Historic district proposed

Jace Radke

Friday, July 16, 1999 | 10:55 a.m.

The city of Las Vegas is well on its way to making a downtown neighborhood known for its proliferation of law offices into an historic district.

The city's Historic Preservation Commission is preparing a designation draft to pass on to the City Council that if passed would add some standards for builders interested in the area around the Las Vegas Academy.

"Our intent in going after this designation is to maintain the character of the neighborhood by making contractors adhere to an extra set of standards when building in this area," said Marc Castagnola of the city's planning department.

The new district would be bounded by Bridger Street and Gass Avenue and would run between 6th and 9th Streets, Castagnola said.

The area is known for large numbers of law offices and professional buildings because of its proximity to downtown courthouses and the under-construction Regional Justice Center.

Some of the new standards that would apply to building ventures in that area would include height restrictions and setback requirements, but the city is still looking for input on those standards.

"We're going through some public meetings and looking for input from downtown residents about what the standards should be so that the feel of the neighborhood is not diminished by the wrong kinds of development," Castagnola said at a meeting of the Downtown Central Development Committee Thursday night.

The first in a series of public hearings on the proposal to make the area a historic district is tentatively being scheduled for the end of August, Castagnola said.

"We're hoping to have the standards set by mid-September, and the draft to the City Council for approval in October or November," Castagnola said. "Hopefully everything will be adopted by the end of the year."

If the proposal is adopted, those wanting to build in the new historic district would follow the same application procedures that any builder must submit to, but the Historic Preservation Commission would look at the project and send a recommendation to the City Council.