Panel approves recommendation to alter Lake Mead area zoning

Valerie Miller

Thursday, Dec. 3, 1998 | 11:21 a.m.

After months of wrangling with different groups of angry residents, the Henderson Citizens Advisory Committee Wednesday inched a step closer to completing its plan for the Lake Mead area.

The CAC voted 7-3 in favor of recommending a change in the zoning on a 660-foot frontage of land along Lake Mead Drive to allow for somewhat higher density residential development to be mixed with commercial uses in an area close to the custom home community known as Section Four.

Section Four is a rural development consisting of 1-acre lots on the south side of Lake Mead Drive on Henderson's northeast side. The highly-disputed Calico Ridge residential and industrial land, currently being arbitrated by the city attorney, lies across Lake Mead Drive to the north.

About 60 people turned out for Wednesday's meeting at the Henderson Convention Center, most of them Section Four area residents.

Residents had hoped to convince committee members to keep the current zoning, which allows only for 1-acre lots, saying that the CAC's recommendation going into the meeting -- to allow four units per acre -- would lead to tract homes and destroy their quiet lifestyle.

"This (zoning change) will lead to higher density, and with increased density comes increased crime," Dave Collins, who spoke on behalf of the Section Four residents, said.

Committee Chairman Manny Gomez defended the CAC's recommendation, saying that increasing the density along Lake Mead Drive would act as a buffer to protect residents from problems associated with being so close to a major road, such as noise and traffic congestion.

"We see this area (Section Four) as unique, and keep in mind that our premise here is to protect you from the intrusion of Lake Mead Drive," Gomez told residents.

People who live in Section Four, though, didn't see it that way.

"We feel more of a threat from increased density than from Lake Mead Drive," Collins responded.

Most members of the CAC felt that to keep the zoning exclusively for 1-acre lots would be unrealistic, because they said few people would want to build expensive custom homes right along Lake Mead Drive.

The next CAC meeting to discuss the Lake Mead study area will be held on Jan. 13.