Apex developers face obstacles

Thursday, July 25, 2002 | 10:58 a.m.

A few miles northeast of the urban area, the craggy hills and gullies of rocky desert are now home to some lizards, cacti and "no hunting" signs full of bullet holes.

But in a few years, this desolate area could be North Hills, a proposed community of 30,000 houses, parks, schools and light commercial development. Executives at Industrial Properties Development, the developer of the effort, compare the project to Summerlin -- the massive planned community that has transformed the west side of the Las Vegas Valley.

Before putting up a single home, however, the developers must navigate a difficult process of Clark County zoning approvals and resistance from leadership at nearby Nellis Air Force Base. The developers must overcome an existing land-use designation that makes the land open only to industry such as the power plants, limestone mines and other uses a few miles to the north.

Industrial Properties Development President Adam Titus argues that the problems are due to perception, not reality. The area targeted for the North Hills community cannot be developed for industrial purposes because of its twisted, hilly topography, he said.

"We are not displacing any industrial land for residential," Titus said.

The nearest house would be almost two miles from the site of a Kerr-McGee factory that produces the rocket fuel ammonium perchlorate, he said.

More importantly, a mountainous wall of rock separates the planned community from the industrial area in the Apex Industrial Park.

The existing industry is evidence of what was originally planned for the 20,000 acres now designated as the Apex Industrial Park. After a disastrous rocket-fuel plant explosion in Henderson in 1989, county planners and a group of investors slated the Apex area for industrial development.

The plan took almost a decade to come to fruition, but the park was established in 1998. But just three years later, federal air-quality rules put a halt to most future uses that would kick up significant amounts of dust.

The investors searched for another use -- and the idea of a residential community was born.

Titus recently drove through the area he and his staff have targeted for residential development. He pointed out areas that would be ideal for horse riding on land that opens into the Desert National Wildlife Refuge, dirt-bike racing, golf courses, parks and a natural amphitheater carved by nature into a striated hillside.

The 3,000 acres -- less than a third of the Apex Industrial Park -- are home to seven hilltops.

"We want to use every one of them" to build affordable houses with dramatic viewscapes, Titus said. "We want to keep it as natural as we can."

Although golf courses, parks, and homes perched atop mountains are usually associated with upscale developments, the developers insist that most of the houses they want to build will be targeted to working people making moderate incomes.

Titus said building affordable housing is essential because those are the people who live nearby. He said the target customers for the development would be the families of workers from Nellis Air Force Base, the Las Vegas Speedway, North Las Vegas and the industrial park itself.

"Ours is really Middle America," Titus said of the proposed community population.

But to make the vision a reality, the developers have to overcome some substantial hurdles. Among them is the Clark County Commission, which must approve a zone change from industrial to residential.

The county's planning staff members are skeptical of the wisdom of residential projects in an area previously slated for industry.

Marta Brown, assistant director for county planning, is mum on ongoing discussions between the developers and her department -- a typical part of the development process for "major projects" such as the North Hills effort.

Brown argues that it is not appropriate for her department to speak before the staff's comments go to the public. Staff members have said privately, however, that they may oppose the concept plan for the project.

Commissioners, who could vote on the needed zone change Sept. 4, appear to be split on the project.

Commissioner Mary Kincaid-Chauncey, out of town this week, has said she leans toward approving the needed zoning changes. Kincaid-Chauncey represents the area.

But Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, who helped create the Apex Industrial Park, has some concerns.

"For many years, I have felt that it is not an appropriate area for residential because it was set aside for heavy industrial," Woodbury said. "The applicant is saying that things have changed. ... The applicant has the burden of proof to convince me."

The Apex proposal has not -- yet -- generated much community concern one way or the other, he said.

Environmental groups do not appear to have targeted the proposed community. Cynthia Martinez, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service assistant field supervisor, and Lew Wallenmeyer, Clark County desert conservation program administrator, said this week that there do not appear to be any insurmountable environmental issues associated with the project.

But Jane Feldman, conservation committee chairwoman for the local arm of the Sierra Club, said Clark County officials should discourage large master-planned communities outside the urban area.

Titus, however, said the North Hills project is doing just what many environmentalists want to see: It's bringing jobs, recreation and homes close together, reducing the need for long, polluting auto commutes.

"It is really live, work and play in one area," he said.

Feldman said the North Hills residents may face air quality problems because of fine dust and quality-of-life problems because of the proximity to Nellis air traffic.

That traffic could include the Air Force's new F-22 Raptor, a fighter still in development. Air Force officials say they are not comfortable with the proposed housing community, which they fear could affect the base's flight zones.

It is not only the noise of the jets, base spokesman Mike Estrada explained.

"We're pretty sure we'd fly over that area with live ordnance," he said. "We can no longer fly out south because of residential encroachment. If we get a lot of development up north, that could put us out of business."

Titus and Estrada agreed that the two sides are working together and that a compromise can be reached. Titus said developers already have eliminated housing under the flight path -- although Estrada said Air Force officials are not yet convinced the project would not have an impact.

Titus said he is convinced that he can win approval from all the essential agencies.

The key argument for the project, Titus said, is that moderate-income workers and their families have increasingly been priced out of good homes.

"We are going to grow them a real place to go," he said.

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