NLV sacrifices parking for more people

By Mike Trask

Monday, June 11, 2007 | 7:02 a.m.

Today North Las Vegas' North Fifth Street, lined by modest retail and industrial buildings, is no one's idea of a bustling thoroughfare.

If it is ever to become one, city officials believe, some things have to change, starting with the rules governing how residential complexes are built and how land is used.

The City Council, hoping to bring the reality of North Fifth Street closer to the city's visions for it, last week showed its willingness to do things differently to speed that transformation.

In the name of promoting the kind of high-density development seen as key to the area's resurgence, the council agreed to sacrifice parking spots on four housing projects planned near North Fifth to wedge in more apartments and condominiums - and, most significantly, more people.

Along with a 135-acre mixed-use center under construction, the housing, which would add more than 1,300 homes, could be the building blocks that lift the area.

"Density brings commerce and it brings quality of life," Mayor Mike Montandon said. "We can't go to the RTC ( Regional Transportation Commission) and ask for $300 million for the North Fifth Street corridor without the density."

At Tuesday's meeting, the City Council voted 3-2 to grant waivers for 292 parking spots at four planned housing complexes.

The city typically requires about two spaces per residential unit, a figure many consider slightly high when measured against use. Being required to build parking spaces that rarely get used, developers say, wastes asphalt and space.

The waivers, creating an 11 percent reduction in overall parking spaces at the complexes from 2,612 to 2,320, will bring the total number of parking spots to about 1.7 per unit in the North Fifth neighborhood.

Council members Stephanie Smith and Robert Eliason voted against the waivers.

Residents mentioned possible safety concerns, including whether emergency vehicles would be able to drive through cramped parking lots. And police officials expressed concern that insufficient parking spaces could force residents to park on the street, making them more likely targets of break-ins and other petty crimes.

Last September the council unanimously adopted an ordinance allowing the council to grant parking waivers for new developments as a way of luring high-density developments to North Las Vegas. Last week's vote marked the first waiver granted by the council.

During the council's debate, Councilwoman Shari Buck said she thought it would be unfair to not grant the waivers after lengthy negotiations with developers over the past year.

"We need to follow through with our word," she said.

Residents took issue with that statement.

"It says you can ask for less parking places," Bob Borgersen said of last fall's ordinance. "But nowhere does it say you have to grant them."

The City Council's decision came after attorney Bob Gronauer, representing three developers, lectured the council for nearly 20 minutes on why the parking waivers were needed.

"These guys are not going to sink millions into North Las Vegas and worry about being a few parking spots short," Gronauer said.

Camden Development plans a pair of 214-unit complexes near North Fifth and Deer Springs Way. Trammell Crow plans a 519-unit apartment complex at North Fifth and Rome Boulevard, and Blue Heron Properties wants to build 379 condominiums at Rome Boulevard and Goldfield Street.

Developers " spent a lot of time, a lot of money (and put) a lot of effort into the vision of high density," he said.

For now, that vision includes fewer off-street parking spaces. But if that brings more residents in less space, the vision is an agreeable one at City Hall.