Residents fail to block apartments

Thursday, Aug. 7, 2003 | 9:01 a.m.

The Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday approved a 320-unit, three-story apartment complex for northwest Las Vegas over the objections of single-family homeowners in the area who said the high density will threaten their rural lifestyle.

More than a dozen residents of the Timberlake community at Deer Springs Way and Durango Drive said the Village at Centennial Hills apartments planned for Montecito Parkway and Rome Boulevard would add too much traffic congestion and noise, devalue their properties and ruin their quality of life.

Attorney Mark Fiorentino, representing the developer, Summit Development, argued that the project was in line with the Montecito Town Center plan for a high density urban village and that there was more than 900 feet of buffering between the project and Timberlake.

"We have tried to minimize the potential impact," Fiorentino said, noting that the gated apartments would have access only on Riley Street and Rome, but not on Deer Springs, which Timberlake residents use for access to their homes.

The council, after the 90-minute hearing, voted 5-0 with two abstentions. Mayor Oscar Goodman abstained because he has a business partner who has invested in Montecito, while Councilman Lawrence Weekly abstained because he had friends who were among the protesters.

"I believe this design is as good as any," said Councilman Michael Mack, in whose ward the apartments will be built. "It will be as nice as anything in Summerlin."

Mack said that while he is committed to preserving the rural integrity and quality of life of the residents of Timberlake, which was built in a virtual wilderness in the late 1990s, he disagreed that apartments necessarily devalue surrounding property or diminish the lifestyle of single-family dwellers.

Timberlake and the apartment complex will be separated by a private elementary school that already was approved for the area. All three properties are east of Kohls, a large department store that is under construction.

Manuel Arias, president of the Timberlake Homeowners Association, said the proposed apartments lack the uniqueness and exciting development that was promised for the area.

"This project is nothing special," he said. "Town Center was supposed to be something special."

Christine West, another Timberlake resident, agreed: "We're not against growth. What we want is a lifestyle originally portrayed to us -- the Beverly Hills of Las Vegas. None of that is happening ... It is certainly not the vision we were told."

Other complaints were that adding a potential 1,000 residents to an area of just 16.68 acres is going to crowd already overcrowded schools and bring significant traffic to the area.

Fiorentino said much has been done to lessen the impact on Timberlake residents, including the realignment of busy Durango Road away from their homes and the implementation of strict development standards that require many landscape buffers.

The proposed apartments "meets or exceeds Montecito Town Center standards," he said. "The density has been in place for many years."

Fiorentino said the proposed project, under those standards, could have had up to 25 units per acre, but instead will feature about 19 units per acre.

The apartments are expected to lease at about $700 for a one-bedroom and up to $1,200 for a three-bedroom. About two-thirds of the development will be two- and three-bedroom apartment homes, he said.