Saturday, April 11, 1998 | 2:03 a.m.
A source of frustration for homeowners is the constant changing of their local government's general plan, which is supposed to be used as a long-range design for development. As SUN reporter Denise Cardinal noted in an article on Tuesday, the purpose of a general plan is to keep a community from being developed piecemeal, resulting in noncompatible uses.
But as it works now, a homebuyer can check the general plan and decide he likes the property, yet by the time he buys the house, nearby properties might have changed, according to Las Vegas Planning and Development Director Theresa O'Donnell.
The city of Las Vegas, Clark County and Henderson make changes to their general plans at nearly every zoning meeting. In contrast, North Las Vegas is making its first change to its general plan since 1993. But the city of Las Vegas, whose general plan was changed 71 times during 1997, often at the request of developers, appears ready to reverse the trend.
Las Vegas city's staff has proposed a plan that would limit the city to changing the general plan just two times a year. Developers are upset because they believe limiting the number of times the general plan can be changed would add time to getting homes built, affecting their profits. They also say it would hinder their ability to keep up with the demand for new housing caused by the growth.
The Las Vegas Planning Commission, at a public hearing on Thursday, suggested that revising the plan four times a year seemed more reasonable. Considering the explosive growth our area is experiencing, four times a year does seem more realistic, and is much better than the current practice. Although growth may not seem to be letting up anytime soon, it doesn't mean that it can't proceed in a rational way.
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