Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2002 | 11:04 a.m.
Developers of the 21,000-acre Apex industrial park north of Las Vegas may scrap plans to build homes beneath flight patterns of bomb-carrying military aircraft, officials said.
Since June, Industrial Properties Development Inc. has sought the zoning needed to put the homes on about 3,000 acres of the industrial park. But the land is adjacent to Nellis Air Force Base, and military officials have strongly opposed the project.
"We want to avoid endangering the public," said Col. Michael Norris, Nellis' vice-commander.
The Clark County Planning Commission had given a green light to the plan developer in August, but the proposal has yet to obtain approval from the final authority, the Clark County Commission. The developer has twice postponed a final discussion and action on the residential proposal.
It is back on the agenda for the commissioners' Wednesday meeting, but county commissioners today could make the zoning request unnecessary if they change the terms of the agreement that opened up the land for development back in 1998.
The "partial termination agreement" that will be considered by the commissioners would free Industrial Properties Development of some obligations that have made the property difficult to develop, said Adam Titus, company president.
Those requirements include the development of about 10,000 acres of the property as one contiguous project and call for the provision that streets, water, sewer and other services such as fire protection by Industrial Properties Development.
Free of those restrictions, the company's investors have a chance to recoup some of their $20 million investment without the residential development, Titus said. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and the late Imperial Palace owner Ralph Engelstad are among the company's investors.
Apex valley, about 15 miles northeast of Las Vegas, is home to a mining operation and two power plants now under construction. The industrial park was originally envisioned as a haven for heavy industry away from populated areas of Las Vegas. That proposal was forwarded after a 1988 explosion at a rocket-fuel factory in Henderson killed two people.
The county bought 45 square miles from the federal government in 1998, then resold the property, zoned for heavy commercial and industrial use, to the developers.
But the large-scale industrial development of the area hit a wall last year when the county, in response to federal regulations, instituted new air quality rules. The developer then explored a future for the park as home to North Hills, a residential community that would be beneath flight patterns used by aircraft carrying live ordnance.
That pitted the developer squarely against the Air Force, which wants "compatible land use in our neighborhood," Norris said.
That type of dispute may arise again, however, even if the county drops the restrictions for Industrial Properties Development. Any buyer of portions of the property could make another request for residential zoning.
The land is in Commissioner Mary Kincaid-Chauncey's district. She said she does not believe the commission will see another proposal for residential development in the area anytime soon. If it comes, the proposal is unlikely to win approval from the current commissioners, she said.
"I just don't think there's any appetite on the board for residential there," Kincaid-Chauncey said. "It's got to be industrial."
The Air Force's needs take precedence, she said.
"Their flights with loaded ammo go right over there. ... Nellis is one of the most crucial bases in our air defense system. We are going to need all our crucial bases," Kincaid-Chauncey said. "It's not a good idea for us to do something that would ruin their mission."
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said his staff also has studied the issue of development near Nellis and that the needs of the base come first.
Nellis is the nation's "No. 1 (Air Force) training facility," Reid said. "We're going to do whatever it takes to make sure it stays what it is. People who are buying land there are buying at their own risk."
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