Rezoning draws ire of neighbors

By Jenny Davis

Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008 | 1:38 p.m.

The fear of the unknown drew residents to a Las Vegas City Council meeting Aug. 20, where the council voted to rezone 131 acres for future public facilities near Ann Road and the Las Vegas Beltway. It's unknown what type of public facility will be established there.

"I need to know what the site plan is going to be," Nita Burrows said before the council made the decision. Burrows and other nearby residents who attended the meeting expressed concerns that the city will plan for something that will hurt the neighborhood's quality of life by raising traffic congestion and noise.

"I've seen things and it scares me," Burrows said. "Without a site plan, without the residents knowing what's going to happen is frightening."

Mary Ann Harouff echoed Clark's ideas when she spoke to the council, saying, "Please don't rezone this until you have actual plans and you know what you want to put there, so we can all have a voice."

But the council unanimously voted to approve rezoning the land to public facilities from planned community development. Councilman Steve Ross, who represents Ward 6, said that although the Northwest area has slowed recently in growth, the wise thing to do is rezone the land to prepare for the future growth of the area while it is still available to the city.

In the future, the Bureau of Land Management, which owns the land, may not make the site available to the city for free, as it may eventually sell it to a different developer or entity.

The city has conducted several neighborhood meetings since the beginning of the year, including one at the Sante Fe hotel-casino in January that drew about 400 people, while only about seven residents attended the Aug. 20 City Council meeting.

Ross said he has been informed that most of the residents are not as concerned as those who attended the meeting. That remark drew some disapproval from the crowd.

Marvin Rogge, who also lives nearby, said the neighborhood already puts up with a lot having the Lone Mountain Community Pit nearby.

"We put up with thousands of trucks hauling sand," he said. "We're giving a lot."

He and other residents are afraid any kind of public facilities use would reduce the value of their homes because "who wants to be next to this stuff?" Rogge said.

John Kristinik, another nearby resident, agreed the pit is hard enough to deal with.

"We already absorb the traffic, noise and dust," he said. "No one has more dust than us. We live with that."

Kristinik said that another fear is the size of the land being rezoned.

"Why do you need 131 acres?" he asked the City Council.

He suggested buying up land around Las Vegas instead of concentrating in one area of town.

"Why are you putting whatever garbage (referring to public facilities) you have in the Northwest?" he said "Where is the fair share used throughout the city?"

Kristinik said he isn't against growth, but doesn't like it that the Northwest part of town receives an unfair share of the consequences of the growth.

One piece of news that eased some tensions was the fact that the city will conduct public meetings before any kind of development of the site begins.

"You need to understand, the land is being set aside for future needs while we don't have to pay money for it," Ross said.

Councilman Larry Brown supported Ross and said he is not concerned about voting in favor of the zone change at all. He added that any controversial use is a decision that is in the future, and encouraged the residents to stay aware of the process.

"Remain active, remain engaged, study the history," he said.

Public facilities land designation allows for large governmental building sites, police and fire facilities, non-commercial hospital and rehabilitation sites, sewage treatment and storm water control facilities, schools, parks and other uses considered public or quasi-public, such as libraries, clubs and public utility facilities.

In the past, the city has considered a garbage transfer station and a bus yard for the Clark County School District for the site, but no plans are being pursued now, said Tom Perrigo, deputy director of the Las Vegas Planning Department.

However, the growth of the city requires more public facilities, and that isn't always a bad thing, Brown said.

"Public facilities are not all bad," he said. "The detention basin near Summerlin is in the form of a beautiful park."

Jenny Davis is a reporter for the Home News. She can be reached at 990-8921 or [email protected].