Contract approved for 61 acres planning

Judy Odierna

Thursday, March 20, 2003 | 8:41 a.m.

Las Vegas took another step forward in the master planning of the former Union Pacific Railroad yard Wednesday.

The City Council voted 6-1, with Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald dissenting, to pay Design Workshop and Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc. more than $600,000 to help create a master plan for the 61-acre parcel downtown.

Boggs McDonald, who raised concerns earlier this month about the project's several phases that put a design workshop before any market analysis, still had those concerns.

"We need a market study on the overall community," she said.

A study done last year by Economic Research Associates looked only at downtown and not the whole community, she said.

After an agreement with Southwest Sports to develop the parcel fell through last year, the city decided in January to handle the master planning of the land itself.

The city hired Richard Oglesby of R.O. Consulting Inc. in February to be the project administrator for $140,000.

Oglesby negotiated the agreements with Design Workshop and Kimley-Horn.

Design Workshop is an architectural engineering firm that helped develop the Commons in Denver, a 60-acre urban village built on former railroad land adjacent to downtown. It would get $424,000 to help with the Las Vegas project. If an additional consultant were needed, the consultant would be paid an hourly fee ranging from $50 to $400 an hour, depending on the person's position.

Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc., a nationwide firm specializing in projects involving infrastructure such as sewer lines and streets, would be paid $180,000. Should Kimley-Horn need to send someone from Las Vegas, the consultant would be paid a per diem rate of up to $1,000

One of the first tasks for both groups would be to hold a two-day design workshop that would put members of the City Council, the City Centre Development Corp., the City Parkway Task Force and potential major stakeholders together to come up with a plan.

Projects that have been envisioned have included high-rise apartments, an academic medical center, a performing arts center, a park, stores and a veterans hospital.