Council overflows with soccer plans

Erin Neff

Thursday, Dec. 16, 1999 | 10:08 a.m.

Spending

Here is how the Las Vegas City Council voted Wednesday to spend taxpayer money:

To various vendors for medical insurance services.

To various suppliers for tires and tire repair.

To Complete Construction and Remodeling Inc. for the addition of an elevator at the Natural History Museum.

For an economic feasibility study and conceptual designs of a public golf course located on 77 acres at Cheyenne Avenue and Durango Drive.

To Lee & Sakahara for a redesign of the City Hall Council Chambers to upgrade technology.

The Las Vegas City Council proved Wednesday it doesn't take Sports Illustrated to illustrate the country's attraction to soccer.

The national sports magazine announced it will present the U.S. women's soccer team with its Sportsman of the Year honor. But the council's actions may go further toward making an impact on the 12,000-plus kids in the Las Vegas Valley who play the popular sport.

In two different actions the council paved the way for construction of 30 fields -- enough to double the number currently in use and react to the pending loss of 10 other fields.

The council approved a pre-bid process for a planned 10-field soccer complex adjacent to Cimarron-Memorial High School on Tenaya Way near Lake Mead Boulevard.

The Northwest Soccer Complex, a joint city and county project, will cost nearly $7 million. The 60-acre site will have room for 10 lighted fields, a restroom facility, parking lots, a playground and baseball fields.

Work on that facility should begin early next year and be completed next summer. When finished, Cimarron-Memorial will allow spill-over parking for the complex on its lots in exchange for use of the baseball field.

"Pre-approval of the bid will help expedite this project," City Finance Manager Mark Vincent said.

"This will become the largest soccer complex in Southern Nevada," Councilman Larry Brown said.

Although Brown will be correct when the facility opens next fall to league play, another proposal approved Wednesday will eclipse even that complex.

The Las Vegas Premier Soccer Club, a local nonprofit organization, was granted approval to develop and operate a 20-field complex on land currently leased by the city from the Bureau of Land Management.

That $12.9 million project will include 20 lighted fields, an 8,000-seat soccer stadium, restrooms, parking and playgrounds funded entirely by private dollars.

The facility is planned on 96 acres between Summerlin Parkway and Washington Avenue stretching from Buffalo Drive to Durango Drive.

If the proposal is approved by the BLM, Premier Soccer would lease the land from the city for 50 years. At the end of the lease, the city would take over the land and all improvements.

Premier Soccer President Dr. Gary S. Marrone said securing the lease is the first step toward raising funds for construction. No construction timetable has been established.

Once built, Premier Soccer will charge a usage fee to the leagues that play in the facility. Marron said the fee will be minimal -- similar to the amount currently charged by the county.

Both actions come as 10 fields currently used by soccer leagues are expected to be lost. Two fields at Charleston Heights Neighborhood Preservation Park are needed to accommodate the widening of U.S. 95.

Eight fields at the county's Silver Bowl Park are slated to be converted to softball facilities in June.