Wednesday, May 25, 2005 | 11:02 a.m.
The Henderson City Council on Tuesday approved a 1,900-acre master-planned community west of Sun City Anthem that will mark the region's entry into development reminiscent pre-World War II communities.
Despite some last minute objections from a handful of Sun City Anthem residents, the council signed off on a development agreement and approved rezoning for the 1,953-acre project proposed by Focus Property Group, the master developer for a partnership of home builders called South Edge LLC.
Focus will construct as many as 11,500 dwellings as part of the new urbanism concept of close-knit, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods interconnected with narrow streets and village squares.
"This is so new, so different and so exciting that all the of the eyes of Southern Nevada planners will be on us and so will others in the rest of the country," Mayor Jim Gibson said.
When completed, it will be the second largest new urbanism project in the country behind 4,700 acres in Denver, according to John Ritter, the chief executive officer of Focus Property Group. Construction on the first model is expected to start by early 2006 and homes will be ready by fall 2006, Ritter said.
"What we are doing is going back to the way communities were prior to World War II and should be," said Councilman Jack Clark, who toured new urbanism projects in Colorado and Maryland. "You can have a CEO living next to a waitress. This way, we all get to spend time together and know your neighbor. That is the most fascinating part to me."
The unnamed project, which excludes gated communities and has few walls in favor of open trails and bike paths, calls for smaller and denser neighborhoods around parks and village squares. There will be recreational facilities such as pools, retail uses and elementary schools within walking distance of homes.
The development, which is south of Henderson Executive Airport, will be defined by seven villages of 200 to 250 acres with each village containing at least four pods or mini-neighborhoods ranging in size from 20 to 60 acres. Each village will be allowed a maximum of 1,268 to 2,258 dwellings for a total of 8,500 units.
Housing will be diverse in sizes, prices and architecture, including allowing 1,285 carriage homes above detached or semi-detached garages. There will be estate homes on larger lots, mansion homes that combine up to six residences within one structure, village homes with alley-loaded garages, garden homes that face each other across a courtyard and live/work units in which there are office and retail uses on the first floor and living spaces on the second floor.
Tuesday's agreement sets a nine-month timetable for the city to conclude another deal with the developer over a proposed Town Center, which is at the core of the master plan. The 300-acre section includes retail, possible high-rise office, and civic uses in addition to allowing as many as 3,000 dwellings, including mid-rise, condos, apartments and town homes.
The development with 322 acres for recreational use will feature three community parks with athletic fields and 10 neighborhood parks. There will also be a extensive system of trails and desert open space.
Clark said the new urbanism concept, expected to set a trend in the Las Vegas area, will take people out of their cars and help eliminate the long drive home from work and driving out of the way for a grocery store or day care center.
"It gives us something we have never seen in Southern Nevada before, especially on this large of a scale," Clark said. "It will provide us a chance to see how we can live, work and play in the same area."
Not everyone, however, is a fan of the new development. A handful of residents of Sun City Anthem, where homeowners are 55 and older, called for changes in the project. Despite proposed buffers, Barbara Dane said she and other neighbors are upset a park will be built close to their homes.
"There is no reason to have seniors next to playgrounds," Dane said. "We have nothing against children, but it needs to be further away so we are not impaired by noise."
Dane and other residents also said they were upset a wash next to their homes will have its natural appearance destroyed when it is filled with concrete to enhance drainage.
The Sun City Anthem Homeowners Association, however, has given its blessing to the project.
Exact home sizes and costs haven't been finalized. They could be 1,000 square feet for studios or one-bedroom condos to 5,000 to 6,000 square feet for estate homes, Ritter said.
"For how much they spent on the land, who knows how much the homes will cost," said Bristol Ellington, Henderson's assistant director of community development.
In June, Focus and seven home builders bought 1,940 acres of the site in a federal auction for $557 million, $287,113 an acre, double the appraised value. In 2003, the land failed to sell at auction when the city had required builders to offer a percentage of homes at affordable prices.
The developer is responsible for constructing parks, trails, open space and recreational amenities. It will also build a fire station and provide space for temporary community policing center until a police station is constructed on donated land. The developer will donate land for the construction of four elementary and one middle school and major streets leading to and from the development.
The 1,900 acres is be divided among the home builders, of which KB Home has the biggest percentage at 48.4 percent. Focus has 15.5 percent, followed by Toll Brothers, 10.5 percent, Pardee Homes, 9.9 percent, Woodside, 8.1 percent, Kimball Hill Homes, 6.8 percent, Meritage Homes, 3.5 percent, and Beazer Homes, 2.5 percent.
City officials said they would like the 3,600 acres of federal land nearby that Henderson plans to annex to be compatible with the development.
The council had to approve the rezoning and development agreement twice Tuesday night. It started its regular meeting at 6 p.m. and was completed by 7 p.m. But the council conducted the meeting again because notices sent out to residents on the public hearing said the meeting started at 7 p.m.
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