Tuscany Hills project gets planners’ approval

Friday, Nov. 16, 2001 | 9:57 a.m.

A private developer of the Tuscany Hills Redevelopment Area said Thursday that by this time next year homes should be constructed and occupied at the 850-acre site of a former gravel mine and city landfill.

The Henderson Planning Commission on Thursday gave preliminary approval to 1,629 of 1,927 homes planned for the project in eastern Henderson north of Lake Mead Drive and west of the Calico Ridge neighborhood. The Stewart mine was abandoned in the 1980s.

PBS & J, an international engineering firm, is still developing plans for the remaining homes, David Wood, a consultant for the developer Commerce Associates LLC, said.

A previous developer planned in the mid-1990s to build 2,600 homes and a golf course on the property, known as Palm City. But the project proved too costly and was abandoned.

Commerce Associates has been helped by the city's establishment in March of the project site as a redevelopment area. The city for 30 years will put money aside from increased property tax values to help pay for roads, drainage channels and other infrastructure, Bob Wilson, manager of the redevelopment agency, said.

The homes will sell at prices ranging from the high $100,000s to $450,000. An 18-hole public golf course is scheduled to open in the spring. Developers also plan a 14-acre school and an 8-acre park.