Task force recommendations help development

Stephen Curran

Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2005 | 9:58 a.m.

Scores of Clark County Growth Task Force recommendations have already begun shaping how development decisions are made throughout Southern Nevada, county officials said Tuesday.

Applying the task force's suggestions so quickly illustrates the county is serious about adopting them, Commission Chairman Rory Reid said.

"We said we wouldn't put this on the shelf with other studies to gather dust, and I think we've lived up to that," he said.

Members of the now-disbanded task force outlined to county commissioners earlier this year hundreds of pages of recommendations for addressing urban design, public transit, affordable housing and pollution concerns stemming from the region's explosive growth.

Among the most noticeable is the county's mixed-use overlay ordinance, which established standards for more pedestrian-friendly development that planners say uses less land and reduces traffic by providing easier access to public transportation, Assistant County Manager Rick Holmes told commissioners.

Since the board approved the ordinance in January, 51 applications for mixed-use zoning have been approved, according to the task force's progress report presented to the commission.

"It really set a new tone and a new direction" for county planners, Holmes said.

Clearly spelling out where mixed-use projects might take shape has also given Regional Transportation Commission planners a better way to estimate where pockets of growth are likely to occur years before public transportation in those regions becomes strained, RTC General Manager Jacob Snow said.

In response to task force recommendations, the RTC has also launched an expansion of its Metropolitan Area Express system along Boulder Highway and is also planning improvements along six additional routes, he said.

"We now know where the density is going to go," Snow said. "We think it's real good community planning."

The group's recommendations have also given way to heated discussions about a proposed regional fixed guideway system that could link Henderson to North Las Vegas by light rail or MAX bus along a 33-mile route, he said.

Those talks, which began in October 2004, have highlighted a number of concerns among some residents near the proposed route, although system proponents have also become vocal in supporting the project, Snow said.

"We're pleased to see that the meetings are more balanced now," he said of the stepped-up presence of project supporters at the fourth round of public meetings.

Members of a committee studying the fixed guideway are expected to present their decision to the RTC board in January, he said.

Meanwhile, citing concerns raised by task force members about the region's water use, commissioners earlier this month voted to suspend construction on new golf courses until experts deem the protracted drought over.

Commissioner Bruce Woodbury initially sought to suspend construction of new golf courses that do not use reclaimed or recycled water. Commissioner Myrna Williams later amended that proposal to ban their construction outright for up to three years.

County planners have estimated that the Las Vegas Valley's 50 golf courses use more than 8 percent of the region's water supply. Of those, 30 use reclaimed, or recycled, water, Southern Nevada Water Authority officials said.

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