Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Commission to debate southwest development

The Clark County Commission is set to decide Tuesday whether to allow construction on 30 square miles of private and public land that county planners say is not ready for development.

Also on Tuesday's agenda is a request by Commissioner Myrna Williams to reconsider a controversial decision two weeks ago to waive the rental fee for the Government Center's community room for an April 28 event celebrating Israeli independence.

Commissioners are set to discuss the land proposal in a public hearing starting at 10 a.m., and decide whether to adopt staff recommendations or adopt a new set of guidelines that would allow development to advance on 19,200 unimproved acres in the southwest Las Vegas Valley.

At issue is whether to adopt policy changes that could have development pushing the county's urban services such as water and sewer, or to continue using the existence of those services to plot future development.

Several options were developed last summer by the county's comprehensive steering committee to open up to 30 acres of unimproved land for development. About 16 percent of the land is federally owned.

But county planners said those proposals don't meet the current guidelines for development.

Under the Community District Management Program, land must either have urban services such as water, sewer and roads, or be adjacent to areas that have urban services to minimize connection costs for new service installations.

In addition, each square-mile section being considered must be 25 percent developed with at least two residential units per acre, or be contiguous to a section that is 50 percent developed with at least two homes per acre.

But under the new guidelines being recommended, those square-mile sections being considered for development wouldn't require existing urban and public service facilities as long as the land was near another section that had such services.

Also, the guidelines say these unserviced areas will require extension or expansion of public facilities and services to accommodate development in these "near-term" growth areas, but doesn't say who or what entity is responsible for providing those services.

Of the seven square miles released by the board in October 1994, nearly half -- 4,300 acres -- has been developed at a rate of 130 acres a month.

The board also may vote to reconsider a 5-1 decision two weeks ago to waive the $1,129 rent of the Community Room to the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas and the Jewish Community Center of Southern Nevada for the April 28 Jerusalem 3000 -- an event celebrating the 3,000th anniversary of Jerusalem and the 48th year of Israel's independence.

Board members approved the waiver despite reservations that it could set a precedent for all nonprofit organizations to have their rent waived.

The board will also review the rates and policies established three months ago to allow the public to use the 9-month-old, $66 million government center.

Other items on the board's agenda:

* Introducing an ordinance requiring all contracts and agreements to be in final form 10 days prior to presentation before the commission.

* Revising the county Taxpayers' Bill of Rights by taking departmental budgetary review away from the County Commission and leaving it to the county manager and finance director to make recommendations to the board.

* Approving the allocation of $63 million worth of capital projects to be financed from Fund 437 for the 1996-97 budget year beginning July 1. Fifty percent of the money would be dedicated to new construction, while 18 percent is tapped for information technology.

* Soliciting proposals to privatize the operation of tennis courts and a driving range at Sunset Park, and the driving range at Desert Breeze Park. This could generate about $40,000 a year in fees for the county Department of Parks and Recreation.

* Accepting a new logo for Clark County, the result of a year-long project to create a single logo for all county agencies.

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