County, city may settle on northwest land soon

Friday, Dec. 28, 2001 | 9:37 a.m.

Clark County commissioners and Las Vegas City Council members are poised to discuss and possibly pass a hotly debated agreement that would govern the development of the Las Vegas Valley's northwest.

Both boards are scheduled to receive identical wordings of the proposed interlocal agreement Wednesday morning. Both boards have discussed, accepted and rejected early versions of the pact.

The main point of the agreement would be to stop, at least temporarily, commercial and high-density residential encroachment into largely residential or rural neighborhoods in the northwest. The agreement also would give the county's political stamp-of-approval for annexation of county "islands" largely or completely within the city limits.

The agreement also would give both the city and county one year to work out a "seamless" development guide for the 33,000 acres covered by the agreement.

Councilmen Larry Brown and Michael Mack, who represent the area within the city, worked to pass the agreement in previous incarnations and have received solid support from the rest of the council.

County Commissioner Chip Maxfield, however, has had a difficult time rounding up four members of the seven-member commission to support the agreement that he helped write. Maxfield worked with Brown and Mack for most of the year in the effort to write and pass the agreement.

The key vote on the commission Wednesday will likely be Chairman Dario Herrera, who voted against the agreement Dec. 4. Herrera, who had supported two earlier versions of the pact, at that time cited three issues that prompted him to vote to table the issue until Wednesday:

* A clause barring consolidation of city and county services for five years.

* A provision allowing changes in a future cooperative land use plan that the agreement calls for.

* A requirement calling for a separate interlocal agreement governing fire services on the county islands.

Herrera said those provisions, not included in earlier versions, needed further study.

Neither Herrera nor Maxfield were available during Christmas week for comment.

Richard Holmes, assistant county manager, said the agreement to be considered next week by both boards is essentially the same as the Dec. 4 version.

Either board could put new amendments into the agreement, which would mean the pact would go through another series of discussions and votes. But if both boards do not amend the agreement and pass it, it would go into effect immediately.

But Brown said Thursday that he doesn't expect any amendments.

"Apparently, everyone is buying into the latest version," he said. "I'm optimistic."

He said agreement is important "to eliminate surprises, to protect both city and county residents" from unwanted zoning.

Mack said he hopes to have 7-0 votes to support the agreement from both boards and avoid any complicating amendments.

"I'm just crossing my fingers," he said.

A 7-0 vote by the county commissioners is unlikely. Three commissioners -- Erin Kenny, Mary Kincaid-Chauncey and Myrna Williams -- have consistently opposed the pact.

Kenny has said she opposes the pact because it would limit the commission's ability to approve zone changes contrary to existing land use guides, at least for one year. She argues that the commission needs flexibility in zoning for the fast-growing area.

But that flexibility, which has allowed commercial applications in both the city and county areas of the northwest, is exactly the problem, said George Hitter, president of the Northwest Citizens Associations.

The group supports the pact as long as it will stop commercial encroachment on what had been, until just a few years ago, largely dominated by small ranches.

Not everyone in the area supports the pact. Some property owners fear that their land will lose value if it cannot be developed commercially. But Hitter said most residents would like the commercial development to stay out of the area.

Hitter said previous efforts to stop commercial development in the area, passed by the county commissioners, have failed because they allowed exemptions to whatever law was in place.

He hopes the commission and council will pass an agreement that stops development opposed by neighbors in the northwest.

"I think it's time they helped us out," Hitter said.