Cost of living, urban villages discussed

Stephen Curran

Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2005 | 9:39 a.m.

The struggle for affordable housing remains one of the toughest challenges facing middle-income Las Vegans, the Clark County Growth Task Force agreed at its meeting Tuesday.

Less certain was how the 17-member board planned to quell the rapidly rising cost of living in Southern Nevada, prompting the task force to postpone formalizing a strategy to battle what many have called runaway housing costs that have increased, the task force said, an average of 30 to 40 percent in the past year.

The more than hourlong discussion at the Winchester Community Center came on the heels Gov. Kenny Guinn's push in Monday's State of the State address for more affordable housing through a little-used provision in the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act that allows the Bureau of Land Managment to sell homes but keep the land on which they sit in a trust.

Meanwhile one plan discussed by the task force, the much-discussed "urban village" proposal, called for what could be a dramatic reshaping of the state's most populous county, providing affordable housing for a workforce whose wages have increased, on average, 3 to 5 percent in the past year.

Such zoning would allow medium- to high-rise housing, which sits atop commercial development, and is designed to decrease commute times by locating centers of employment near peoples' homes.

Hal Rothman, a UNLV history professor and task-force member, touted the plan as a way to create new neighborhood "hubs" that could create an urban atmosphere in a metropolitan area many say lacks a true downtown. But he cautioned about proceeding without what he said was an adequate public transit infrastructure in place.

"Going forward in absense of mass transit comes at a great cost," he said. "It's the thing that makes it all work."

However, expectations of long-term benefits from mixed-use development were mixed, Jeremy Aguero, principal analyst for Applied Analysis, the private firm conducting the studies for the county, said.

While experts have long held the communities would likely decrease public costs stemming from roads and public safety, Aguero cautioned that decreased property tax revenue and governmental services taxes from the smaller units could bring with it higher taxes in other areas.

The Sierra Club has long championed such development, saying higher density housing married with higher-quality public transportation could stem what many environmentalists have criticized as uncontrolled sprawl.

But such plans will likely be an uphill battle in Southern Nevada, where residents strongly prefer single-family homes and are reluctant to accept higher-density housing, Jane Feldman, conservation coordinator for the club's local chapter and task-force member, said.

"People hate two things: sprawl and density," she said of the residents' often-conflicting preferences.

The growth task force is slated to continue its discussion on urban design strategies Feb. 8 from noon to 5 p.m. at the Winchester Community Center.