NLV Council rejects businesses near school

After hearing testimony from the public Wednesday night, the North Las Vegas City Council voted unanimously not to change the zoning near Mojave High School to allow for commercial development.

Walker Development had submitted an application to get the land on the southeast corner of Washburn Road and North 5th Street zoned for a commercial development. The development would have been situated diagonal to the school.

"It was a classic case of spot zoning," Councilwoman Paula Brown said. "Everything around the school is residential, and I can't support putting a commercial development near the school."

Brown's fellow council members agreed voting 4-0, with councilman John Rhodes absent from the meeting.

The decision was met with applause from the audience, many of whom had come to see that the area stay zoned residential.

"We don't want our kids running across the street to a convenience store and loitering there," said Robert King, the father of a Mojave student. "We are just looking for an accident to happen if we allow that."

Kathy Arrington, a representative for the developers, said the convience store would be dropped from the plans for the commercial center that would also include a mini-storage warehouse, but the council was not swayed.

Councilwoman Stephanie Smith said she understood that the developers had spent a lot of money getting the property ready, but some things are more important.

"Schools that have commercial zones near them are a disaster at lunch time, with kids rushing to lunch at fast-food outlets," Smith said. "It has a direct impact on the school and the neighborhood because kids will toss there garbage from lunch all over and smoke on lawns as they head back to school."

The council also passed three initiatives to accept approval of the Cox Communications cable television agreement. The unanimous votes made North Las Vegas the first municipality in the valley to approve the company's buyout of Prime Cable.

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