New justice center gets city’s OK

Denise Cardinal

Tuesday, July 29, 1997 | 9:49 a.m.

A dispute over Lewis Avenue may be a step closer to being resolved after the Las Vegas City Council approved an agreement with the county for a new justice center and jail expansion.

The council Monday was unanimously in favor of the project, which would add cells for another 1,500 inmates and create a new home for Justice Court and part of Municipal Court. The new buildings would surround the Clark County Detention Center downtown.

A provision of the agreement that would vacate Lewis and hand it over to the county is still a problem for the city. In previous drafts, the City Council was opposed.

Mayor Jan Laverty Jones denies that the change in the council's position had anything to do with calming the political turmoil between the city and the county.

"Really, it just made good business sense," she said. "From a land use perspective and an efficiency perspective, this is the best plan we can come up with."

Other officials say it's not really a reversal in the city's position at all.

"The city's first position is that Lewis Avenue shouldn't be vacated," said City Attorney Brad Jerbic. "The agreement allows it in the context of the entire package."

The "entire package" includes another provision that requires the county to pay for city services. Because there are so many islands of county land within the city limits, the city ends up servicing these areas. But under the interlocal agreement, in exchange for Lewis Avenue, the county would pay $570,000 for services in the islands the first year, with slight increases every year thereafter.

It's this last provision that may keep the county from embracing the agreement. According to County Manager Dale Askew, the Lewis Avenue issue has always been a problem for the two parties. Asking the county to pay for mutual aid services as a condition could easily sink the entire plan.

"We have always been desiring to get that street vacated," Askew said. "It's more cost efficient for us. Plus, the original jail tower was designed for expansion across the street. Our board will just have to decide whether or not to agree with the $570,000 requirement."

The majority of the project's funding comes from a $120 million county bond passed in 1995, and the County Commission has agreed to kick in another $50 million this spring. The city's costs of $5.3 million for acquiring the Rainbow Vegas Hotel on the planned site could be reimbursed by the county, pending the sale of the current Clark County Courthouse. The city and county will split the money received from the sale of the building.

The agreement now goes to the County Commission, which is expected to discuss the item at its Aug. 5 meeting.