyed eight parcels of federal land, totaling 2,166.86 acres, within city limits to the City of Fernley on Friday, June 6.
The effort began with the passage in late 2014 of the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 3913), which included a section titled “Conveyance to the City of Fernley, NV,” and is commonly known as the Lands Bill, consisting of 23 parcels, totaling 9,779 acres.
The eight-parcel BLM land conveyance earlier this month is considered phase I of the Lands Bill. Phase II, containing 15 federal parcels consisting of 7,612 acres, is anticipated to be conveyed at a later date following completion of baseline studies, environmental studies, surveys and concept layouts in compliance with the Recreation and Public Purposes Act, according to Lydia Altick, deputy city manager.
At this time, the phase I lands may only be used for recreation and public purposes. However, the city does have the option of requesting to buy the reversionary rights to the lands for fair market value. Under this process, the land may then be used for economic development purposes for the construction of housing, retail and industrial uses, Altick said.
The city will probably only request reversionary rights to one or two of the eight parcels conveyed on June 6, with this process to probably take at least a year because the federal government does the land appraisals and the city has no control over this process, she said.
The remaining six or seven parcels in the phase I conveyance may be used to expand the city’s parks, athletic fields, open space and trail heads. In addition, the city would like to relocate its rodeo grounds for more space and would “like to have our own animal services and not rely on Lyon County, which is down in Silver Springs,” Altick said.
At one time, the desired land conveyance consisted of three phases, with 10 of the remaining 15 parcels in phase II, and the last five parcels in phase III. However, this April the city decided to add the remaining five parcels in phase III to the phase II conveyance after the BLM determined such an action would not negatively impact the existing phase II conveyance timeline, Altick indicated in a recent staff report.
Combining phases II and III would also streamline environmental reviews, requiring only one study rather than two as would be required by National Environmental Policy Act if the land were conveyed in two phases, the staff report noted.
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