County makes it tougher to alter land plans

Thursday, April 17, 2003 | 11:08 a.m.

New rules on land-use plan changes were enacted Wednesday that will make it more difficult for developers to receive so-called "nonconforming" zone changes.

The Clark County Commission voted 5-1 to require "compelling justification" for zoning requests that do not conform to the county's underlying master development plans. The commission in the same motion reaffirmed its earlier decision to require a two-thirds "supermajority" to make those changes.

Ed Lubbers, an attorney representing the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association, and Charley Johnson, a developer and member of the Clark County Planning Commission, spoke against both provisions.

"The rules of representative democracy require a simple majority," Lubbers said.

County counsel Rob Warhola told the commission that the supermajority clause would mean that at least five of the seven commissioners would have to support a nonconforming zone change if all seven are present.

The plan approved Wednesday is the second part of a sweeping reform of the county's land-use policies. The first part was adopted in February.

Under the new rules, the county will consider nonconforming requests four times a year, rather than twice a month as has been the practice.

The commission also adopted a schedule for updating master plans for unincorporated parts of the urban area.

Discussions on the revisions for master plans, some of which have been in place for the better part of a decade, will begin in June.

Lubbers and land-use attorney Chris Kaempfer, who has often represented developers in pitched political battles over nonconforming requests, asked the county commissioners to include developers and detailed demographic and economic information when drafting the new master plans.

Kaempfer said the lack of that information is one of the reasons so many battles have been fought over zoning applications.

"Those are the answers we never had, really, when we were putting these plans together," he said.

Neighborhood activist Carolyn Edwards, a familiar face in zoning and land-use disputes before the county, called the commission's vote a victory for homeowners who have been hurt by county zoning decisions.

"We're happy with the whole thing," she said.

The vote for the new rules was 5-1, with Commission Chairwoman Mary Kincaid-Chauncey opposing it. Kincaid-Chauncey said she disagreed with the provisions requiring a supermajority and calling for a compelling justification.