Harmon-Valley View ‘concept plan’ delayed by county

Wednesday, May 5, 2004 | 10:15 a.m.

The Clark County Commission on Tuesday delayed until later this summer selecting a "concept plan" for a new intersection at Harmon Avenue and Valley View Boulevard.

Clark County Public Works presented the commission with five concepts for making Harmon and Valley View through-roads, but commissioners cited concerns by nearby businesses in the commercial area and asked the department to go back and meet with those business owners. The upcoming meetings will focus on the trio of proposals among the five that commissioners said showed the most promise.

Public Works is looking at least three years down the line for the construction work at the intersection, which will serve as a major east-west arterial on Harmon and north-south on Valley View. The department is already extending Harmon from the industrial area near the planned intersection across Las Vegas Boulevard and the Strip.

The Harmon and Valley View concepts would affect businesses near the intersection, an area where road design is complicated because of the proximity to a Union Pacific railroad line. The plan backed by the department would affect about a dozen businesses, engineering consultant Scott Plummer said.

Several business owners told the commission that their businesses could be hurt by the work, but that they would go along with the plan. Representatives for KGA Architecture, a company based near the intersection on Polaris Avenue, said their company would not be able to operate.

"I would feel more comfortable if you could meet with those businesses that will have the heavy negative impact," Commissioner Myrna Williams said to Public Works staff.

Commissioner Mary Kincaid-Chauncey agreed.

"When developers come in to build a residential project, we require them to sit with the neighborhoods in an area and try to work things out," she said. "Maybe we need to do a little meeting with the neighbors like that. There's got to be a way to do these things without putting businesses out of business."

Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald said one of her concerns with selecting a concept is that the costs were not specified. Of particular concern to Boggs McDonald and other commissioners was that Public Works did not have a breakdown of the costs for acquisition of the right-of-way from property owners in the commercial area.

"In order to make a sound decision on this proposal, one alternative or another, I need to know what the true acquisition costs are," she said.

The commission told Public Works to meet with the businesses and property owners in the area and return with a report in 90 days.

Commissioner Bruce Woodbury warned that might not solve all the problems.

"We need to anticipate that you're not going to come up with a solution that everyone thinks is perfect," he said.