Henderson citizens protest downtown expansion proposal

Valerie Miller

Wednesday, March 29, 2000 | 11:17 a.m.

A move to possibly triple the size of Henderson's downtown redevelopment area was met with skepticism by some of the nearly 200 residents who heard about the plan Tuesday, but officials voted to recommend a study despite their concerns.

The study will look at the feasibility of expanding the redevelopment area from its current 1,300 to 4,000 acres to include the proposed Nevada State College site at Boulder Highway north of Lake Mead Drive and a more than 2,000-acre community planned adjacent to the site.

The expanded area also could include economically depressed Pittman, north of the college site, and the planned Palm Hills housing development at Lake Mead Drive and Olsen Street, east of Boulder Highway.

Inclusion in the redevelopment area makes a project eligible for $1 of city aid for every $10 of private funds. Tax revenue from those projects are then reinvested back into the redevelopment area.

"This is not redevelopment, but development," resident Patsy Hoyt said to a near-capacity crowd at Henderson's Convention Center.

"Why don't they give us the money to improve our own property?" asked Ralph Chadwick, a resident of Magnesium Street in Henderson's downtown area.

Most of the residents just listened as the Redevelopment Agency and Advisory Commission detailed their plan to the Planning Commission for expansion of the redevelopment area.

The Henderson City Council will decide April 5 whether to proceed with the study.

The LandWell Co., owner of the college site and developer of the Provenance community planned to be adjacent to the site, maintains redevelopment benefits are vital to its project.

"The Provenance development would still go forward if it wasn't included in the redevelopment area, but it wouldn't be at this quick a pace or on this large a scale," LandWell President Dan Stewart said.

LandWell, the real estate arm of Black Mountain Industries, has agreed to trade 300 acres for the college site for 135 acres of city land. The site still must be approved by the university Board of Regents, and the state Legislature must fund the proposed four-year college.

When asked whether the college site would be endangered if Provenance is not included in the redevelopment area, Stewart said after the meeting that was uncertain.

"I couldn't say now that it would or it wouldn't, but just that we would have to revisit the issue of the college," Stewart said. "The question might be 'Would the college want to be there without the Provenance development?' "

LandWell has spent close to $200,000 on a consultant to work with the city to study the expansion of redevelopment area, the redevelopment panel said. The company expects the completed study to cost about $300,000 and hopes it can be reimbursed the money from redevelopment aid, Stewart said.

He also estimated the city's redevelopment coffers could receive $400 million -- calculating for anticipated inflation -- in tax revenue from its Provenance development over the next 25 years.

Before any of the areas under study can be designated for redevelopment, they would have to meet strict standards set by the state, city officials noted.

Valerie Miller is a reporter for the Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-2319 or by e-mail at valerie@lasvegassun.com