Landowners continue fight against NLV annexation

Bob Shemeligian

Wednesday, May 6, 1998 | 9:59 a.m.

A group of private owners of a three-quarter-square-mile parcel of rural county land plan to protest an annexation plan by North Las Vegas officials.

Their protests will come during a hearing that begins at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday in the City Council chambers of the North Las Vegas City Hall.

Several of the landowners charge that the inevitable consequences of the annexation would be increased traffic and higher charges for utilities and roads.

"I haven't the slightest desire to retire to North Las Vegas with their crime rate and what have you," said Lin Wright, who is leading a petition drive to stop the annexation.

Wright owns a 1.3-acre parcel in the area to be annexed, which is bounded by Lone Mountain and Washburn roads and North Commerce and Donna streets.

This marks the second time in five years that North Las Vegas has attempted to annex the rural area at Lone Mountain Road and North Commerce Street.

An attempt to annex a much larger parcel failed in July 1993 after several area residents voiced their objections at a City Council meeting. At that time, the city wanted to annex a five-square-mile area of Clark County bounded by Lone Mountain Road to the south and Elkhorn Road to the north.

Wright charges that in the months and years following the July 1993 hearing, the city has slowly annexed one small piece after another in the five-square-mile area.

This is true, said Randy Cagle, the city's property manager, who has initiated the annexation proceedings on the three-quarter-square-mile parcel. Cagle said city officials want to annex this parcel for several reasons including trying to avoid these piecemeal annexations.

Another reason for the annexation, Cagle explained, is to avoid duplication of city and county services in that area.

But Wright charges there would be need for very few services in that area if the city would just leave the county parcel alone. Wright estimates that her property taxes will increase "40 or 50 percent" if the annexation goes through. In addition, she said, homeowners can expect to be assessed for improvements such as paved roads and water and sewer lines.

But Cagle said this simply is not true.

"We've specified in all of our documents that no new roads, sewer lines or water lines are proposed with the annexation. Therefore there are no assessments as a result of this annexation," said Cagle, who added that should the landowners ever want roads or utilities "it would be entirely up to them."

But Wright is still not convinced.

She is attempting to collect signatures of a majority of property owners representing at least 50 percent of the total value of the land to be annexed, as required by Nevada law, to stop the annexation.

"We're almost there," said Wright, who has been writing, telephoning and visiting owners of the county parcel for several weeks. "We still need signatures from owners representing another three acres, and we're not stopping until we get them."