LOOKING IN ON: SUBURBS

By Mike Trask (contact)

Wednesday, June 27, 2007 | 7:21 a.m.

Boulder City's world - famous Bootleg Canyon mountain bike park is about to give its users a new adrenaline rush.

The City Council recently approved an agreement with Greenheart LLC to build an aerial trail system of zip lines, in which daredevils strapped onto a pulley suspended on a cable will traverse the park's canyons at dizzying speeds.

Under the contract, Greenheart, an internationally known company that has built trails around the world, will maintain and operate the trails for 15 years.

The company will pay Boulder City $130,000 annually and $10 per visitor, of which $5 will be set aside for improvements to the park.

Rates for the adventure, expected to open by fall, have not been set.

Doniell Elmore-Murray has big dreams of operating a child care center in the middle of North Las Vegas.

She understandably wants to make doubly sure it's a safe place for little kids. And to her, a convenience store selling 40-ounce bottles of malt liquor might not be the best thing for the neighborhood.

The North Las Vegas resident has leased a building near Martin Luther King Boulevard and Alexander Road. But since she began taking steps toward building Creative Corner Child Care, plans have emerged that would put a gas station next door.

"There's a liquor store across the street and there's already a gas station at that corner," she said. "I mean, how many liquor stores do we need?"

Elmore-Murray said she picked the property because it was across the street from the existing businesses. She also figured that because nothing was next door to her building, traffic would be limited.

The lesson, as always, is that nothing in the valley tends to stay vacant. Elmore-Murray has resigned herself to dealing with the gas station.

Now it's a race against time to get her center built and licensed before the gas station's convenience store applies for a liquor license. City code prevents the sale of liquor within 400 feet of a child care facility.

Volunteers of America Inc. plans to build a senior housing development on 30 acres of city property in Boulder City.

Although one of the group's previous projects aimed at the other end of the age spectrum - the old Southern Nevada Children's Home - failed, city leaders did not hesitate to join forces with the organization on the new development.

The children's home closed in the late 1990s after it had become a financial disaster for Volunteers of America. The compound had fallen into disrepair amid bickering over responsibility for upkeep between the state, which leased the land from Boulder City, and the group, which had a contract to care for children living at the home.

Although that setback did not deter city officials from proceeding with the new venture, concerns have been raised about the cost of living at the roughly 200 senior homes to be built. Rents will range from $850 to $1,000 and home prices are set at $240,000 to $357,000 - too costly for many seniors.