Residents’ protests ignored; park-sale talks approved

Erin Neff

Thursday, Nov. 4, 1999 | 9:46 a.m.

Despite protests from residents, the Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday authorized negotiations for the sale of the Charleston Heights Neighborhood Preservation Park to accommodate the planned widening of U.S. 95.

Wednesday's action does not sell the 10-acre park at the corner of Torrey Pines Drive and Hyde Avenue, but it does allow city staff and the Nevada Department of Transportation to proceed with plans for the final $3,670,000 purchase agreement.

Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald, whose ward encompasses the popular new park, said she felt that saving the park was less important than keeping Adcock Elementary School in the established Charleston Heights neighborhood.

The planned widening of U.S. 95 would not overtake the park but will wipe out the existing Adcock school. As a result, Clark County School District officials met with NDOT, which in turn offered the city money for the park as the site to relocate the school.

"For me it's a question of a school," Boggs McDonald said. "That's the only reason why the city is even entertaining the sale of this park.

"If I, as a parent, have a choice between a neighborhood school or a park, I'd pick the school."

The council's Real Estate Committee, which held a second public hearing on the proposed sale Tuesday, could not come to a recommendation about whether the council should approve or deny the request to begin negotiations.

"It's a controversial item, and that's the reason it comes with no recommendation," said Michael McDonald, who was the lone member of the committee present Tuesday.

Councilman Gary Reese did not attend Tuesday's meeting, and McDonald missed the first public hearing on the sale Oct. 18.

Juanita Clark, president of the Charleston Neighborhood Preservation Group, presented the council with a 17-page petition from residents protesting the proposed sale.

Mayor Oscar Goodman granted Clark one minute to make a presentation after she bristled at his initial decision to deny her a chance to speak Wednesday. Goodman said public comment is reserved for the committee meetings, and not before the council's vote.

"The only time to comment is before the vote," Clark said. "After the vote, it's moot."

Boggs McDonald said that Wednesday's action authorizing the negotiated sale would also be moot if the highway is not widened. If the widening does go through as planned, she said the council would get to vote on the final sale contract before it is approved.

McDonald asked staff whether the city could actually lease the land back from NDOT for $1 a year and sublease it to the school district.

"It's certainly a twist on their offer," said John McNellis, the city's deputy director of Public Works.

Steve Henson, NDOT's assistant chief right-of-way agent, said he would have to run that offer past the state attorney general's office. However, he said he believed a state law requiring fair market value of land would prohibit such an agreement.

The sale of the park for $3.67 million includes the $1.745 million appraised value of the land and $1.925 million in improvements made to the park. The city would have to pay $25,000 after the sale in order to salvage playground equipment and other park improvements.

The city plans to allocate $1.17 million to create a smaller neighborhood park on roughly 2 acres. The remaining $2.5 million -- minus the salvage costs -- would be used for other park projects.

Boggs McDonald said she believes a majority of the council is committed to spending that money in the Charleston Heights neighborhood.

Residents and coaches of youth soccer objected to the sale because the city would be losing one of its few lighted soccer fields and would gain only a passive park in return.

Reese said the soccer community should not worry about a loss of fields due to the planned complex at Lake Mead Boulevard and Tenaya Way in Ward 4 and a possible soccer field complex at Washington Avenue and Buffalo Drive in Ward 2. "Within a five-minute ride we're going to have 32 soccer fields," Reese said.