Redevelopment area could be expanded

Tuesday, July 20, 2004 | 10:54 a.m.

The Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday will consider a resolution to expand the Downtown Redevelopment District to include three large parcels near downtown.

The move would allow projects improving those areas to tap into redevelopment incentives through 2031 and, if necessary, seek the use of eminent domain to take property from the current owners at fair market value.

But Deputy City Manager Steve Houchens said the city has not used eminent domain in years and does not plan to do so in these areas. Eminent domain was been used on to build the Charleston Plaza Shopping Center and the Fremont Street Experience.

The areas to be considered for addition to the redevelopment district include:

Property located between Interstate 15 and the railroad tracks from Charleston Boulevard to Desert Inn Road.

A portion of west Las Vegas generally located south of Washington Avenue, north of Alta Drive, east of Rancho Drive and west of Martin L. King Boulevard, as well as land generally east of Martin L. King, south of Owens Avenue, west of Interstate 15 and north of Bonanza Road.

The north side of Sahara Avenue generally between Maryland Parkway, Sixth Street and East St. Louis Avenue.

"The area alongside I-15 to the south is underutilized industrial land that can be used for mid-rise residential buildings and new commercial," Houchens said of the area dotted with topless nightclubs.

"The west Las Vegas properties include a lot of vacant land -- about 50 percent. Some of the other sites are blighted or are underutilized. Five to 10 years down the road we are likely to see one-to-two-story commercial, light manufacturing and three-to-five-story office buildings in that area."

Houchens said adding the Sahara land makes sense because it abuts Clark County's redevelopment district and can be used for mid-rise residential.

The expansion item is part of a consent agenda, which is a group of items considered routine and generally passed by a single vote.

Houchens said the expansion resolution is "just the start of the process" and that there would be subsequent meetings for public input on specific uses for the land.