Enterprise gets master-plan update

Thursday, Dec. 9, 2004 | 11:16 a.m.

More than five hours of wrangling sent the Clark County Commission into the wee, small hours of the morning, but finally produced a master plan for future development of the township of Enterprise.

The marathon planning session was the second in the county's effort to produce new and stronger master planning guides for the urban area and targeted one of the fastest-growing parts of the valley. In 2000, the population estimate for Enterprise was 22,000. By this year, the population had grown to an estimated 81,000, county planners said.

Enterprise sprawls over about 66 square miles in the southwest Las Vegas Valley, and includes parts of the districts of three commissioners: Rory Reid, Bruce Woodbury and Lynette Boggs McDonald. It is home to such new planned communities as Mountains Edge.

The rapid pace of growth has meant that people who have lived for years in a rural setting are sometimes butting heads with commercial and residential developers, which is one reason why the county commission designated Enterprise as the second area to get a master plan update.

A series of public meetings and workshops produced a tentative map, which is not "hard zoning" but a guide to what that zoning will eventually become. Developers, residents and others with an interest in the outcome also took their cases to the Enterprise Town Advisory Board and Clark County Planning Commission meetings for revisions.

Enterprise residents and developers continued their arguments at the county commission Wednesday night as the commissioners considered more than 30 amendments to the master plan hammered out over the last year.

Sue Allen, president of the South West Action Network, a citizens group that has worked to preserve much of the rural character in Enterprise, said the long hours of work that finished around 1 a.m. were "brutal," but the final product is a good one.

The commissioners considered all the amendments carefully, she said.

"If a proposed change had been brought forward at the town board and the planning commission, they were inclined to support it," Allen said, referring to two boards that advise the county commission, which is the final authority. "If it was somebody coming in at the last minute, claiming no prior knowledge (of the master-planning process), they were inclined to deny it.

"If it was a change likely to radically affect existing residents, they were also inclined to deny it," Allen said.

Generally, the commissioners were sympathetic to the needs of the residents, she said, particularly in defending many of Enterprise's designated rural preservation areas.

"I would give them about an A-minus," Allen said, grading the board. "I didn't agree with the fact that they tried to put too many items in a single day. However, once I was up there, I could understand each of their decisions. I did not necessarily agree with each decision, but I understood the rationale."

Commissioner Woodbury said the late hours might be something to avoid as the county updates other master plans.

"I was like a robot there," he joked. Still, "I think it went well. I think we set a record for the latest county commission meeting, but the commission by and large followed the recommendations of the town board and the citizens.

"I think it's a good, solid master plan."04