Thursday, April 9, 1998 | 10:03 a.m.
The 1 1/2-acre ranch on Gowan Road was just the kind of home James Livenick had in mind last summer when he was scouring Las Vegas for a place to relocate his family from Long Beach, Calif.
His wife's job transfer with Bechtel to the Nevada Test Site forced the relocation and Livenick wanted to find a neighborhood that would provide a safe haven for his family.
They could have bought a brand new house in a planned community with a small yard, but they opted for a 30-year-old rambling ranch with large shade trees, a sprawling ranch house and outbuildings, and plenty of room in the back lot for two horses, a goat, a dog and three cats.
He thought he found that place among the horse estates in the county island shoehorned into a wedge of Las Vegas formed where Rancho Drive and U.S. 95 converge.
"One of the reasons we bought this place was the shade trees," Livenick said.
But the trees that dapple his front lawn with shade are bound to fall to make way for a wider, busier Gowan Road -- another case of urban growth and progress changing the face of a rural neighborhood.
The city of Las Vegas has decided to widen the road to four lanes from Decatur Boulevard west to U.S. 95, using $3.42 million in Regional Transportation Commission gasoline tax revenue for the travel lanes, left-turn lanes and traffic signals.
Another $600,000 will come from special tax assessments levied on 57 city and county residents to pay for sidewalks, street lights, curbs, gutters and other off-site improvements.
Construction is due to start in July and be completed no later than next April, city special improvement district coordinator Mike Thompson said.
About two dozen homeowners in the county island -- a jurisdictional oddity of the city's annexation patterns -- fought unsuccessfully to kill the special improvement district.
Not only did they oppose the huge tax increase, but they didn't want a four-lane road disrupting their neighborhood, which was already beginning to feel the pinch of urban encroachment.
They were also annoyed that they didn't receive a notice about the tax increase until February -- one month before the first public hearing was held on the assessment district.
Because the city was managing the project, the county could do nothing to stop it. But with the help of Commissioner Mary Kincaid, the county residents gained a partial victory Tuesday.
By eliminating the street lights from the portion of Gowan that runs through the county island (from Edwards Avenue to Torrey Pines Boulevard) the county island residents will get a 30 percent reduction in their assessment.
"I'm saving $2,500 off of my assessment by not having street lights," said Janna Zedeker, who spent the last two months fighting the assessment. "All those hours talking to these people was not in vain if it meant getting some concessions."
Zedeker's neighbor, Kay Jensen, has lived in the same house for 30 years. She said the street lights would have cost her an extra $4,400 a year in taxes.
"When you have something shoved down your throat like this you have to do the best you can," Jensen said.
When Jensen moved to Gowan, it was four miles away from the city. Now, with city development and growing business corridors on Rancho, Rainbow and U.S. 95, Gowan is in the middle of the city.
"The world seems to build up around you and not care about you," said Zedeker, who has lived on Gowan three doors down from Torrey Pines Road for the last nine years. "We moved here for a particular reason, then things start changing before you have time to react."
City officials said the road was needed to accommodate traffic created by a new business park being built on the corner of Rancho and Gowan and help eliminate standing floodwaters at the Rancho intersection.
Also, construction is set to begin on the Children's Memorial Park at Rainbow Boulevard and Torrey Pines, giving the city an opportunity to have off-site improvements made with RTC money.
"We track land uses, know when projects are going in," RTC Planning Division Manager Lee Gibson said.
Zedeker said her battle isn't over until she can get the project changed from four lanes to two lanes with a center-turn and bike paths.
She's worried about her kids, who walk to the R.E. Tobler Elementary School around the corner on Torrey Pines and walk to their neighbor's house to ride her horses.
Zedeker said she will also fight to keep the speed limit at 25 mph and have Metro Police beef up enforcement.
"Opening to four lanes invites people to go faster," Zedeker said. "Also, you're inviting more traffic than needs to be here. With a park and a school there are too many kids on foot and on roller blades, not to mention the horses."
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