Two new members appointed to Enterprise town board

By Dylan Scott

Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011 | 2:45 p.m.

The Enterprise Town Advisory Board has welcomed two new members: Laura Ring and Cheryl Wilson.

Ring, 62, and Wilson, 50, will serve two-year terms on the five-member board, which represents much of the southwest valley. Other board members are Dave Chestnut, Frank Kapriva and Jason Andoscia. Both Ring and Wilson said they hope to bring a new perspective to an area dealing with the fallout from the housing bust.

Clark County town advisory boards offer recommendations to the county commission for all the planning and zoning items on the commission's agenda. Items are usually heard at the town board meetings two weeks before they come to the county commissioners.

Board members are appointed to two-year terms. Although town boards serve only in an advisory capacity, the county commission usually takes their recommendations seriously, and a county liaison is present at every meeting.

Town boards hear issues that range from backyard sheds to new businesses.

Wilson has lived in the southwest valley for 20 years, she said. She graduated from UNLV in 1982 with a communications degree and then worked in the hotel industry as a salesperson for 11 years before becoming a stay-at-home mom when her son was born.

She's been involved with school parent-teacher associations and was instrumental in having her neighborhood zoned as a rural neighborhood district five years ago before applying to join the board, she said.

"I realized there was an opportunity to get involved with the process," Wilson said, adding that she hopes to see a "harmony" between different land uses in the Enterprise area.

"We need standards to control growth and to make sure things are compatible," she said. "This is an important time for our area."

Enterprise is home to the Mountain's Edge master-planned community and the Southern Highlands and the Rhodes Ranch developments.

The estimated population of Enterprise in 2009 was 83,300, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Ring, who lives in Southern Highlands with her husband, a retired New Jersey police officer, said she felt confident about joining the town board after becoming involved with the Southern Highlands homeowners association.

Since she moved to the area about 15 years ago, Ring has served on the safety and security committee and organized events like Family Health and Safety Day, she said.

"This would allow me to have an expanded role in what I'm interested in -- what's happening in our community," Ring said. "I think it's important that we have a check on what's going on."

Like Wilson, Ring said the Enterprise area must be cautious about growth after watching some projects fizzle, but also stressed that it was important to encourage new businesses.

"We don't need any more empty buildings," she said. "We want to make sure it's something that's going to be good for Enterprise."

Although Wilson said serving on the town board, an uncompensated position, was the extent of her political ambitions, Ring left open the possibility of her appointment this year being the beginning of a new career.

"Who knows," she said with a laugh.

The Enterprise town board meets at 6 p.m. every other Wednesday at the Enterprise Library.