Monday, Oct. 13, 2003 | 11:03 a.m.
North Las Vegas is planning to annex 1,093 acres near Nellis Air Force Base and Interstate 15, a move that has some property owners upset over the higher taxes they would pay, while others say the annexation would have happened sooner or later anyway.
City officials say the annexation, which the City Council will consider Nov. 5, will help North Las Vegas better plan development on that land.
It one of a handful of such annexation initiated by North Las Vegas, which requires a parcel be included in the city limits before it will provide water service.
This is the largest annexation, however, said Randy Cagle, the city manager of real property services who is overseeing the annexation.
Because of the requirement that annexation be completed before water service is begun, Cagle said, the mostly undeveloped area would all end up within the North Las Vegas city limits eventually, he said, but piece by piece. North Las Vegas is the only municipality that currently serves the area.
Bringing the land in all at once makes it easier to plan development, Cagle and other city officials said.
"This is an absolute necessity if we want to continue good planning in that area," Mayor Michael Montandon said. "We see an incredible amount of development headed this way."
The area is currently zoned for industrial and open land, and the city plans to keep it predominantly industrial, he said.
Nellis Air Force Base officials have pushed to keep parcels closest to the base free of residential development.
Mark Lefkowitz, co-owner of Power Realty in Las Vegas, is a partial owner of several properties that together make up about 100 acres of the area proposed for annexation. Lefkowitz said that while he is neutral on the possible annexation, in the long run being brought within the city limits is better for the area.
"This is kind of a Catch-22," Lefkowitz said. "In the short run there are more taxes and more development requirements. But the water lines are controlled by North Las Vegas, and annexation would be required anyway."
If the area is brought within North Las Vegas, the city could write a development plan for the area, which Lefkowitz said, if done properly, would increase the value of his property.
Lefkowitz said he is not opposing the annexation.
"I'm going with the flow of our City Council, and hopefully we'll make this a first-class business park area," he said.
But others say the annexation doesn't have an upside.
Attorney Mark Peplowski is representing Roger Dieleman, who owns about 12 acres of the land proposed for annexation, and has been contacted by several other land owners opposed to the annexation.
Peplowski said he believes there are several reasons the annexation shouldn't be allowed.
One is that the city initiated the annexation, and it was not something the property owners requested.
The property owners would end up paying higher property taxes because the city has a higher tax rate than Clark County.
North Las Vegas Finance Director Phil Stoeckinger confirmed that property owners would see their tax bills increase about 25 percent if the annexation is approved.
The property owners there now pay a combined $885,000 a year in property taxes, and they would pay about $1.1 million if annexed, he said.
The city would get about $390,000 of that, Stoeckinger said.
In addition to the higher cost, Peplowski said, the zoning designations for the land if it is annexed could change from the current county zoning and hurt the value of the property.
Also, the city and county have different property maintenance regulations that could affect the land owners. For example, if a vacant property is being used for storing equipment, the city requires a wall be built around the property. County regulations call for only a fence, Peplowski said.
Peplowski also said he disagrees with the city requiring property owners annex to get water service.
"That is blackmail," he said.
But Peplowski said he expects the council will approve the annexation.
The annexation could have been blocked if more than half of the land owners had objected to the annexation.
However, objections came from property owners representing about 27 percent of the property.
State law allows the city to initiate the annexation of this property because at least 75 percent of the land is contiguous to the city borders.
Councilman Robert Eliason said he expects the annexation will be approved by the council.
Eliason said it's important the annexation go through so North Las Vegas officials have control over what is built on the property.
"We need to preserve and protect that as an industrial area," Eliason said.
He also said the tax increase that property owners will see is not enough to dramatically impact them.
"I don't think it's that much of a difference," Eliason said.
archive
