Titus’ growth package off to good start in committee

Monday, March 15, 1999 | 11:11 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus' first "Smart Growth" bill for Southern Nevada has cleared its initial hurdle.

The Senate Government Affairs Committee on Friday unanimously approved Senate Bill 191 to require developers to present impact statements on major projects to local governments.

Titus said Clark County, Henderson and North Las Vegas already require the reports. The governments started the process, Titus said, after she presented her "Ring Around the Valley" bill in 1997 to manage growth in Southern Nevada.

The "Ring" bill didn't pass, but it sparked additional study on ways to manage the fast growth of Clark County.

After the committee meeting Friday, Titus said local governments require the impact statements "capriciously."

"Sometimes they do it, sometimes they don't," she said, adding that her bill will "standardize the process."

The bill, which could go to the Senate floor for a vote late this week, would require developers of big projects to report on the expected impacts on traffic, water, sewage, storm water runoff, firefighting and police services. The local government could not approve the development unless it felt it had the capacity to handle the services.

Committee Chairwoman Sen. Ann O'Connell, R-Las Vegas, said Clark County goes through the impact procedure every two weeks. She questioned whether the state should exert its authority in the matter or leave it to "home rule" for local governments.

Titus replied by pulling out state statutes on planning and showed several hundred pages in which the state sets standards.

The committee then passed the bill unanimously.

Earlier Friday, Titus introduced Senate Bill 394 requiring Clark County, Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson and Boulder City to establish a "regional planning coalition" to set policies for orderly growth and coordinated land use planning. It would also set policies for the delivery of efficient services such as police and fire protection, libraries, mass transit and roads.

This coalition would establish standardized projections for populations, recommend how to increase government efficiency and make suggestions in the disposal of federal land. It would set up a method for resolving disputes among local governments on annexations. And it would review the master plans of the county and cities not more than once every two years.

The bill would stop companies that are penalized for air-quality violations from using the cleanup from those violations as "credits" to help avoid penalties for future violations.

Titus last week introduced her "brownfield" bill to allow those who buy property that has been polluted to clean up the environmental hazards. In turn, these owners would be protected from liability caused by the hazardous substances prior to the cleanup. She said this was an "important tool for economic development and a way to help prevent urban sprawl."

That bill, Senate Bill 363, is set for a hearing before the Senate Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday.

The final two bills in the "Smart Growth" package, expected to be introduced this week, call for establishing an interim committee to study air pollution and requiring the county to designate "smart growth" areas and give those areas priorities in funding such as highway construction money.

The second of the two would also require zoning to comply with master plans; to allow local governments to change their master plans only twice a year and to add land use and transportation to the elements required in master plans.

Her package, Titus said, will leave decisions in the hands of local governments, which will be required to write "clearly defined growth management policies and to implement them consistently."