Richard Brian / Special to the Sun
North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon, left, and Councilwoman Stephanie Smith tee-off along with other dignitaries during the Friday groundbreaking ceremony for Craig Ranch Regional Park.
Saturday, May 2, 2009 | 1:59 a.m.
An artists' rendering of the planned Craig Ranch Regional Park in North Las Vegas. The park will have trails, a 3.5-acre children's play area, a dog park, picnic grounds with shade structures and water features.
Beyond the Sun
New park site
North Las Vegas officials broke ground Friday on Craig Ranch Regional Park, 628 W. Craig Road. Instead of swinging shovels, city leaders swung golf clubs, knocking Wiffle balls off tees in a ceremonious sendoff to the municipal golf course that will by next summer be transformed into a 135-acre park.
The traditional shovel ritual wasn’t really necessary because the city doesn’t plan to churn much dirt for the conversion: The golf course’s lush green fairways and more than 6,000 mature trees will remain as part of the park.
“People can come and feel like they are in a real protected green space,” said Mike Henley, the city’s Parks and Recreation Department director. “It’s not going to be overly designed or planned.
“It’s going to be a good place to come and decompress with some of the pressure we all deal with in the urban setting we live in.”
The $13 million first phase includes a 3.5-acre playground, water features, a dog park, shaded picnic areas, a new parking lot and connections to the Regional Las Vegas Wash Trail.
The second phase, scheduled to start after the first phase of construction ends, will add ball fields, courts for basketball, volleyball and tennis, an expansion of the dog park and the valley’s largest skate park. Phase two construction is scheduled to conclude in the summer of 2011.
“It’s a community center. It’s where everybody is going to hang out,” Mayor Michael Montandon said. “There may be 400 people a day who can use a golf course but with a park, you can have 4,000 people a day out here.”
The city is not contributing to the cost of the park. It is fully funded from the sales of federal lands in the valley through the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act.
The Bureau of Land Management has disbursed $120 million to North Las Vegas for purchasing land, design and construction, Henley said.
The city took possession of the Aliante Golf Course, which it will maintain as its municipal course after the Craig Ranch closure. The deal was part of the Aliante development agreement.
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