Board recommends denial of plan for 569 homes in Mountain’s Edge

By Dylan Scott

Thursday, Dec. 2, 2010 | 5:10 p.m.

As residents expressed frustration with the Mountain’s Edge master-planned community and its developer, Focus Property Group, the Enterprise Town Advisory Board recommended Wednesday denial of an application by Richmond American Homes to add 569 homes on about 96 acres in the southwest valley.

The item will be heard next at the Clark County Commission for a final vote. The recommendation for denial was unanimous, as the Enterprise board members cited a “lack of information” provided by Richmond American Homes.

The company applied for a use permit for its development, submitted a design review and asked the county to vacate and abandon roadways.

Chairman Dave Chestnut said the board received no copies of Richmond American’s site plan or its plans for the vacated streets. He offered to hold the item, but Brian Walsh, vice president of land acquisition at Richmond American, said he needed a vote.

“We need hard information to make this decision, and we don’t have it,” board member Rocky Brandonisio said.

The County Commission will consider the town board’s recommendation before making a final decision. The county’s planning staff had recommended approval of the item.

Richmond American purchased the land from Woodside Homes, which had plans for 200 more homes, after Woodside’s plans fell through, Walsh said.

During public comment, Mountain’s Edge residents peppered Walsh with questions about the developer’s plans for green space and wondered whether another village in an area that has seen plummeting sales in recent years makes sense.

In its plans for the 569 homes, Richmond American squeaked just below the master plan’s threshold -- six dwellings per acre; its plans are for 5.96 -- that would require the company to provide open space. A 15-acre park is supposed to be built near the homes. At the meeting, residents voiced worries that the to-be-built Helen Stewart Park might never be constructed.

Focus asked the county this fall to be relieved of some of its financial obligations at Mountain’s Edge, saying it would be unable to pay for some of the parks, roads and flood channels as planned.

Money is now collected through a residential construction tax when building permits are issued.

Funding for the park could take years, said Earnest Phillips, chairman of the Mountain’s Edge homeowners association’s parks committee. Sales at Mountain’s Edge have dropped from a peak of 2,300 in 2007 to less than 600 in 2009.

“The money is not there … those triggers may never be hit,” said Phillips, who said he attended Wednesday’s meeting as a resident. “We have so much pressure on our parks. To bring in 600 families, with no open space for them, that concerns us greatly.”

Exploration Peak Park is already open on 80 acres in Mountain’s Edge. Construction on 15-acre Nathaniel Jones Park began last month. Focus’s original agreement with Clark County laid out five parks in all. Focus recently renegotiated with the county the number of parks required under the master plan.

With the planned addition of Helen Stewart Park, the total of number parks for the 20,000 residents in its 2,500 acres is now three.

The item goes before the county commission on Dec. 8.