Editorial: Big zoning decision for City Council

Sunday, Jan. 24, 1999 | 9:48 a.m.

The council is hearing a request by developers who want to change the existing zoning requirements for a retail shopping center and seven-dealership auto mall in the massive Town Center development in the northwest. The most ominous request is one to allow the auto mall to install a variety of towering signs, including three 90-foot signs that aren't permitted under any circumstances by the zoning plan. In addition, the developer wants the council to approve the project before the city's Department of Public Works gives its OK following a traffic impact analysis.

One of the biggest complaints people have with local government is how easy it is for developers to persuade elected officials to change zoning, even when it is detrimental to nearby residential areas. And as the Sun's Erin Neff reported Thursday, when the 2,000-acre Town Center development was approved, residents who live close by were assured that the city would adhere to strict design standards and zoning requirements.

Looking at the big picture, the zoning change application before the council is as routine as any it or any other local government receives. But the very fact these requests have become so commonplace, and that they get approved so readily, also is disturbing. These constant zoning changes are maddening to neighborhood residents who see them as harming their quality of life.

In the case of Town Center, what also troubles Theresa O'Donnell, director of the city's Planning and Development Department, is that the very first development in Town Center wants a zoning change. "Approval of any waiver of the Town Center Signage Standards will make future enforcement virtually impossible," O'Donnell wrote in a memo to members of the council.

It is long overdue for local elected officials to have the backbone and say no to developers when they seek zoning changes. The Las Vegas City Council should listen to its staff and reject this proposal.