NLV Council rejects senior housing project as neighbors protest

A proposed $4 million, low-income senior housing complex was shot down by the North Las Vegas City Council Wednesday after about a dozen neighbors spoke out against the project.

Clark County donated 2.2 acres to Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada to build a 48-unit apartment complex at the corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Carey Avenue using a grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The council voted 3-2, with Councilwomen Paula Brown and Stephanie Smith opposed, to deny the project following a public hearing on the request, which had been continued from Dec. 16.

In December, the council overturned a Planning Commission decision to deny Catholic Charities' request to change from low-density residential to high-density the master plan for the property along the south and west sides of Pontiac Avenue and Lexington Street.

Project designer Craig Galati of Lucchesi, Galati Architects, presented a redesigned version of the project to the council Wednesday in hopes that neighbors would find it more acceptable.

He said the project would provide a good buffer between the existing single-family homes and future commercial development.

"We're stunned," Galati said after the council's decision. Galati, who volunteered his efforts on the project, estimated he had logged between $15,000 and $20,000 worth of hours on the design. "We don't have a fall-back."

As a result of the vote, zoning for the parcel will remain neighborhood commercial, and Catholic Charities will have to look elsewhere for a site for future projects.

"We have three other senior housing projects, and we thought this was a very good proposal for that area," said Dave Elnes, project coordinator for Catholic Charities. "I don't think another developer will offer anything like we were proposing."

Elnes said his organization now has to attempt to save the HUD funds for another North Las Vegas project.

"We'll have to go back to the nonprofit board and see what they want to do," he said.

The deciding factor for the council was that neighbors said no one from the county had asked them from the onset how they felt about the project that would have been located adjacent to the new North Las Vegas Community Resource Center -- another project they said they had no involvement in.

County officials, however, claimed residents who live within 300 feet of the project were sent notification letters.

Councilman William Robinson said it was a great project and everyone liked it, with the exception of those who would have to live behind the apartments.

"It's been shoved down the citizens' throats," he said, adding that is why he could not support it.

Gertrude Perkins and Beatrice Turner, who both live on Pontiac Avenue, were among the residents who expressed their concerns, including that the project would evolve into housing for low-income families, rather than seniors.

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