The Pahrump Arts and Recreation Facility (PARC) is a little closer to becoming a reality now that the Pahrump Town Board has approved several preliminary bureaucratic measures.

The board Sept. 11, first approved a resolution officially designating Pahrump Alliance Valley Economic Development (PAVED) as the town's authorized representative for matters concerning economic development.

PARC is a proposal for a number of facilities on the proposed fairgrounds (which have been in the works for nearly a decade), including two theme parks, an indoor rodeo arena, a convention center, a sports park and an amphitheater.

PAVED, which is made up of an executive board of nine volunteer directors, would represent Pahrump when dealing with state or county governments, soliciting water rights, and outlining a budget and framework for the project.

Al Balloqui told the board that PAVED, by virtue of its nonprofit status, could help move the long-delayed project forward once and for all.

"What PAVED would allow us to do is start soliciting money from private and other corporate entities," Balloqui explained, going on to outline the corporation's potential to expand.

"PAVED will hopefully provide enough money to have a paid administrative staff," Balloqui said. "I would like to see it become an organization similar to the Nevada Development Authority."

This was the second time PAVED appeared on a town board agenda, as the last time the issue was tabled when Paula Elefante, executive director of the the Economic Development Authority of Esmeralda and Nye counties, told the board only EDEN is acknowledged by the state's economic development body.

When Clerk Don Rust asked about EDEN, Town Manager Dave Richards responded that he did not foresee any conflict.

"EDEN doesn't perform these functions," Richards said. "They have indicated on a number of occasions that they do not perform economic development for the communities but assist the communities in part by providing economic data that can be utilized by the communities. What's proposed here is not an EDEN function."

Balloqui added that PAVED would acknowledge EDEN as the economic development authority for Nye County, saying that when applying for grants, PAVED would use EDEN.

Furthermore, Balloqui emphasized that PAVED would not commit town funds without the town's permission.

Another step forward for the PARC project was the approval of a service agreement with Mary Ellen Giampaoli, environmental compliance specialist, to support the use of Housing and Urban Development grant funds for the project.

Giampaoli will help the town with compliance issues for the use of two recently awarded $200,000 grants issued for the fairgrounds project.

Her contract was approved by four members of the board, with Vice Chairman John McDonald voting against the measure.

McDonald said that he was not sure if Giampoali's fee of $32, 987 was competitive and felt the town should have looked into other compliance specialists to get an idea of a competitive price.