Regional master guide prepared

Friday, Jan. 26, 2001 | 11:27 a.m.

A regional plan designed to make sense of a hodgepodge of land-use plans throughout the Las Vegas Valley is almost ready for public comment.

Consultants Clarion Associates unveiled a more-or-less finished version of the Southern Nevada Regional Policy Plan on Thursday for the Regional Planning Coalition, a group made up of representatives from elected governments across the Las Vegas Valley.

The plan is designed to be a master guide to planning future growth across the valley, coordinating the local response to issues such as land use, transportation, air and water quality and open spaces.

To make it work, the governments of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City, Clark County and the Clark County School District will have to ratify the plan.

The Regional Planning Coalition passed the plan with a recommendation that those governments ratify it, but not before Clark County Commissioner and coalition member Myrna Williams asked for some changes.

Williams said she wasn't happy that the county can't use some of the incentives that cities could use to promote redevelopment and infill development of pockets left behind by residential or commercial expansion -- both goals of the regional plan.

She tied the issue to county rights, or home rule. State laws generally give more rights to grant tax incentives and other development spurs to chartered cities.

"I'm disappointed to see the county's rights dropped out of this," Williams said. "If this is regional, how can you not involve the county? The impact on us is very serious."

Christopher Duerksen, Clarion Associates project manager, said references to the county's incentives could be added to the plan. The coalition voted to include "county rights" in the plan.

Coalition representative Larry Brown, a Las Vegas city councilman, and Dario Herrera, Clark County Commission chairman, said following the meeting that the plan will help resolve recent land-use squabbles between the two governments.

The county has recently approved several commercial zoning requests in areas near the city limits, which will have to be served by city sewer systems, and over the objections of city planners and residents.

Brown said only a small fraction of land-use actions cause any problems between the city and county now, and that the plan will help the two governments create a seamless plan for land use.