Plan for growth detailed

CARSON CITY -- After 17 months and more than 300 meetings, the Southern Nevada Strategic Planning Authority presented its plan Thursday to the Nevada Legislature on how to deal with growth in the Las Vegas Valley.

Folks expecting a contentious meeting where the pros and cons of the group's plan would be hotly debated were disappointed.

Instead, the inch-thick plan was presented to a sparsely attended joint meeting of the Assembly and Senate Government Affairs Committees. In fact, when the meeting began, there were eight legislators and 18 empty chairs.

The Authority consists of representatives of Boulder City, Clark County, Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson. It was created by the Legislature during its last session to develop local solutions to dealing with affects of growth.

Critics of the plan have called it a "smoke screen" for doing nothing.

"Basically, this group was created by the Legislature to take some heat off of it on growth issues," Authority member Neal Siniakin said Thursday night from his home in Boulder City.

Siniakin emerged as a dissenter within the Authority and ultimately refused to sign off on the final plan. "That plan really does very little," he said. "It is pretty much a smoke screen to protect the money interests that benefit from growth."

Siniakin lists the gaming and construction industries among the special interests influencing the group.

State Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, also a vocal critic of the planning authority, said today, "I think if local government fails to do its job, the state should step in and make sure something is done. This authority was created to keep the Legislature from taking action.

"It was local governments' way of saying, 'We can police ourselves.' But this plan does not amount to much."

Sen. Jon Porter, R-Boulder City, who during the 1997 Legislature led the movement to create the Authority, however, hailed the plan as the beginning of an era of greater cooperation among local governments when it comes to planning for growth.

And Assistant Clark County Manager Bonnie Rinaldi said critics of the process are missing a point: The group's function, she said, was to establish a process where local governments could work together -- not develop a detailed blueprint for solving every problem related to growth in Southern Nevada.

"I wouldn't say this was a cohesive process. That would imply that we all agreed on everything -- we didn't. But it was a cooperative process. Because of this process, there is more cooperation now between local governments than there ever has been in the past."

Critics say the plan does not go far enough.

For example, the plan says 4,481 more teachers will need to be hired by 2,008 to deal with growth in Clark County.

The solution suggested by the Authority is to do more to recruit teachers and make sure more teachers are trained in Nevada. Neither concept is a particularly new one for a school district facing a teacher shortage.

One legislator said the plan calls for issuing too many bonds to pay for growth-related projects.

For example, the plan calls for boosting the ratio of parks in the Las Vegas Valley from the current level of one acre per 1,000 residents to a level of 2.5 acres per 1,000 residents. It will cost between $574 million and $769 million to do this, the Authority estimates. This would likely be paid for though local government bond issues.

"When you issue bonds, you end up paying them off with local property taxes," said Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas. "I'm disappointed that they haven't looked at taxing the gaming industry more. After all, its gaming that is creating the jobs that are bringing more people here. Gaming also advertises Las Vegas and that attracts people here."

Neal has been a frequent critic of the gaming industry during his years in the Legislature.

Siniakin said both the gaming and construction industries had enormous influence on the Authority.

"There is no way they would ever put the idea of raising the gaming tax on the table," he said. "Increasing taxes on the construction industry also was out of the question."

The Authority is asking the legislature to consider passing several bills related to growth.

"I'm disappointed that there are as many as there are," Porter said. "I'm not someone who measures how successful a group is by how many bills they propose. I think less government is better government."

The Authority is asking the Legislature to address air quality issues by requiring diesel-powered vehicles in Southern Nevada to undergo emissions tests like gasoline-powered vehicles already are required to do.

Members of the Authority have noted that while diesel engines only account for 2 percent of vehicles registered in the Las Vegas Valley, they account for 50 percent of the engine-generated particulate matter pollution in the area.

John Schlegel, assistant director of the Clark County Department of Comprehensive Planning, has said he anticipates significant opposition to this legislation from the trucking and construction industries, which do not want more regulations on how they do business.

Another bill proposed by the Authority calls for creating a community bond bank that would allow smaller municipalities to issue bonds at lower interest rates by "pooling" their bond issues together with issues from other local governments.

The Authority also is asking the Legislature to create an Economic Development Team that would consist of members of both the public and private sector that would address issues such as creating more diversity in the area economy.

The Authority found that about 50 percent of area jobs are related to the gaming/hospitality industry. Another 10 percent are reliant on the construction industry.

"We have to act now," Porter said. "My prediction is that in two years we will be talking about how to maintain growth -- not how to deal with it. Our economy is very vulnerable when you consider the international economic problems and the proliferation of gaming elsewhere."

Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson said the Authority has begun the process for area communities working more closely together. He said the process will be continued by a new group called the Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition, which will advise local governments on planning issues that affect more than one jurisdiction.

Gibson said the plan presented to the Legislature on Thursday forms a solid foundation for moving forward.

"It was never intended to be a road map with every street and intersection listed," he said.

Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones has been among the critics of the authority. She has said the group has failed to adequately address issues. Although she is a member of the Authority, she has not attended any of its meetings for many months.

But Schlegel said developing the strategic plan deepened cooperation between the city of Las Vegas and its neighbors.

"Las Vegas city staff was very much involved in this process and I believe we will continue to work well together," he said.

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