County continues Harmon talks

Launce Rake and Adrienne Packer

Thursday, Nov. 18, 1999 | 11:21 a.m.

As Clark County officials continue to negotiate for land along the Las Vegas Strip, another design for the Harmon Avenue extension was put before the commission and accepted Wednesday.

The board voted 6-0 to accept a status report from Public Works Director Marty Manning and directed him to continue to negotiate for costly right-of-way property to allow Harmon Avenue to extend across the Strip.

The county hopes to ease east-west congestion by stretching Harmon Avenue west across Interstate 15 where it would eventually connect with Polaris Avenue.

"The board wants to get the Harmon Avenue project moving so we can take some of the heat off Flamingo and Tropicana," Manning said.

The process has been delayed because of a legal problems and the number of property owners involved.

Manning told commissioners that the design was changed to take Harmon Avenue away from the Aladdin hotel-casino and the Harley-Davidson Cafe properties, which would have been adversely affected by the previous design.

The new design resembles the previous plan in that the road is an S-shaped design. However, the new drawings show Harmon sweeping across Las Vegas Boulevard at a 45 degree angle.

The road would slice through the middle of a 3-acre parcel owned by the Reynolds Trust, and the county will pay a hefty price for the land. Manning told commissioners Reynolds' asking price is $36 million.

Reynolds Trust has a 99-year lease agreement with Focus 2000, which had planned to develop a shopping center. Focus owners again asked commissioners Wednesday to expedite the process because it is paying Reynolds $107,000 a month.

The project's most significant delay came in 1998, when a deal struck with Mirage Resorts landed the county in court.

The commission had approved a right-of-way agreement with Mirage Resorts that allowed the county to acquire 14 acres worth $114 million for $8 million.

The deal -- which preserved property that Mirage plans to develop into a boardwalk -- was negotiated during private meetings. A judge later nullified the agreement and Public Works officials have been negotiating with property owners since.

Manning said his staff will meet Tuesday with representatives from Mirage Resorts to resolve remaining issues related to the county taking a sliver of its property on the west side of the Strip.

"In order to do anything with them we have to have a contract, so we're finishing those contracts," Manning said. "We're all working together toward that. The board would very much like to see these things move forward quickly, and we're extremely close."