School, park future tied to council vote, widening of freeway

Jace Radke

Wednesday, Nov. 3, 1999 | 10:35 a.m.

The fate of a freeway, park and school was expected to be partially decided today by the Las Vegas City Council.

The council was expected to vote on whether to sell the Charleston Heights Neighborhood Park to the Nevada Department of Transportation. The sale would facilitate the widening of U.S. 95 and the construction of a new O.K. Adcock Elementary School.

The existing school is in the path of the proposed expansion of U.S. 95, at its current location at 100 Newcomer St. just off the south edge of the freeway west of Torrey Pines Drive. A new Adcock school would be built on the park site at Torrey Pines Drive and Hyde Avenue if the city agrees to NDOT's offer of $3.67 million for the park.

Of course the school and park could stay where they are if the Environmental Protection Agency rejects NDOT's Environmental Impact Study for the new freeway.

"There are many different aspects of the project moving forward parallel to each other, but everything is contingent on the U.S. 95 widening project being approved," said deputy director of Public Works John McNellis at a Tuesday afternoon meeting of the city's real estate committee.

Councilman Michael McDonald chaired the committee meeting on the eighth floor of City Hall and passed the proposed land sale on to today's city council meeting with no recommendation.

"This needs to be heard by the entire council," McDonald said. "The need for a school outweighs the need for a park."

McDonald said he was disappointed that the community's park may have to be taken away to make way for the freeway.

"It was a park that we fought for years, and now we've developed a wonderful park, and the freeway may cause us to take it away," McDonald said.

The 10-acre park with soccer fields and playgrounds will be a year old on Sunday.

Charleston Heights resident Juanita Clark told McDonald and Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald, who listened to Tuesday's meeting by phone, that she did not understand why the land had to be sold now.

"This seems premature to me," Clark said. "Why can't this sale be put off until the EPA gives a final decision on NDOT's study? They may deny it, and we could keep the park and the school where it is.

"It's nice to get things ahead of time, but this is premature. I'd like to have my Christmas presents today, but that's not going to happen."

NDOT consultant Roger Patton said that NDOT is waiting for approval in Carson City and will then ship the impact study to the EPA for approval. The whole process could take another two to three months.

"What NDOT is trying to do is set things up so they can move as fast as possible when and if the EPA approves the project," Patton said. "They want to have the agreement in place so that federal money can be used to build the new school the minute this is approved."

Assuming the new freeway is approved and the park is sold, the new Adcock school would take up about 7 1/2 acres of the 10-acre park. The city would then use $1.17 million from the sale of the land to build a smaller 2 1/2- acre community park next to the school.

The other $2.5 million from the sale would go toward building and refurbishing other parks in the Charleston Heights neighborhood, McNellis said.