Henderson, NLV accept growth plan

Area governments want to send this unified message to the Legislature: let local leaders handle local growth issues.

To underscore that message, the cities of Henderson and North Las Vegas have accepted the Southern Nevada Strategic Planning Authority's final plan.

"It is our expectation that all of the cities and the county will be adopting this plan," Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson said this week.

"This gives us the opportunity to pledge that we are going to move forward with everyone else in an effort to avoid having to have the Legislature dictate to us what local government should do about growth issues," he said. "There is nothing more important than keeping the state out of issues that are local."

The plan is awaiting acceptance from Las Vegas, Boulder City and Clark County.

Boulder City is scheduled to vote on the plan Tuesday. Clark County is set to accept the plan at its Feb. 16 meeting, said Tom Riley, county administrative services director.

And Las Vegas officials say the plan should appear on the council's Feb. 22 agenda.

Betsy Fretwell, intergovernmental relations director for Henderson, admitted the local governments' acceptance of the plan is merely a formality.

"The significance of the actions is that each of these local governments are buying in conceptually to the strategic plan for the region," she said. "They recognize there is still quite a bit of work to be done to make the plan a reality."

Marta Brown, manager of legislative and special affairs for North Las Vegas, agreed, telling council members the plan is a guideline for growth areas.

Turning the concepts and guidelines into reality is where the Regional Planning Coalition comes into play, Fretwell said.

The coalition was born out of the planning authority, which was formed by the 1997 Legislature to analyze growth issues in Southern Nevada and present recommendations during the 1999 session.

The Regional Planning Coalition is responsible for identifying what concepts it is going to implement.

The SNSPA's final plan is on tap to be presented to the government affairs committees in both houses of the Legislature on Thursday.

Thousands of man hours went into the creation of the strategic plan, Gibson added.

"There are some who have taken their shots suggesting it is a general plan and not specific enough; that it doesn't address the issues of growth and it's not meaningful," he said. "What this is, is an enormous effort to map out a strategy for growth."

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