Enterprising deal struck in Henderson annexation pact

Clark County and the city of Henderson plan to sign off on an agreement Tuesday that will allow Henderson to annex almost 1,400 acres of undeveloped county land in Enterprise Township but skirt the areas where residents currently live.

Officials from both entities are touting the agreement as "a landmark" in local government cooperation.

More importantly for residents Enterprise Township who had fought an attempt to make them part of Henderson, a vote Tuesday night by the Henderson City Council will exclude their homes. About 60 Enterprise Township residents turned out last week at a town board meeting to protest the proposed annexation.

County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury said the final agreement, which calls for joint master planning at the shared boundaries in the fast-growing southwest area of the Las Vegas Valley, has almost been hammered out.

Henderson, he said, "will not be proceeding with the annexation in areas where people are living. Most people that were concerned in Section 33 will be left alone."

Only residents living south of Lake Mead Drive, which have been described as a handful, will be subject to annexation.

"Hopefully this will be a model agreement that can be used to talk to other cities (the county shares boundaries with)," he said.

Woodbury said both entities want to get the endorsement of the Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition for the agreement.

"This is a new phase in local issues," he said. "We want the Legislature to know local issues can be resolved locally."

Betsy Fretwell, intergovernmental relations director for Henderson, said if the agreement is adopted on Tuesday, it will keep state lawmakers out of the local growth battle.

"I don't know how many times Las Vegas and the county have gone to the Legislature over growth areas," she said.

Henderson had sought to annex the land along Lake Mead Drive so it can control the development along a planned eastern gateway to the city.

Fretwell confirmed that Section 33, which is home to the majority of the area's population, has been removed from the annexation process. Instead the city wants to annex Sections 26 and 34, which are roughly bounded by Bermuda Road on the west, Silverado Ranch on the north and Lake Mead Drive to the south. She added that Eastern Avenue is the farthest eastern point the annexation would encompass.

"Once we get down to the (Henderson Executive) airport area, everything to the south of Lake Mead, almost up to Las Vegas Boulevard and basically to the BLM boundary, will be included," she said.

Woodbury said the proposed annexation is a logical area for Henderson to grow.

"They are much better located to provide services there than the county," he said.

County Commission Chairwoman Yvonne Atkinson Gates said she supports the compromise.

The county also supports Henderson's plans to pursue annexation of another roughly 3,500 acres of Bureau of Land Management land south of the area.

"That is a long-term, step-by-step process with the BLM," Woodbury said.

The interlocal agreement calls for joint land use and transportation system planning.

"This is a landmark interlocal agreement," Fretwell said. "It is one of the first times that two local governments have come together for land-use planning and transportation."

The agreement also includes joint planning for water and sewer as well as future annexations.

"And neither is going to support changes in state law without mutual agreement," Woodbury said.

The agreement came together quickly, because both parties "negotiated in good faith," according to Woodbury.

Mayor James Gibson said in an earlier interview that the city, which already has master plans for all of its open space, needs to expand its borders in order to continue on its path to becoming the state's second largest city.

"We're very concerned about the city's capacity to expand southwest of (Del Webb's) Anthem," he said.

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