Planned sports complex clears another hurdle

Adrienne Packer

Tuesday, April 14, 1998 | 10:11 a.m.

A long-anticipated sports complex survived another obstacle Monday when the Las Vegas City Council approved minor changes recommended by the Bureau of Land Management.

The BLM gave the parcel located at Vegas and Durango boulevards to the city on the condition that it has input on the type of development proposed.

Las Vegas Sportspark Ltd. entered a public/private partnership with the city to build a $5 million park that will include three softball fields, an ice rink and roller rink.

The BLM changed the wording of the agreement, allowing the city to regularly review operations and ensure the public has access to the park at all times.

"They're just technical changes," said Don Schlesinger, a former Clark County commissioner and manager of Las Vegas Sportspark. "The requested changes by the BLM are reasonable and we're comfortable with the agreement as amended."

Construction of the park is expected to begin in early July and the complex is scheduled to open by December.

In other business, the City Council passed a resolution Monday requesting that the Department of Energy avoid using Hoover Dam or any Las Vegas Valley thoroughfares to transport low-level radioactive waste.

A similar resolution was passed last month by the North Las Vegas City Council.

The DOE is preparing an environmental assessment report that will address transportation of the waste from its weapons complexes to the Nevada Test Site.

While DOE initially indicated it would not run shipments through the Las Vegas Valley, its environmental assessment does not require trucks carrying low-level radioactive materials to avoid Hoover Dam, Boulder City or the metropolitan Las Vegas Valley, a city reports says.