Friday, April 10, 1998 | 9:38 a.m.
Several residents and a few developers voiced their opinions about a moratorium on Planned Community Development zoning Thursday at a special Las Vegas Planning Commission meeting.
City Councilman Larry Brown asked the commission to discuss the moratorium, which he refers to as a suspension of applications, because his ward in the northwest contains thousands of PCD-zoned acres.
Under planned community development zoning, builders are allowed higher densities -- up to eight units per acre -- in exchange for setting aside parts of the development for landscaping to upgrade its general appearance.
Developers and landowners, however, aren't using the PCD zoning the way it was set up. Instead, PCD projects are approved for only 20 or 40 acres, which doesn't allow for much in the way of creative landscaping.
About 30 residents attended Thursday's meeting. Most were from the northwest valley and were upset with the way land surrounding their homes has been developed.
Lucy Stewart, member of the Tulane Springs Homeowners Association, said she's sick of having to come down to City Hall and Planning Commission meetings every time a developer around her starts building on a PCD parcel.
"It's supposed to have specific guidelines," she said. "And instead, we get what happened to the south of us in Spring Mountain Ranch with 3,000 homes, no schools and no fire departments."
Bruce Hamilton, another member of the Tulane Springs association, said, "When PCD was introduced, it was clearly expressed to us it would remain compatible with existing densities. But it's turned into nothing more than an excuse to extract a maximum amount of profit out of the minimum amount of land."
Few developers attended the meeting. Those that did pointed out that in PCD zoning, up to 8 units per acre is allowed. As a result, complaining about density isn't the same as complaining about developers, since developers are just working within the guidelines of the zoning definition, they argued.
Also, the Planning Commission and City Council have it in their power to deny or alter PCD applications if they feel the densities are too high and aren't compatible with surrounding areas, developers said.
Bill Curran, representing northwest developer Jack Ritter, told the commission that the PCD zoning would work best with parcels of at least 80 acres.
"We do believe it works well when used appropriately," Curran said. "But some parcels are too small and too difficult to master plan."
The commission is taking the public's comment to the City Council, which will also have a public hearing on the issue next month.
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