City banking on future of ‘island’

Dan Kulin

Friday, June 25, 2004 | 8:45 a.m.

Putting a price on first impressions may be difficult, but in North Las Vegas they're worth millions.

During the past three-and-a-half years the city of North Las Vegas has spent more than $3.1 million buying and tearing down buildings on and around the so-called Lake Mead island, a multi-block area bordered by two one-way stretches of Lake Mead Boulevard at the end of the off-ramp east of Interstate 15.

And city officials expect to spend millions more on the run-down area in the coming years.

The mayor and other city officials say the area is a critical gateway into North Las Vegas, as it is likely to be the first part of the city that visitors see if they are going downtown or to the government office complex that includes City Hall and the courthouse.

Now the area in and around Lake Mead Boulevard from the highway to Las Vegas Boulevard is a mix of businesses and apartments and is one of the city's poorer neighborhoods.

There's also a lot of vacant property, as the city has demolished all of the buildings on the 25 properties it has purchased since December 2001.

Exactly how the area will eventually be redeveloped isn't known, although Mayor Michael Montandon thinks being next to the highway will make it a prime spot for office buildings.

But all agree that just about any new development would be an improvement.

North Las Vegas Councilman William Robinson, now in his 21st year on the council, said the city will probably spend another $3 million to $5 million buying property on and around the Lake Mead island, which he said is a worthwhile investment because of its location.

"The first impression is a lasting impression," Robinson said. "Now if you get a big-time developer coming in off the freeway coming to City Hall, what they see could give them a type of phobia."

Montandon said the area is a "critical entry point for the city," which is important because it gives many their first impression of the city, and could fill the need for additional office space in the future.

Montandon said the city is in negotiations with property owners and will probably spend about $1 million in the next few months to buy two more properties on the Lake Mead island.

While the city's program of buying properties and demolishing the buildings on the sites has taken some of the blight away from the neighborhood, Robinson and others say the area is far from fixed.

"It looks a little better. It's not the eyesore that it was, but it's not the picture of prosperity either," Robinson said.

Donna Newman, whose family owns Rec World, easily one of the best kept properties in the area, said the area was so bad that turning some properties into vacant lots has been an improvement.

But Newman said sometimes customers call and ask if it's safe to go to their store, where they sell equipment such as lawnmowers and chainsaws, in addition to personal watercraft and motorboats.

"It definitely needs to be cleaned up some more," she said.

City police Sgt. Justin Roberts said the area has some problems with homeless vagrants wandering the area, drinking and urinating in public. But Roberts said the Lake Mead island and immediate area are not particularly dangerous.

"It's a more mature part of town that has been kind of neglected over the years, and it has had its police attention, but it's not for violent crimes," he said.

Overall Newman and others are happy with the city's efforts.

"It will not only help us but everyone else in the area," Newman said.

Carol Jackson, who with her mother owns Mini Market, a small grocery store on the Lake Mead island, said it's about time the city spent some time and money on the mostly-minority neighborhood.

"They fix up the white areas with trees and new roads, they should fix up the poor area, too," Jackson said. "Why not let my taxes go where I live.... Just because we live in a ghetto doesn't mean we don't want nice things."

Jackson, whose family moved into the area in 1967, said she thinks the area's proximity to the highway will lead developers to build fast food restaurants and gas stations on the property.

Robinson said that while he hoped the redevelopment would be further along by now, he says redevelopment is often a slow process.

"Rome wasn't built in a day and that blight wasn't built in a day, and it'll take more than a day to change that," he said.

Montandon said it's too soon to say how long the redevelopment of the area will take, but said it's going as well as he thought it would now.

Kenny Young, acting director of the city Community Development Department, said the city needs to control larger chunks of property before talking with developers about building on the land. The 25 properties already purchased are spread throughout the area, and combined total about five acres. Young said a new development would require a single parcel of about five to eight acres.

For now the city is focused on buying property in the area whenever the opportunity arises, Young said.

The North Las Vegas effort is a fairly typical route to redevelopment. Henderson, too, purchased property around its downtown before seeking redevelopment plans for the properties.

Earlier this month, the Henderson City Council approved a plan to build an office building on one of the downtown properties. Henderson officials also agreed to give the developers the land, plus almost $1.4 million in additional subsidies for the project.

Robinson said North Las Vegas will probably have to offer some subsidies to spur private development in the Lake Mead island area.

But Montandon said he's not a fan of government subsidizing private development and the land should be the limit of the city support.

Montandon also pointed out that so far, the city's spending on the redevelopment effort has bought the city new assets -- the land -- which he said is probably already worth more than the city paid for it. The city pays the appraised value for land.

Like Henderson's property purchases in its redevelopment area, North Las Vegas' spending on and around the Lake Mead island has come from the city's redevelopment fund.

The North Las Vegas downtown redevelopment area, which the Lake Mead island is a small part of, was created in 1990. This means the amount of property tax paid from that area to entities such as the state and school district was frozen at the 1990 level, and the increase in tax collections above the amount collected in 1990 go into the redevelopment fund.

Sharon Powers, president of the North Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, said exactly where the city is getting the money from is not that important. What is important is that the city is investing in an older and highly visible neighborhood, she said.

"Anything they can do to increase the aesthetics of the older areas is a plus," Powers said.

Powers said that although new development "is not going to happen overnight," the city is moving in the right direction.

And if the area is transformed, she said, "it will be a plus for everybody."

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