The survey results that may determine where and what kind of Pahrump town center the valley community of approximately 35,000 would like to see developed over the next 20 years are at hand.

Just don't expect a Pahrump "downtown" to blossom any time soon.

More than half the 27 people who participated in the survey conducted by Hogle-Ireland Inc., Nye County's consultant, plus 10 more who responded to survey questions online, voted the Calvada Eye the best place in Pahrump for the future center of town.

The "Eye" is close to the original delineation of the defunct Preferred Equities Corp.'s elliptically-shaped Calvada Eye and the subdivision surrounding it. In that scheme, surrounding streets and avenues radiated from an envisioned town center bounded by Pahrump Valley Boulevard on the west and Dandelion Street on the east.

The Eye itself served as the sales-office entrance to the proposed town, centered as it was on Calvada Boulevard.

Preferred Equities Corp. was Pahrump's first major land development company, one with an unsavory truth-in-advertising reputation vivid in the memories of older town residents to this day.

The circular Mount Charleston Drive forms the outer ring around the centrally located open space between Pahrump Valley Boulevard and Dandelion Street -- Preferred Equities' preferred center of gravity for the future town center.

But that was then, this is now. Hogle-Ireland gathered ideas from residents as to how they would like their town center to develop as part of the Pahrump Valley's comprehensive rezoning project.

A visual preference survey was also taken to better gauge where to locate the town center and the kinds of development standards that might be applied to future projects developers may want to build there.

In other words, the survey questions asked: Where precisely do you want your downtown to be in the valley, and what kinds of natural, civic, commercial or architecturally themed growth do you want to see there?

Participants were asked, "How do you visualize the character of the town center?"

Thirty-one percent answered that they wanted to see an traditional main street; forty-four percent viewed the town center as "a regional shopping and commercial center"; and 25 percent said they envisioned it more as a civic or community center.

As to its location, the Calvada Eye received 51 percent of the vote; the intersection of highways 160 and 372 got 10 percent of the vote; Basin Avenue and Highway 160 got 10 percent; and 12 percent went for "other."

Participants were asked, "In five words or less, please describe your vision of Pahrump's town center." Among the words and phrases most commonly expressed were: "shopping," "restaurants," "commercial," "civic center," "gathering place/community events" and "recreational."

"Should a unifying architectural theme be required for new development within the town center overlay?" was the third question. A resounding 72 percent answered yes to the question; 28 percent said no.

The final question asked which specific uses of 28 listed suggestions the respondents wanted to see in the future town center.

Restaurants scored the highest response by far. Next, in order of the frequency of response, came community recreational center; park/playground; mixed use; movie theater; locally-owned businesses; city hall; hotel; indoor mall; fast-food restaurants; village green; fountain/water feature; chain stores; and transit (bus) center.

Fourteen other proposals -- from a fire station to a school to soccer fields -- are listed on a graph according to the number of responses they elicited. They can be found on the consultant's Web site, www.pahrumpzoning.com/surveyresults.html.

The consultant is scheduled to make another presentation to the community with a workshop on mixed-use developments in late September. Then, in early December, the consultants will be back for a community information meeting and to obtain feedback on the mixed-use rezoning planned for the valley. A draft zoning map will be presented at that time, according to Hogle-Ireland.

The December meeting, while still tentative, is scheduled to explain the comprehensive zoning outlook for the town, its proposed zoning districts and what their organizing principles entail, said Cheryl Beeman, interim director of the Nye County Department of Planning.

Beeman was asked whether the small popular vote for the Calvada Eye means it's now the main focus for the future town center.

"It's going to mean the focus for the consultants is the Calvada Eye," she said. And unless the community has a change of heart, that is the town center Pahrump is gravitating toward, she said.