He’s fighting for his suburb

By Mike Trask

Saturday, Feb. 16, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Ken Klosterman lives the Las Vegas dream.

The casino engineer shares a 1,600-square-foot home with his wife and two kids on the edge of the valley, in one of the sprawling planned communities that dot North Las Vegas along the Las Vegas Beltway.

When Klosterman bought the new home in 2001, there was little around except miles of desert.

Today, however, he find himself halfway between two beltway exits that will soon be bustling. His neighborhood is, in some respects, the new heart of North Las Vegas.

Aliante Station will be on one side. The other side, at the Decatur Boulevard interchange, already has a Wal-Mart. It soon will add a Target. And the monster strip malls will rule.

All of which is fine with Klosterman.

What’s not fine is what’s happening around his neighborhood. Once everything was zoned for single-family homes. But trends and markets have changed. Now the area along Centennial Parkway has become a hodgepodge of homes, condos and apartments, an ever thickening density that Klosterman, 37, and his neighbors say is threatening the quality of their suburban life.

In 2005 a nearby 25-acre property at Valley Drive and Centennial Boulevard was rezoned from commercial to planned unit development, which would allow 432 condominium units at the site.

Now it may change again to allow for 600 apartments.

The vacant property is being developed by Route 215 Investors LLC, a company owned by a group of investors from Portland, Ore., according to the secretary of state.

About 40 residents showed up to a City Council meeting last week to protest the change — and that was just for an agenda item to set the date of a public hearing. They plan to continue being loud.

“There’s certain areas for certain things,” Klosterman said. “You don’t put an airport on the Las Vegas Strip.”

And in his opinion, you don’t put 600 apartments in the back yards of families.

North Las Vegas staff members have recommended the zoning change. The only comment that could be considered negative came from the police department, which noted that “areas with higher population density statistically have higher crime rates.”

The Planning Commission voted 4-2 to recommend the change at a meeting last month.

High-density residential development is often welcomed in the fastest-growing city in the country.

But not this time, said Councilwoman Stephanie Smith, who represents and lives in the area.

“It was a hard decision to allow the condos,” she said. “I’m sad they came back asking for even higher density.”

She plans to vote against the change.

Already an elementary school in the area has portable classrooms lined across what used to be a play area. The traffic, especially at peak hours, is maddening.

Homeowners, repeating an oft-heard stereotype, also warn that renters would do little to enhance the neighborhood’s environment. A few condo projects that previously were converted into apartment complexes already are regarded as the blight of the neighborhood, with homeowners blaming renters for everything from bad driving to playground vandalism.

“It’s quiet here,” Klosterman said. “It’s a nice community feeling. We all know each other. We all look out for each other.”

But whether the residents like it or not, the area along the beltway is going to continue to grow. The master-planned Park Highlands will add 16,000 homes, and a few other residential developments are in the works.

“When you’re up against a freeway there’s a tendency to allow higher density,” Councilwoman Robert Elliason said.

Elsewhere around Klosterman’s little cul-de-sac are huge vacant lots zoned for commercial development. That sounds good to him, because it could mean much shorter runs to the neighborhood convenience store for milk and bread — so long as the lots stay commercial.

“If they allow this apartment complex, then what is everyone else going to say?” he said. “It will just be a big area of incredible density.”

Mike Trask can be reached at 259-8826 or at [email protected].