Middle school plan runs into problem with site

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2005 | 9:02 a.m.

The Clark County School District's plan for a new middle school has been rejected by the North Las Vegas City Council, sending the architects back to the drawing board.

The district's proposal for a school site on the southwest corner of Tropical Parkway and Lawrence Avenue had been approved by the city's planning commission. But after a handful of neighbors questioned the traffic impact of the layout, the City Council voted last month to reverse earlier approval given by the Planning Commission to the Clark County School District's proposed school site.

The school was slated to open for the 2006-07 academic year but that date is now in jeopardy, said Dusty Dickens, director of zoning, demographics and real property for the district.

Scott Sauer said he knew the district was planning to build a school at the location when he bought his nearby home more than a year ago.

"I figured the district would put the entrance at the north end (of the property)," said Sauer, who filed the formal appeal of the planning commission's approval of the project. "I never had any intention of getting them booted off the site 100 percent. I just wanted them to come up with a more valid design."

The City Council approved the school site plan with the layout flipped, putting the main entrance and bus lanes on Tropical Parkway instead of El Campo Grande Avenue, said Councilwoman Shari Buck, who represents the neighborhood surrounding the site.

"If they (the district) don't flip the design they can't build the school," Buck said. "If they want to build something other than what we approved, they'll have to start the entire planning process over again."

Councilwoman Stephanie Smith said she was sympathetic to the district's concerns but had to consider the interests of her constituents.

"The residents were there first," Smith said. "People bought homes under the impression that the site would remain residential. It's not fair to discount the impact on them when the picture changes later on."

Dickens said her office will consider the neighbors' requests, but a complete redesign isn't realistic.

"To start all over would delay the opening by a year or more, and we cannot afford that," Dickens said. "Classroom seats are already at a premium, and existing schools are going to need relief."

The proposed middle school is one of 13 new campuses slated to open in August 2006, seven of which were accelerated by a year to handle growing student enrollment.

Clark County is currently the nation's fifth largest school district, with more than 280,000 students and 301 campuses.

The district intends to incorporate Sauer's suggestion into the design and move the school bus lanes from El Campo Grande to Tropical, Dickens said.

But the instruction from council members to "flip" the design would interfere with plans for a ballfield on the north side of the property facing Tropical, Dickens said. The district sited the ballfield away from the existing homes on El Campo Grande because the city of North Las Vegas has expressed interest in providing lights for evening games, Dickens said.

"We're doing everything we can to minimize potential disturbances after school hours," Dickens said.

North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon, who voted against approving the reversed design, said it wasn't a reasonable demand to make of the district.

"Flipping a site design is a lot more complicated than just turning the blueprints upside down," said Montandon, who works in construction management.

Montandon said he was hopeful the district would be able to find some middle ground with residents and come back to the City Council for approval.

"I would prefer to see the community served by a new middle school rather than the district pulling out all together because a compromise can't be reached," Montandon said.