County sets design standards for CMA

Thursday, March 4, 2004 | 8:55 a.m.

Clark County established new rules Wednesday governing the way properties will look in the huge, 9,300-acre Cooperative Management Area lying beneath McCarran International Airport's flight paths.

The rules require landscaping and set architectural and sign design standards in and around the properties in the area, which is planned for commercial and industrial purposes. The standards established Wednesday are the product of an eight-month collaborative effort that included major developers, community activists and county planners.

Much of the area runs alongside the Las Vegas Beltway, and Clark County Commissioner Mark James said it was important to set the standards for the area now before development overtakes those areas along the highway.

"Otherwise we're going to end up with a hodgepodge and it's going to be ugly," James said. "It's important while we have that blank slate to do it right."

James' district includes much of the cooperative management area.

"The CMA area is massive," he said. "It extends from the airport to the base of the mountains."

His colleagues joined him in passing the standards 7-0. While the rules passed, they did not come without argument. Representatives from several sign companies objected to a requirement that signs can only be as high as 28 feet within the area.

David Jones, vice president of Young Electric Sign Co., said many signs at that height would be lost to motorists on the beltway.

James asked what would be an appropriate height. Jones responded that 50 feet is the standard for "monument" signs on the premises of businesses elsewhere in the county, but he could not provide a firm number for the commission.

"In all fairness, for us to pick a number out of the air is not appropriate," he said, because conditions could be different at different places within the area.

Tina Jarchow, a manager with Vision Sign Inc. in Las Vegas, said the other members of the committees that worked on the design standards would not compromise on the sign height issue.

"We were not allowed to discuss it at all in the four meetings we attended," Jarchow said. She also said that the rules include a ban on electronic message signs.

James said he applauded that prohibition.

"I think that is just what we're trying to get away from," he said.

And county planners and community activists who worked on the new rules said the complaints were off-target because the commission can still grant waivers to the new rules.

Also, the 28-foot rule takes into account grade differences alongside the beltway, so if a property is below the level of the roadway the sign can be higher, community activist Carolyn Edwards said.

"The visibility should not be an issue at all," she said.

The Cooperative Management Area was established in 1992 between Clark County and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management with the goal of limiting residential development in land over which aircraft routinely fly. The federal Clark County Public Lands Management Act of 1998 requires sales of land within the area to go to purposes compatible with aircraft operations.

Although few residents live within the area, neighborhood activists said it is still important to protect its appearance.

"Even though people don't live there, they drive by there," activist Lisa DeMayo-Riso said. "It's part of our community."