Smaller Town Center approved

Town Center is finally approved, but it's a lot smaller than originally planned.

The Las Vegas City Council, after a two-hour hearing Monday, approved the amendment to the city's general plan and fixed the boundaries for Town Center -- a mixed-use project in northwest Las Vegas that figures to centralize commercial development and preserve the integrity of rural neighborhoods.

The council voted 3-0 with one abstention to approve the plan that has been in development for two years. Councilman Gary Reese was absent. Councilman Arnie Adamsen abstained because he owns property within two miles of the project.

"The boundaries have been drawn," City Councilman Michael McDonald said prior to the vote. "Hold your elected officials -- whoever they are -- to these boundaries."

City officials estimate it will take 20 years to build out the 2,000 acres -- it was 2,600 acres before Monday's meeting -- that will include not only commercial areas, but also residential developments from single-family homes to apartments, parks and the under-construction Las Vegas Beltway.

When it is completed, officials expect that 300,000 people will live in Town Center, which will provide an estimated 160,000 jobs from its commercial interests.

The 600 acres cut Monday night from Town Center include small parcels west of Tenaya Way and north of the proposed beltway alignment, a huge chunk about a block west of El Capitan Way and south of Elkhorn Road and a long strip west of Fort Apache Road and north of Elkhorn.

The areas cut from Town Center will maintain a status of "low residential" use, Councilman Larry Brown said, noting that as the Town Center is developed over the next 20 years things can change and the excluded areas could once again become a part of the plan.

Brown, who made the motion to approve the measure, said surrounding Clark County property owners who want to have their land considered for inclusion in Town Center must first have it annexed into the city. However, he said, annexation does not guarantee that the parcels automatically will become a part of Town Center.

"We will have to manage the property and the intensity of the product (apartments, commercial, etc.)," Brown said after the meeting. "But the biggest part of the battle is behind us."

Also Monday, a proposed T-shaped design of Durango Drive north of Tropical Parkway was recommended to be redesigned into a C-shaped road. The proposal pleased a number of residents in the audience, who feared the T-shaped design would cause additional traffic problems in the area.

Clark County commissioners Lance Malone and Mary Kincaid attended Monday night's meeting and voiced support for the city's efforts to develop the Town Center concept.

Malone noted that while many residents of the area affected by Town Center initially had concerns about it, they now are accepting the concept because "it probably will work better than commercial bleeding into rural areas. More and more people are coming to agree with Town Center."

Malone said he would work with fellow commissioners to prevent commercial developers who are unhappy with being confined to Town Center from circumventing the plan. Such developers might, for example, shop their projects to the county to try to get them built in rural county neighborhoods a short distance from the city's Town Center.

Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones agreed that the neighboring governments have to work together, noting: "Town Center has to be a huge commitment by the city and county."

Last week, the council gave residents around Town Center hope that the proposed plan would be followed when the council approved one planned apartment project that fit the profile of the area and turned down another proposed apartment complex that did not.

A number of those who spoke during Monday's public hearing were residents of Timber Lake, a development of single-family homes in the middle of where Town Center will be built. Timber Lake residents asked the council to stick to the standards they establish and not give developers variances to put in projects that do not fit the profile of Town Center.

Many Timber Lake residents have expressed fears at previous public forums that their quiet neighborhood would be ruined by surrounding offices, shopping districts, apartments and the western leg of the beltway.

Other area residents have expressed similar concerns.

"Please hold fast to the Town Center land use (plan)," said Carol Leduc, vice president of the Sheep Mountain Homeowners Association. "Consider the impact on neighborhoods. Please make Town Center distinctive in quality and design."

The Town Center plan, conceived in 1996, was introduced following a moratorium enacted in February on new development in that area. Construction on Town Center is expected to begin this year.

Proposed ordinances calling for the creation of a T-C (Town Center) zoning designation and for the creation of the Town Center Development Standards manual are expected to be introduced soon, said Chris Knight, the city's comprehensive planning manager.

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