Master plan update completed

Thursday, Nov. 18, 2004 | 9:15 a.m.

After more than a year of work and 15 public meetings, the Clark County Commission on Wednesday adopted the sweeping update to its land-use plan for 33 square miles of the township of Spring Valley, where rapid development has often sparked contentious battles pitting residents against builders.

The changes to the land-use plan in the unincorporated southwest Las Vegas area were the first under new rules designed to make it more difficult, but not impossible, to get final zoning that does not conform to the plan. The rules, adopted in 2003, came after residents were stung by a number of such "nonconforming" zone changes that became a political hot topic for commissioners and commission candidates.

One of the standout issues was the county commission's approval in January 2000 of a "neighborhood" casino opposed by hundreds of Spring Valley residents. Then-commissioner Lance Malone's vote to support the zoning request for the casino, in opposition to state law and county planning staff recommendations, was an issue in his failed bid for re-election the same year.

Under the county's new rules, the land-use plans, referred to as master plans, must be updated at least every five years. Some of the 11 plans that cover the county are as much as a decade old, representing land use decisions made when the county had a little more than half the population it has now.

"Zoning issues are some of the most contentious for the commission to deal with," said Commission Chairman Chip Maxfield, who trumpeted the rule changes in his re-election campaign this year but was still stung by complaints from both residents and developers for his land-use decisions.

"We need to bring more predictability to the process. This ordinance has given us better guidance to help decide whether a zoning proposal is right for that specific community."

The plan adopted Wednesday, and other plans under the new rules, still allow property owners, developers, commissioners or others with an interest in the master plan to correct "errors or omissions" within 90 days. Commissioners also can initiate a single plan amendment each year that the master plan is in effect.

Nonconforming zoning requests cannot be considered for master plans that are less than two years old unless a commissioner who represents the area submits a request, and any applicant by rule is supposed to provide "compelling justification" for changing the plan.

Other rule provisions require that a two-thirds majority of commissioners approve nonconforming zone changes, and board hearings for nonconforming requests come up just four times a year.

Some residents, however, identified what they feel is a weakness in the yearlong process to update the master plan. Jim Shibler, chairman of the Spring Valley Town Advisory Board, which recommends land use decisions to the county commission, noted that a raft of about a dozen zoning requests and plan amendments came before the county commission as the plan was being adopted.

The Clark County Planning Commission, which also provides land use advise to the county and signs off on the master plan updates, saw 17 such amendments in its Oct. 19 meeting.

Shibler said some of those seeking changes to the master plan did not come to town board meetings or a series of open public meetings at which county planning staff sought input. He called the requests "a back door" in the process.

"I understand that everything can be changed at the last minute," but "the process can be circumvented," Shibler told the county commission. "It denies the town board, it denies the people who have shown up the opportunity for input."

Commissioner Rory Reid, who backed the rules changes when he took office in January 2003, agreed with some of the concerns as he knocked down a request for commercial approval contrary to the town board and county planning staff's recommendations.

"I think we need to respect the process and not allow a mockery to be made of it," Reid said.

Discussion of the master plan and the various updates took the board three hours. One plan amendment adopted by the planning commission sparked concern from Shibler, community activists and about 50 people from the planned community of Siena in Spring Valley.

Despite a plea from Bill Curran, representing Pacific Southwest Development, the county commission with a 6-0 vote stripped the commercial-tourist land-use designation approved by the planning commission that would have allowed a 100-foot tower or other uses at the site at Flamingo Road and Hualapai Way.

Grace Likeness, representing the Siena homeowners association, told the board that such a tower would not be appropriate next to single-story homes. She said following the vote that she was happy with the board's decision, although she knows that the issue is likely to resurface.

The county commission asked the planning staff to look at the development issues in the community carefully, and the developer could bring the proposal back. But Likeness said the advantage is now for the Siena neighbors since the developer would have to hold community meetings and take the issue back to the town board, the planning commission and ultimately to the county commission again for approval.

Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald, who represents much of Spring Valley, said the decision shows that the process established last year can work, and that the board needs flexibility to consider last minute requests.

"The reality is that it is never a final plan until it comes before the board of county commissioners," she said. "As you work through the process, there are scenarios that may not have been anticipated.

"We did a good job today in striking a balance for some of those issues that came up for the first time at the board meeting; there were some legitimate issues that no one anticipated."

In one case, representatives of the Howard Hughes Corp., developers of Summerlin, asked that the residential land-use designation for a 320-acre plot at Sunset Road and the Hualapai Way alignment be set aside so that the company could incorporate the area into Summerlin's planned community.

The County Commission did not immediately accept the company's argument, instead adopting the land-use designation as proposed, but asked staff to take a harder look at the appropriate land use for the area and come back to the commission on Dec. 8 with a recommendation, well within the 90-day period allowing for changes to the master plan.

Boggs McDonald said the issue came up within the last week and deserves a more thorough analysis.

"I was glad we had some dialogue today," she said following the meeting. "Otherwise there could have been some problems down the road."

The end product is one that residents should have some confidence in, she said.

"We really and truly did lock in a master plan so that the citizens and all the stakeholders involved have a degree of predictability that they did not have before," Boggs McDonald said.

Carolyn Edwards, a neighborhood activist whose opposition to land use decisions by the county commission prior to 2003 helped spark the rule changes, also argued against allowing late changes to the plan. But at the end of the three-hour meeting on the Spring Valley master plan, she endorsed the process.

"This was a long, arduous process," Edwards said, complimenting Clark County planning staff, the town board, citizens involved in the master plan update and the county commission. "Everyone should be applauded for all of their hard work and the outcome."

County planner Gene Pasinsky agreed that the process worked. He said the amendments introduced in the last two months affected only about 3 percent of the plan's 33-square-mile footprint.

"We have a good plan," said Pasinsky, who guided the plan's development in the past year. "This works because we had a lot of up-front participation from the community, from citizens in Spring Valley and developers, from everybody affected by the plan. The process ended up working well."

The county township of Enterprise, an area in the southwest Las Vegas Valley, adjacent to Spring Valley, that includes large rural areas as well as rapidly developing new subdivisions, is next to come up before the County Commission. The commission is scheduled to conduct a public hearing and could adopt the Enterprise plan Dec. 8.

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