Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Henderson project irks neighbors down below

When Hong Kong tycoon and worldwide developer Henry Cheng bought hillside property in Henderson 15 years ago, he envisioned building homes offering spectacular views of the Las Vegas Valley.

Some Henderson residents, however, see nothing at all attractive about the $250 million project under way, which they argue has scarred Henderson's hillsides and permanently detracted from the city's natural beauty.

The terraces that have been cut into the hillsides for the 472-home Crystal Ridge subdivision "look worse than anybody envisioned," said Maureen Progar, a member of a Henderson hillside preservation group.

Her shorthand description of the project: "Ugly progress."

Cheng's representatives and city officials, however, counsel patience, arguing that any development always looks worst during construction.

"What you see now is a work in progress," project spokeswoman Liz Trosper said. "It is not how it is going to look in a year. It's a temporary thing. If you have a problem with the final project, then get back to us. But they don't have to worry. It will be gorgeous."

When the gated community is completed, Crystal Ridge - with a highest point towering 150 feet above the Stratosphere - will boast some of the region's most expensive and beautiful views of the Strip.

"I think this is going to be one of the premier developments in the whole state of Nevada," Henderson Councilman Andy Hafen said. "It is going to be stunning."

But the fact that those fortunate enough to afford custom lots that could fetch seven figures will enjoy impressive vistas does nothing to assuage those who will be living below the glitzy subdivision.

Beyond grumbling over how the project has altered the hillsides, some also are troubled by lingering questions over how the development won city approval in the first place - notably, how it secured a June 2004 waiver from a hillside ordinance that otherwise would have limited its number of homes and acreage.

Although a number of current and former Henderson officials are involved with the project - and although there are other ties among Cheng's firm and those who made key decisions regarding the project - city leaders maintain no preferential treatment was given.

Among some critics, that assertion draws arched eyebrows.

When developers went before the City Council in 2004 to seek the waiver, Cheng's firm, W.L. Nevada, was represented by former Henderson City Manager Bob Campbell.

Cheng's development company for the project donated $10,000 to the political campaigns of both Councilman Jack Clark and Mayor Jim Gibson months after the approval. Campbell, city manager from 1977 to 1981, also has contributed thousands of dollars to council members in recent years.

So has Sanders Construction, the contractor hired to do the blasting in Crystal Ridge. Although Hafen's son-in-law worked as a Sanders foreman at the time the council granted the waiver, Hafen said he did not believe that posed a conflict of interest and voted for the project. During the council's discussion, Hafen said he believed the project would "enhance the beauty of that mountain."

Former Henderson Construction Manager John Simmons, husband of City Clerk Monica Simmons, has worked as a consultant for the project. And Dan Sanders, owner of Sanders Construction, is a former member of the Henderson Planning Commission.

"I think there is an odor attached to this project," said Henderson resident and developer Rich MacDonald, who faces competition from Crystal Ridge. "They got a waiver when I didn't think you could get a waiver."

City officials dismiss MacDonald's criticism as sour grapes.

Clark pointed out that Campbell served as city manager long before he was elected in 1993, adding that he did not even know him.

"This was all done in the light of day in public hearings," Clark said. "There was nothing backhanded or under the table. No special treatment was given, and that's evidenced by the conditions we placed on the developer."

Councilwoman Amanda Cyphers noted that today's political climate in the Las Vegas Valley leaves some people suspicious of elected officials' motives.

But Cyphers added: "You have to remember that people own this property and they have a right to develop it. You can't stop them."

Much of the criticism focuses on the development's current appearance.

As lots for the 472 homes on 632 acres have been carved out, the grading, blasting and retaining walls have left the hillsides looking, at least for now, like an Aztec temple with a quarry.

For some residents, that unattractive appearance is another slap in the face, one that exacerbates the nerve-rattling months of frustration they have endured as construction blasting prepared sites for Crystal Ridge and neighboring developments.

Two years ago, hundreds signed a petition opposing the project. Although some residents of neighboring communities now are on the list of more than 500 people hoping to buy a lot when they are ready next year, for others, nothing they have seen since has diminished their aesthetic objections.

"The beauty of Henderson is its mountains," Roma Hills resident Joe Kirk said. "They ripped up the mountains and destroyed the view not only of Henderson, but the entire valley."

"It's ruining the hillside," Sun City MacDonald Ranch resident Honey Searcy added. "This just looks gross. It may look fine five years from now, but all of us living here (in Sun City MacDonald Ranch) are over 55, and that may not be an option."

Henderson officials and the developer expect those complaints to largely disappear when the project is completed.

Stains are being applied to rock retaining walls with a stair-stepped appearance as a way to match the hillside's darker color, and millions of dollars will be spent on trees, bushes and other vegetation.

"We are going to have a beautiful development with expensive homes," Councilman Steve Kirk said. "The fact that it is a mess now will essentially be forgotten."

One source of the complaints, officials said, is that real estate agents mistakenly told residents of nearby subdivisions below Crystal Ridge that it was federal land and would never be developed. Clark believes the griping also reflects homeowners not wanting anyone to live above them.

The project's history began more than a decade ago.

The City Council approved the site's residential zoning in October 1995, but did not set a firm limit on the potential number of homes.

A concept plan approved at the time called for 745 homes on 262 acres. In adopting that nonbinding plan, the council sought to inform residents of nearby subdivisions about potential future development, said Tracy Foutz, Henderson's assistant community development director.

The city in 1997 adopted an ordinance that essentially limited what could be built on Henderson's hillsides. The council made minor changes to the hillside ordinance in April 2004, only weeks before approving Cheng's project.

Under the hillside ordinance, the project was entitled to a maximum of 343 homes covering 151 acres. But in June 2004 the council voted unanimously to grant the developer a waiver that allowed Cheng to boost the total number of homes by 129 and to disturb an extra 58 acres.

Officials also waived a requirement that homes be built no closer than 100 feet to a sensitive ridgeline, essentially allowing 65 homes for which about 50 feet of the mountaintop will be removed.

Henderson justified the waivers as being less intrusive to the hillside than what codes allowed, Foutz said. If the developer had abided by the 100-foot setback, he would have had to significantly cut into the hillside and fill a slope over 450 feet high, he said.

Residents contend that option was not feasible anyway. City officials, though, respond that any scenario is possible if a developer is willing to spend enough money.

As a condition of the waivers, Cheng's firm agreed to minimize the disruption to the hillside by concentrating the project's density and focusing some development in areas not visible from below. Much of the hillside's appearance today with its rock retaining walls and construction scarring would be the same even if no waivers were granted, Foutz said.

Henderson had the region's first hillside ordinance, which was modeled after one in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Clark County borrowed from Henderson's ordinance when it adopted its own in 2000, but tried to take it a step further by limiting density and protecting ridgelines even more, County Planning Manager Chuck Pulsipher said.

Las Vegas is in the process of developing a hillside ordinance as growth advances to the west and north, city Planning and Development Director Margo Wheeler said.

Clark, who traveled to Scottsdale to learn about that city's ordinance, said he believes Henderson's measure has protected the hillsides from massive development.

And while he realizes that not everyone agrees, he urges critics to at least put the issue in perspective by examining what has occurred in some neighboring states.

"You are not going to look up there and see a row of houses like you do in California," Clark said.

In any event, Henderson officials - noting that no other development within the current city limits will approach Crystal Ridge's height, 3,100 feet above sea level - do not anticipate facing any similar debates in the future. Much of the hillside property is either owned by the city or, if it is privately owned, reaches much lower elevations.

"This will be the highest development in Henderson by a substantial amount," Foutz said. "I don't think we will have another Crystal Ridge."

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