LVCVA may provide $8 million for plaza

Dan Kulin

Monday, Feb. 9, 2004 | 11:24 a.m.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority board is expected to decide Tuesday whether to give Henderson $8 million for a new plaza outside the expanded City Hall.

The LVCVA, which collects money from the hotel tax, has provided millions of dollars for large local projects in the past, including $8 million for the Fremont Street Experience in 1994, another $7 million for Fremont Street upgrades last year and $2.5 million in 1998 for a recreational center in Mesquite. The grants were on top of the $1 million a year the authority doles out to local governments, LVCVA spokesman Rob Powers said.

Exactly what Henderson's proposed plaza would look like isn't fully decided, but preliminary drawings show a large open area with water fountains, a section with umbrellas and two rows of large metal "shade structures," with metal grates on top, stretching across Water Street. The preliminary drawings show the proposed plaza covering the land between City Hall and the Henderson Convention Center, including much, and possibly all, of the parking lot between the convention center and library next to City Hall.

City Councilwoman Amanda Cyphers said the plaza would also make the amphitheater next to City Hall more visible to the public. The view of the amphitheater from Water Street had been obstructed by walls in the past. In the preliminary drawings, the open plaza would stretch from the amphitheater to Water Street.

"It's important to bring more public opportunities to downtown -- more opportunities for the public to gather," Cyphers said.

Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson, who also chairs the LVCVA board, has been a big supporter of what he said would be called the Plaza at City Hall.

Gibson was out of town Sunday and couldn't be reached for comment. But in a previous interview, Gibson said the plaza would be a park-like public gathering place that would also serve as another entryway into City Hall, which just opened a $41.8 million expansion in December.

Gibson said any fountains on the plaza would be small due to the drought. City officials described the water features in the preliminary drawings as "dancing water," which are fountains that are flush with the ground so people could walk through them if they wanted to.

Cyphers said without the LVCVA grant the city would still work to build the plaza, although it would take some time to find a new source of money for the project.

Clark County Commissioner Mary Kincaid-Chauncey, who is also on the LVCVA board, said she doesn't yet know how she will vote on the grant request.

Kincaid-Chauncey said typically the board supports projects that are focused on drawing tourists to an area. The proposed Henderson plaza "sounds more like redevelopment," she said.

"I imagine there will be a long discussion about this," Kincaid-Chauncey said.