NLV may get its branch library

Lisa Snedeker

Thursday, June 3, 1999 | 10:29 a.m.

North Las Vegas may soon be home to a new recreation center and a branch library thanks to Clark County.

After the Legislature failed to provide $1.3 million to build the proposed library, today's announcement for the construction of a multi-faceted recreation center in North Las Vegas is welcome news for the financially strapped city. Especially since the recreation center financing may also make the library possible.

North Las Vegas is growing at almost 15 percent annually, or about 1,500 people each month. The city of nearly 107,000 residents is home to one library and one recreation complex and has not kept up with residents' demands for additional facilities.

The county commissioners and the North Las Vegas City Council this week approved an agreement to split the cost of a recreation facility with a minimum budget of $5 million. The 20,000-square-foot facility will feature a community swimming pool among its amenities.

The agreement will leave the city with enough cash that it could build both the center and the library if it finances the projects over 20 years, according to George Stevens, the county's director of finance.

Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates said to save money on the recreation center, blueprints from the Desert Breeze facility at the corner of Durango Drive and Spring Mountain Road will be used in North Las Vegas.

"Certain basic recreational needs in North Las Vegas are underserved," she said. "This financial agreement allows the board (of commissioners) to not only provide the residents of North Las Vegas with a multi-purpose recreation center, but it will also lead to the creation of a sorely needed library."

The land has already been donated for the $6 million, 43,000-square-foot library. Now both facilities will be built on the 4.4 acres near the corner of Alexander Road and Martin Luther King Boulevard, Gates said.

In addition, the 1997 Legislature gave North Las Vegas $350,000 to design the library. Its construction is slated to begin in fall 2000.