Interested citizens might want to attend the Historic Preservation Committee meeting tomorrow evening, December 4th at 5pm at City Hall. The folks from the Bureau of Reclamation will be in attendance to answer some members of the public who are unhappy or concerned about the outcome of the recent xeriscape project completed earlier this summer. We told you about their initial plans for this project HERE in 2023 when it began.
There is a justifiable given the level of concern over needed water conservation, and replacing the former grass saves two million gallons of water annually. Many townspeople resisted this project for years and one can understand why. The Bureau is one of our historic landmarks that anchors our downtown and was always admired for it’s big beautiful grassy hill. But it also put the Bureau itself in an uncomfortable position given that they are responsible for setting conservation standards throughout the lower Colorado River Basin and for enforcing those rules, but then were guilty of wasting resources on such a grassy treasure that was unused except for appearances. It wasn’t a park, this is federal land.
So the plan was created and work began. We remember speaking with the Public Information Officer about the proposed plan, and he emphasized at the time that the Bureau wanted to create something that would be appealing and usable and honored both the need for conservation but still gave residents something they could be proud of.
These results are, mixed. We’ve encountered people currently in our fall season walking and enjoying the wandering trails and had friends spontaneously comment positively they appreciated the landscaping. There are parts to this that do in fact look quite lovely.
However, there are some who have pointed out, and quite validly, that whoever made the planting selections did not fill in with Mojave desert natives. In fact some of what has been set is not appropriate at all for the setting and some of them are already being over-watered. Other complaints were raised because when the contractor initially finished the work, not all of these plants or trees were even properly set to begin with and some have already died.
The other issue is of course the “Great Rock Wall of Boulder City” that one side of the structure created. But there’s a backstory here too. The City had been informed when the project was nearly completed that over on the western hill the contractor encountered blue limestone, which is a notoriously hard rock. They quoted that removing it would have added $5 million to the project at that time. Rather than look for other solutions – such as even leaving it bare – they pilled more dirt and rock on top of it to continue the landscaping on top of the hill. Nevada Way is sloping right at this point on the road on the side of the building. In making that hill on the BOR property even higher, this had the effect of essentially creating a rock wall, which when one stands next too, isn’t particularly appealing.
Imagine for those homeowners across the street, how this may have impacted them. The view of the historic building is almost completely blocked and the vegetation on this front side of the property is meaningfully lacking.
But what might be more concerning is that all of this rocky landscape is now generating significant heat during the summer. Local citizen, Branden Smith who lives in the neighborhood has monitored the situation and invested in a heat measuring camera to record some of the daytime and even nighttime temps located at the building site. It’s cooking, that’s for certain! Not only does the rock landscaping soar well above our substantial summer ambient temps, the material choice for the benches added to the scene reach as high as 140 degrees. One could argue, well, who really is inclined to sit outside on a bench in the sun when it’s 115 degrees. But we do see tourists in our town even on the hottest days in the summer, and it heat is nearly an unsafe or even hazardous level in those conditions, especially for a child. What is more, is that the rock surface does not cool off that significantly at night, either.
So now what? As far as the Bureau is concerned the project is finished. Citizens have started a petition you can sign HERE, and the personnel willing to address the towns’ concerns are now at least willing to meet up with the City and a collection of local activists who have put in some hard work to make this meeting happen during the Historic Preservation Committee.
What needs to be organized is what, if anything, should Boulder-ites ask be done? Putting it back to the prior greenery is out of the question for a variety of reasons. But what might be reasonable is some additional shade structures or more native plants being properly installed and cared for. This was a HOT summer. But if the climate continues to get even hotter what will this landscape look like 10 – 20 years from now? One can also already see slippage from some of the landscaping and there has hardly been any meaningful rainfall.
This property, while federal, is an important landmark in Boulder City, so we’ll hope to see some continued improvements made.
