LOOKING IN ON: SUBURBS

By Mike Trask (contact)

Monday, July 9, 2007 | 7:11 a.m.

Some North Las Vegas residents are begging to keep the name of a street running through Aliante.

More than 20 people attended a recent Planning Commission meeting to oppose changing the name of Elkhorn Road to Park Highlands. The item, however, was pulled off the agenda, but is to be considered at the panel's next meeting , at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

The potential name change also will be discussed at a community meeting 6 p.m. Monday at Texas Station.

Developers have proposed the change as part of the construction of the master-planned Park Highlands community in North Las Vegas. The new community's first residents are expected to move in next year.

The roughly five-mile stretch of road runs from Decatur Boulevard to Interstate 15.

The residents of the Aliante master-planned community don't want their neighborhood being mixed up with that of the newbies.

"It's just free publicity," said Mark Pallans, a board member of the Sun City Aliante Home-owners Association. "It passes right through Alliante. If they succeed in doing this , the whole community will lose its identity."

The city fire department also opposes the change, citing a possible delay in emergency response times because of confusion over the new street name.

North Las Vegas staffers have suggested renaming only a smaller section of the road that will run through Park Highlands.

The two newest members of Boulder City Council are looking for a way to get the city out of a 50-year lease agreement approved last month that would allow a Hawthorn Suites hotel to be built at the Boulder Creek Golf Course.

The lease, approved 4-0 at Mayor Bob Ferraro's final meeting last month, would pay the city $173,000 annually for the two-acre site, the planned location for a hotel and conference center. Officials hope the hotel draws golfers to the city-owned course, which has been losing money for years.

Councilwoman Linda Strickland has questioned the legality of the lease, claiming such an agreement requires two appraisals of the land. Only one was conducted.

Strickland and Councilman Travis Chandler favor rescinding the deal, a move that would require four of the five council members to agree. The three veteran members voted in favor of the lease.

Chandler also has called for putting the lease to a public vote. Boulder City requires the sale of city land to approved by voters, but lease s do not require such action.

Henderson annexed 5 additional acres near the southeast corner of St. Rose Parkway and Las Vegas Boulevard during its Tuesday meeting.

The property owners had petitioned the city for annexation.

The city already has annexed most of the property in the area. In November it took control of about 5 square miles east of Interstate 15 and south of St. Rose. Henderson controls the majority of services in the area.

During the next few years the Las Vegas Boulevard and St. Rose Parkway intersection promises to be the site of billions of dollars in development, including two casinos.

North Las Vegas held a public hearing Thursday on planned improvements to Lamb Boulevard from Interstate 15 to the Las Vegas Beltway.

At the meeting, residents had the chance to be heard about proposed assessments in the area.

The city has created a special improvement district to help fund about $12 million of the project, which is expected to cost more than $44 million. The Regional Transportation Commission will fund about $22 million of the project, with the remainder to come from the Clark County Regional Flood Control District and the city.