County adopts major reform of land policies

Thursday, Feb. 20, 2003 | 11:13 a.m.

Land Use Planning The land-use planning process changes adopted by the Clark County Commission Wednesday include:

A divided Clark County Commission adopted a sweeping reform of its land-use policies Wednesday over the sharp objections of residential and commercial developers.

The adoption of the law means that new master plans, which were theoretically supposed to guide future zoning decisions but have often been ignored, will be more difficult to change through amendments or "nonconforming" waivers. Some aspects of the law, applying to nonconforming land-use requests, will go into effect April 7.

The county now will consider nonconforming requests four times a year, rather than twice a month as has been the practice. Other parts of the law will go into effect in six months, or when the master plans are updated. All but one of the county's 11 master plans -- the exception being the Lone Mountain plan -- are more than two years old, and under the new law would not affect many zoning applications.

The commission majority directed staff to put together a plan within 30 days to implement the new law.

Neighborhood activists, including some who have been affected by changes to the county's master plans in the past, welcomed the changes -- although some criticized 11th-hour concessions to developers unveiled Wednesday afternoon.

Despite the concessions, developers warned that the new laws will inhibit residential and commercial construction.

The new law would probably not have passed a year ago or even two months ago, when a majority of commissioners consistently supported many controversial zoning proposals for their districts.

But Commissioners Bruce Woodbury and Chip Maxfield, who have been the bloc supporting greater adherence to master plans, have been joined by longtime Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates and new commissioners Mark James and Rory Reid, both of whom campaigned on master-plan and neighborhood quality-of-life issues.

The five defeated Commission Chairwoman Mary Kincaid-Chauncey and Commissioner Myrna Williams, who opposed the ordinance. James sided with the pair in failed motions to delay the law and an effort to strip the law of its requirement for a two-thirds "supermajority" when approving waivers to master plans.

"I do not believe the two-thirds majority is even constitutional, but even if it is this is just putting tyranny in the hands of the minority," Williams said, echoing many of the developers.

Williams said she is not opposed to all reforms, but this one was not fair to developers or new people coming to Las Vegas.

Kincaid-Chauncey agreed, arguing that the process works fine as it is.

"I'm saying: I don't think it's broke and needs to be fixed," she said.

The developers emphatically agreed.

"I don't know when I've seen an ordinance that is more ill-conceived than this one," argued Roland Sturm, a partner in commercial developer Territory Inc. and International Land Development Corp. He said the law would hurt commercial and residential development, a $4 billion part of Southern Nevada's economy.

"It's the one vibrant spark in the economy in Las Vegas and I don't want to retard that," he said, predicting that home prices will go "through the roof" because of the changes.

Chris Kaempfer, an attorney who often specializes in real-estate law before the county commission, said the county will suffer if people try to use the master planning process to keep high-density residential or commercial projects completely out of their areas.

Many people simply cannot afford the high-end single family homes that many people want to see in their neighborhoods, he said.

"Most of the people moving here cannot afford the median cost of a home, which is $186,000," Kaempfer said. "There have to be places for these people to live."

Despite the numerous objections, the reform bloc stuck to their guns.

"Any reform is like taking a bone from a dog," Reid said. "I'm not suggesting who the dog is in this case, but changes are difficult. We need to do something to instill more confidence in this process."

Agreed Woodbury, "There are many people who have made the point today that master plans, land-use plans, are not perfect. However, they are important, and they are necessary and they need to be given some respect."

He said the concessions offered Wednesday built in significant flexibility to the master plans. And he defended the two-thirds majority required for altering the plans, pointing out that the Legislature already requires such a majority for a host of other board actions.

Woodbury predicted that unless reforms are instituted, county voters "will rise up in opposition to the kind of growth we have had. We've already seen some of that."

About two dozen developers and their representatives had more than double the number of reform supporters in the crowd. But the reformers, many of whom have attended zoning fights in the commission chambers for years, said the overhaul was long overdue.

Bruce Waggoner, a homeowner who lives near Eastern Avenue and Pebble Road, has battled county commission zoning decisions for years, both in the commission chambers and the courts. He has litigation pending against one decision.

The master plan for his neighborhood is about a decade old, he said.

"The master plan, still in place today, has been completely ignored by you, the zoning commission," Waggoner said. Instead of the homes he expected to see come in when Waggoner bought his house, he is surrounded by schools, shopping centers and convenience stores.

"The existing system is broken," he said. "It works great for developers, but it doesn't work at all for the public you are sworn to represent."

The comment provoked an angry response from Williams.

"I don't think I should sit here and be insulted," she said. "You have a good quality of life here. I don't know where you moved from. Frankly I don't care. To cast aspersions is wrong."

Williams said she and other commissioners have made decisions based on what is best for the community, a comment that sparked a round of applause from the developers in the audience.

Charley Johnson, a longtime local developer and Clark County Planning Commission member, agreed with Williams. His board advises the county commission on land use issues.

"If I could be a member of any group, I would choose to be one of the 'good ol' boys' " in the county, Johnson said, "because the good ol' boys who came here had a vision."

But unlike so many land use battles in the past, this time the good ol' boys did not win, said Carolyn Edwards, a Spring Valley resident who became politically active about two years ago when the county commission approved a master-plan change to let a drugstore go behind her house. That decision, she said, has cut $80,000 from the value of her home.

"This is a huge victory," Edwards said. "It is a victory for the whole community, and that includes developers. It gives everyone confidence in the master plans and predictability in development."