Redevelopment group sees area of responsibility grow

Seven volunteers from the business community now have jurisdiction over the city's entire redevelopment area.

The City Council on Monday -- acting as the Redevelopment Agency -- approved an agreement with the City Centre Development Corp., which gives that group of businessmen an expanded area of influence.

The development corporation was originally formed to assist the Redevelopment Agency with the implementation of redevelopment plans in downtown Las Vegas. In 1998 the private-sector corporation was granted more control -- this time in an effort to streamline planning between the office core and Las Vegas Boulevard efforts.

Monday's action expands the corporation's efforts to include all 2,600 acres of the city's redevelopment area.

In a related move, the City Council on Monday also agreed to allow city staff members to work on the development corporation's efforts. The corporation is designed to furnish management and administrative services to the agency, but it is not adequately staffed to carry that out, according to the contract.

Under the agreement, city staff will be available for accounting, investment, purchasing, planning and development, public works, legal, personnel and redevelopment project assistance.

Deputy City Manager Steven Houchens said the agreement is part of an effort to combine the budgets of both the Redevelopment Agency and the corporation and streamline services for an annual savings of between $300,000 and $400,000. The corporation will reimburse the city on a monthly basis for the staff services used.

Jodi Goodheart, chairwoman of the corporation's board, said her colleagues agreed to take on the added responsibility.

"We would like to continue to disprove the adage, 'You get what you pay for,' " Goodheart said, referring to her board's volunteers.

The redevelopment area in Las Vegas is one of the largest in the nation.

"This was always the direction we looked for CCDC to move," Mayor Jan Laverty Jones said. "It's been remarkably successful, and it's an inordinate amount of time that they do with no compensation."

Corporation board members are appointed by the council.

The board is composed of Goodheart, an attorney and shareholder of Jones Vargas; Ken Templeton, president of a real estate brokerage; Thomas Schoeman, president of an architecture firm; George Kunz, a former National Football League player who owns and operates several McDonald's restaurants; Jack Sommer, chairman of Aladdin Gaming and president of Mountain Spa Development; Nick Niarchos, former general counsel of the Howard Hughes Corp., and Peter Thomas of Thomas and Mack Co.

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