County OKs homes project under airport flight pattern

Thursday, Dec. 5, 2002 | 11:22 a.m.

Over the objections of Clark County staff, nearby residents and several advisory councils, the County Commission approved a proposal to put more than 300 homes under departing flights from McCarran International Airport.

The approval Wednesday was one of a half-dozen times that the county commissioners voted to allow proposals that conflict with underlying land-use plans for areas throughout the Las Vegas Valley. The move was one of several high-profile, bitterly opposed land-use decisions to come from the commission since the November election.

But the approval of the Fossil Properties LLC development was particularly contentious because of strong protests raised by, among others, the Clark County School District.

The area is within the swath of land called the cooperative management area, or CMA, that was designed to limit new residential development because of aircraft noise. The School District released much of the cheap federal land it controlled within the CMA several years ago because more homes were not expected in the 5,300-acre area.

But because the County Commission has approved so many new residential developments, the School District soon will have to ask for money and zoning to buy land for schools in the CMA, warned Matthew LaCroix, the district's assistant director of real property development.

He put the price tag of the land, once available to the district for the price of administrative costs, at $200,000 an acre.

LaCroix called the county's approval of the zoning change "disheartening."

The district relinquished BLM parcels that could have held several school sites years ago, LaCroix said. If the areas are converted to residential zoning, additional schools will be needed. That means the district will have to buy back land, possibly paying as much as $3 million for each school site.

Additionally, the district will have to pay to bus students to available schools while the new campuses are being built, LaCroix said.

"We tried to do the stand-up thing and work with the developers within the framework of the master plan," LaCroix said. "Now we're going to get burned for it, to the tune of millions of dollars."

LaCroix was not alone in his plea. Rosemary Vassiliadis, the county's deputy aviation director, also urged the commission to uphold the land-use master plan and the CMA.

"We do strongly oppose this non-conforming request," she said. "It is a high noise area. During our hours of operation, there will be constant noise in that area."

But arguments by Russell Rowe, an attorney with powerhouse local firm Kummer, Kaempfer, Bonner and Renshaw, won four votes, a majority, from the commissioners.

Rowe pointed out that some schools already exist within the area and, prompting sputters of protest from Vassiliadis, argued that the noise from jets departing McCarran is not a big problem for residents living nearby.

Rowe's arguments included pointing out to the commissioners that they have approved numerous other residential projects in the CMA. Homes already exist to the north of the proposed project, he said.

"There has been in this area significant approvals," he said. "A significant amount of it already exists."

But county staff members argued in their written opinion to the commission that the site of the new project at Sunset Road and the Tenaya Way alignment differs significantly from other residential projects in the area.

Much of the land adjacent to the 30-acre project's east and west borders -- a line roughly corresponding to the flight patterns used by the airport jets -- was acquired by the county since 1998 from the federal government, and the county is barred by law from developing those parcels residentially.

"This project will, in essence, be a free-standing subdivision that will neither be cohesive nor functionally integrated with any adjacent parcels," staff said in the opinion.

Commissioners Myrna Williams, Dario Herrera, Mary Kincaid-Chauncey and Erin Kenny rejected the staff opinion.

But the reason cited by several was that the area needs low-cost housing, and using the CMA for industrial or commercial purposes -- the land use endorsed by the board two years ago -- does not now make sense because the Las Vegas Valley has a glut of land for industrial needs but not enough for residential development.

Williams and Kenny pointed out that housing prices continue to creep upward in the Las Vegas Valley.

"I think this whole area needs to have another look," Kincaid-Chauncey said.

The project approval had one vote against it -- Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, who represents the district and has historically supported most master-plans, threw up his hands at one point.

"There are overwhelming reasons to deny this project," said Woodbury, who is still recovering from surgery on his right ear. "I don't see how we can justify going against the very, very strong recommendation by the airport that we deny."

Woodbury vowed to bring the issue back to the board. By law, any commissioner can call for a vote to reconsider within 35 days.

Woodbury said later that he intends to bring the issue back before a newly constituted commission, when Kenny and Herrera are replaced by commissioners-elect Rory Reid and Mark James. Woodbury said he expects that the two will do more to support existing master land-use plans.

But Kenny may have thrown Woodbury a curve. She also has asked for reconsideration, but for Dec. 18, before the new board is sworn in. That could shut down the effort to reject the zoning ruling passed Wednesday.

Usually motions to reconsider an issue are made 30 days after the original commission vote, Woodbury said. But the county district attorney and County Manager Thom Reilley will have to decide which of the competing motions to reconsider will stand, he said.

Woodbury would not rule out trying to bring other non-conforming zone changes back for reconsideration under a new board. Among the other approvals granted Wednesday contrary to the land use guide are:

The commissioner could have other opportunities to balk at zone changes contrary to master plans. County planning staff said dozens of proposals are in the works, including a handful held on Wednesday, that could appear on the Dec. 18 county zoning agenda.

Garry Hayes, an attorney who often represents neighbors protesting unpopular zoning requests, noted that while those requests have always come before the board, the volume has stepped up in the closing days of the current board.

"We're having a flood of non-conforming zone changes," he said. "If it is non-conforming, it seems like it's going to get a green light.

"It's clear that the commissioners are not giving any deference at all to the master plans, no deference to staff recommendations, to deference to existing ordinances. December is going to be a very important month for developers."