Developer to offer new housing plan

Lisa Snedeker

Friday, Nov. 27, 1998 | 11:17 a.m.

The developers of a new master-planned community trying spring up in the desert south of Centennial Parkway have come up with a new plan after going back to the drawing board.

The North Las Vegas City Council unanimously agreed Wednesday in a special meeting to set a public hearing for Dec. 16 concerning the request by Avante Homes LLC to change the designated land use for property southeast of Valley Drive and Ranch House Road from low-density residential, such as single family homes, to high-density residential, such as apartments.

Mayor Michael Montandon, who earlier had expressed concern over such items as the aesthetics of the project, was not present for the special meeting.

At its Nov. 5 meeting, the council turned down Avante's request to change the master plan to allow for 45 acres of high-density residential -- or what councilmembers referred to as an apartment row -- on the southwest corner of Centennial Parkway and Valley Drive. The master plan and zone change requests were continued for 30 days.

Avante changed its original request to alter the master plan from low-density residential to mixed-use commercial. The developer now wants to split 30 acres into two 15-acre parcels, which would house 240 units each, according to Chip Maxfield, executive vice president of Southwest Engineering and spokesman for the developer.

"We changed our plan, and we are coming to the council (on Dec. 16) with a variation of the original proposal," Maxfield said. "It was confusing."

That may have been because the council also on Nov. 5 unanimously approved the developer's request to change the master plan to mixed-use for 30 acres on the northwest corner of Ranch House Road and Valley Drive, near the proposed Las Vegas Beltway. The council also gave the green light for a zone change from single-family residential (R-1) to general commercial (C-2) for the same area.

Maxfield said the entire project will encompass 205 acres when complete -- 55 acres of commercial, 30 acres of multi-family, and the remainder filled in with single-family residences, parks and green belt.

He compared the project to Cobblestone Ridge in North Las Vegas, which combines commercial, multi-family and single-family residential.