Nye County Water District tables proposed code changes on subdivision water-right relinquishment

The Nye County Water District paused action on proposed edits to Nye County code section 16.28.170(h) after lengthy discussion on Oct. 14. The changes, drafted with input from the Nevada State Engineer's office and Schroeder Law Offices PC, would require new subdivision developers to dedicate water and retire or relinquish portions of water rights, a step staff said would bring parity between large subdivision developers and individual domestic well users.

Manager explained the edits were recommended by the state engineer to address what staff described as ‘‘paper water’’ in the basin. He said the master plan and state engineer advised relinquishment language to remove excess paper rights from the system. Several board members raised procedural and substantive objections: Ernie Jackson said the draft contained unrelated language and could penalize private well owners and small parceling practices; others sought clearer definitions for parcel maps vs. subdivisions and asked for more data on recent retirements. Legal counsel Tracy Sticks explained the edits apply when a parcel map is created and cross-referenced state statute language, and recommended clarifying language.

Given outstanding questions and the complexity of the edits, the board chair moved to table the item and asked staff to return with a tightened draft and additional stakeholder input; public comment was solicited before the item was allowed to die for lack of a motion to adopt on the day.