Council to decide issue of location of schools

Tuesday, May 31, 2005 | 8:15 a.m.

The North Las Vegas City Council will decide Wednesday whether it will have the final say on where to locate schools in the community.

The power to approve use permits for schools in North Las Vegas has rested with the appointed North Las Vegas Planning Commission. Today, the council doesn't have a vote on the use permit unless the case is appealed to the elected body.

On April 27, the Planning Commission voted 6-0 against giving up its authority by rejecting an ordinance proposed by the council itself. The ordinance called on the commission to make a recommendation only to the council.

The location of schools in North Las Vegas has come under criticism in the past from residents.

In October, the Planning Commission approved controversial Carroll M. Johnston Middle School at the southwest corner of Tropical Parkway and Lawrence Street, only to have a resident, Scott Sauer, appeal the case to the City Council, which overturned the decision by a 4-1 vote. Residents were concerned about parking, traffic and layout of the buildings and athletic fields in relation to their homes.

The commission approved a revised school plan in February, but the case never made it back to the council.

Councilman William Robinson said the commission does a super job, but the council should decide use permits for schools. A public hearing would also be held before the council vote.

"Something may already be approved by the Planning Commission and residents calls us, and if we aren't following their agenda, we don't know anything about it," Robinson said. "We are the ones who take the heat. The buck stops with us. We need to be the ones who make the final choice."

Robinson said there have been some questionable decisions in the 22 years he has served on the council on where schools have been sought by the Clark County School District and ultimately approved by the city.

Robinson questioned the construction of Martinez Elementary School adjacent to Interstate 15 without having a wall in place to protect children on the playground in case a car lost control on the freeway. A wall was ultimately installed with the help of the Nevada Department of Transportation, he said.

"I think the School District should coordinate their efforts with the city so we can appropriate pick a location," Robinson said. "It's like they come in and get a site and shove it down the city's throat, saying this is our site. This is where we want it."

But Robinson also said the blame falls on the city for not doing a good enough job of coordinating efforts.

Dusty Dickens, the School District's director of zoning, demographics and real property, said she has no problem with the council having the final word on school use permits. But she said she's "a little confused" over any criticism of the district since it works closely with city staff and follows land use planning. She said schools need to go where the demand is and often times there are few parcels large enough to meet the needs such as was the case with Martinez Elementary School.

North Las Vegas has created challenges for the district because it has taken land marked on its master plan as industrial, only to change it to residential use and prompt the need for schools where none had been expected, Dickens said.

"We don't create the demand," Dickens said. "We do try to secure property if the demand is established."

The district planned to build a new middle school to replace Bridger Middle School, only to have the city in May 2002 reject the site as being too close to Mahoney's Silver Nugget. Enrollment at Bridger, where a magnet school was planned, is being reduced, Dickens said. The land will be sold, she said.

The siting of schools in North Las Vegas hasn't gone unnoticed in the mayoral race. Candidate Andres Ramirez, who is facing incumbent Mike Montandon, said the council should have the last word on siting schools. He mentioned Martinez Elementary School as one example of where a school shouldn't have been located.

Ramirez also criticized the district for its location of Canyon Springs High School in an area intended for industrial use. He said students are breathing in pollution from nearby warehouses.

Robinson also questioned that siting for the high school because of traffic in the area. The school opened in August 2004 at 350 E. Alexander Road.

Dickens said Canyon Springs High School only has industrial uses east of the site. The remainder is residential.

High schools are difficult to site because they require 40 acres, and high school students are mature enough to cope with extra traffic in commercial areas. Even when you want a residential area for a school, homeowners complain they don't want it next to them, Dickens said.

The city's consideration of stripping the Planning Commission of its authority has upset those members at their April hearing on the matter.

Commissioner Dean Leavitt said at the time that he felt offended because he was appointed by elected officials to do a job and that the authority was being taken away. He said it was wrong that applicants and residents would have to go before the commission and then the council.

Sauer said Friday that knowing the council was involved in the decision-making on the Johnston Middle School project would have required the district to sit down with residents and iron out problems in between the commission and council meetings. That would have saved everyone time and money, he said.

In many cities across the country, planning commissions serve primarily as a recommending body to the city council. And in some cities, it would take a super majority vote by the council to overturn a planning commission decision.