City officials unveil guide for handling growth

Just as corporations have business plans and colleges mission statements, the city of Las Vegas has created a strategic plan to serve as a guide map for the growing population through 1999 and beyond.

The document -- which was months in the making -- is designed to serve as "a definitive blueprint of the city's direction in the years to come," according to Mayor Jan Laverty Jones' preamble to the 23-page document.

City Manager Virginia Valentine spearheaded the planning effort to emphasize goals and strategies to handle the city's three major areas of concern -- growth, quality of life and finance.

"We are faced with one of the most challenging times in Las Vegas history in the next few years," Valentine said during a strategic planning workshop. "The spread of gaming and the effects of Indian gaming, potential decreases in revenue, the need to attract more visitors, our continued high growth rate, the aging of our infrastructure and all the challenges of a maturing urban area."

Planning the city's future began as a series of staff workshops with input from the mayor and City Council members and will continue with the budgeting process. By tying strategies to actual budgeted programs, Valentine said, the city's priorities will remain in check.

Without a direct link to funding, the planning process would be a futile exercise in what could happen, not what must occur to handle growth, uncertain revenue and the quality of life most residents demand.

The city's plan for dealing with growth has five main components, including employing "smart growth" strategies, addressing traffic issues, stabilizing older neighborhoods and revitalizing downtown.

Theresa O'Donnell, the city's planning director, said a comprehensive revision of the city's general plan will allow for uniform decisions regarding future development.

The planned Town Center, with its own specific zoning regulations and requirements, is another example of approaching the increasing need for homes and businesses with a plan, instead of allowing for piecemeal development of neighboring parcels.

Annette Hookey, who moved to the northwest area of the city last year, said she welcomes any efforts to address future development with traffic, residents and business needs in mind.

"The people are going to continue to come, so it's important we have a plan to address the needs of a bigger community," Hookey said. "The most important part of that is allowing citizens to have a voice."

Residents are perhaps the loudest when discussing so-called quality of life issues, like public safety, community services, parks and neighborhoods.

Perhaps the most critical element to maintaining the quality of life residents have come to expect is the increasing response times for fire and emergency services.

The national target for fire response is 6 minutes because fires left unattended for six minutes threaten the entire building, and because Emergency Medical Response must be within that set time to prevent permanent brain damage and death in many medical situations.

In 1997, slightly more than half of the city's 52,417 fire calls were above the 6-minute mark. The average response time that year was 7 minutes and 38 seconds, up 12.6 seconds from 1996.

In order to address the fire services' needs amid continued residential and business growth, the City Council approved a $28.9 million fire bond for voter consideration in the June municipal election.

In 1990, the city had 1.03 firefighters per 1,000 residents -- a rate which has dropped to 0.81 in light of the city's booming growth spurt, said Fire Services Director Mario Trevino.

The national average is 1.5 firefighters per 1,000 residents and the city will have 0.94 if the bond passes.

"We feel we can achieve safety with 1 per 1,000 due to the fact that Las Vegas is a new city with many new buildings," Trevino said.

The bond consists of money for buildings and equipment, as well as the hiring of 160 new people -- 84 firefighters and 76 paramedics -- over five years to staff five new stations.

Another key element to the quality of life is the continuing effort to revitalize neighborhoods and the downtown area.

City officials are carefully eyeing the undeveloped 178-acre Union Pacific and Lehman Brothers-owned land at the entrance to the downtown area. A zoning change from industrial to planned development will allow stricter control of the type of development that eventually comes to that parcel.

The land offers opportunities for residential complexes, cultural centers and parkland, and is seen as the last chance to develop a true "downtown."

Construction of the $99 million Neonopolis entertainment center adjacent to the Fremont Street Experience is another crucial step if downtown is to survive in light of increasing casino competition on the Strip.

Since the financial future of Las Vegas remains a murky crystal ball with clouded revenue sources and a coming glut of hotel rooms, the economic vitality of the city is also given a close-up look in the strategic plan.

Mark Vincent, the city's finance director, said it is vital to link any strategic planning to budget realities.

"That way our actual planning will drive the budget, and not the other way around," he said.

Officials will also examine adjusting fees for certain services based on cost and demand as a way to create more self-funded services citywide.

Continued emphasis on public and private partnerships to fund projects and jointly-funded projects like the Regional Justice Center are also part of the strategic plan's vision.

The strategic plan was introduced to City Council at its Jan. 11 meeting. City departments are now working to submit budgets that will be considered -- along with the strategic plan -- during the city's overall budget process this spring.

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