Master plan approval on agenda

Mathis Winkler

Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2002 | 10:01 a.m.

After six months of hammering out details from home sizes to landscaping, city officials said they are eager to approve a proposed master-planned community on 1,900 acres at the northern end of town Wednesday.

"I'm just ecstatic," Councilwoman Shari Buck said. "I'm going to go out there and help them sell houses."

During a five-hour meeting Friday, developers answered 37 questions Buck still had about the project, such as issues about landscaping. Nevertheless, she said she is ready to move ahead with the project.

"They really made me happy," she said. "I'm confident that everything's going to be great."

American Nevada Corp. and Del Webb Corp., partnering as North Valley Enterprises, plan to build about 7,500 homes on the land, which sits roughly between Centennial Parkway, Grand Teton Drive, Decatur Boulevard and Clayton Street and will be bisected by the proposed Las Vegas Beltway.

Del Webb wants to build a neighborhood for people who are 55 or older on the northeastern corner of the land, and American Nevada plans to develop the remainder of the site.

City officials estimate the new community will bring investments of more than $1 billion into the city. They hope the area's lavish landscaping and upscale neighborhoods will give North Las Vegas a community that can compete with places such as Summerlin and Green Valley.

"I'm so elated over it," said Councilman William Robinson, adding he hopes that the new community will boost the city's tax base and bring the city's population to 200,000 over the next decade.

Developers said they felt equally good about the project.

"We've pretty much ironed everything out," said Phillip Peckman, the chief operating officer for the Greenspun Corp. American Nevada is owned by the Greenspun Corp., which also owns the Las Vegas Sun.

He added that home builders have already bought the land in the entire first phase of the development, which includes several hundred acres.

If City Council members approve the project, construction should begin within a few months, and the first homes should be ready for residents by early next year, Peckman said.

Mayor Michael Montandon said the project looked "pretty good." He added that a few "awfully minor" issues, such as the exact alignment of streets, still had to be worked out.

The city's point man on the development said some changes would probably still come after council members have approved the 47-page development agreement.

"This is a living document," said Michael Majewski, the city's economic development manager. "I think that we've done a very good job, but you'll see modifications as (the project) gets built out."