Zone change OK’d for Pinnacle Peaks development

Thursday, May 8, 2003 | 9:42 a.m.

An area of southwest Clark County that 40 years ago was envisioned as a potential industrial region where factories would be built alongside railroad tracks took another step Wednesday to becoming primarily residential.

The Clark County Commission, acting as the zoning board, voted 6-0 to grant a zone change in the sprawling Pinnacle Peaks development. The vote will allow homes to be built closer to the west bank of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks than originally planned. Commissioner Bruce Woodbury was absent.

The decision comes after a split commission vote last month that allowed homes to be built within 100 feet of the tracks on the east side. While the latest zoning change won't result in homes being built that close to the tracks, it cements changes that will alter what once was predicted to become an industrial center similar to the BMI complex that borders Henderson.

"We're well aware this is in an area that some once thought would be industrial," said Greg Borgel, representing the zone change applicant, Pinnacle Peaks Limited Liability Co. "But these homes will not be built against the railroad tracks or the (100-foot) right-of-way. They will be a quarter of a mile away, so there is no hazard issue."

Pinnacle Peaks, a 1,646-acre residential and commercial development, is bordered by Warm Springs Road, Rainbow Boulevard, Ford Avenue and the area including the railroad tracks.

Outside the hearing, Borgel, who has been involved with the project since it was proposed in the late 1990s, said mini-warehouses eventually will be built as a buffer against the railroad track right-of-way on the west side.

And, he said, the 172 single-family homes on 25 acres at Windmill Lane and Shelbourne Avenue, which got the zoning change Wednesday, won't be the last to be built on land near the tracks.

"In 1962, planners designated the area around the tracks as M1 (industrial zoning), believing some day that factories and other heavy industry would be built there, and that their products would be shipped out by the railroad," Borgel said. "But the area north of this project is all residential and we have other residential projects to propose for the area. And this is good, because we don't want another BMI." But when Pinnacle Peaks was approved by the Clark County Commission in November 1998, the area near the railroad tracks was proposed to be primarily for commercial use, with apartments and condominiums along Rainbow Boulevard and single-family homes on the interior of the project.

Trains make 30 to 40 trips a day through that part of the valley, county staff members said, recommending the change be denied.

Commission Chairwoman Mary Kincaid-Chauncey said the developer must disclose to potential buyers the proximity of the train tracks in accordance with noise awareness regulations. Borgel said the developer would comply with that condition.