Official: County needs to rethink how neighborhoods are created

By Joe Schoenmann

Monday, March 29, 2010 | 2 a.m.

With Las Vegas frozen in its tracks, these are, by almost any definition, glum times. Forty percent of our neighbors want to flee the state because they don’t like what they see, a recent UNLV poll found.

Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani thinks this is the time to try to improve the region’s quality of life by tweaking building regulations and zoning codes to improve neighborhoods.

Giunchigliani says she will ask commissioners in May to assemble a five-member panel representing architects, engineers, landscape architects, homebuilders and environmentalists to explore what can be done to improve quality of life.

The Las Vegas Valley can’t be rebuilt. What’s done is done, for the most part. But there are unbuilt housing tracts, empty downtown and suburban lots being developed, older homes ready for renovations and public property that can be better used, she says. What better time — with development stalled — to take a deep breath and revisit what can be revisited, she thinks.

The group might explore whether laws should be amended to make it easier to build sustainable homes with more use of solar power. Or to rezone bankrupt, unbuilt subdivisions to put more space between homes. Or to develop small “pocket” parks on public property for a neighborhood swing set or a place for dogs to safely romp.

“It should be part of our housing recovery: What do we want Las Vegas to be? What is our new life, after growth?” she says. “The Strip has to revise what it wants to be, and we have to ask the same question of our neighborhoods. Do we want more open space? More pedestrian areas? Can we find a way to not force people into cars?

“Personally, I don’t think there’s enough green space,” she says. “And I don’t like zero setbacks and skinny little buildings two inches from their neighbors. Is that the product we want to encourage? This is a time when we can address that.

“We should look at what we did well, and not so well, and fix what we can.”

Giunchigliani, for instance, wants county staff to review zoning policies “that have created block walls” and homeowner associations, and look at ways “to open up our neighborhoods to make them more friendly.” She also wants the county to review its parks policies, including how they are financed and prioritized.

Clark County has relied on developers and revenue collected from the sale of federal land to fund parks. But development and federal land sales are stagnant.

“It’s just sad that it takes a park in a master-planned community 15 to 20 years to get built,” she said. “If it’s a priority, then let’s treat it like one.”

Giunchigliani is reacting to a survey by UNLV sociologists that looked at residents’ views on the environment, neighborhoods and sense of community. Although a large percentage of those surveyed said they had at least a fairly good quality of life, four in 10 said they wanted to leave Nevada. Residents also indicated no strong sense of attachment to their neighborhoods or neighbors, although they told researchers that they thought neighborhoods with parks were “more tight-knit, healthy and stable.”

Researchers said the poor economy, including the fact that about 80 percent of Las Vegas homeowners owe more on their houses than they are worth, is likely a key cause of the discontent.

Associate professor Robert Futrell, who led the study, said he would add only one thing to Giunchigliani’s proposals: Include a sociologist on the committee.

“We can do all the engineering and design that we want, but something like that would really benefit, I think, by including someone who takes the social angle on neighborhoods,” Futrell said.

In addition to “the built environment,” Futrell said there are less tangible aspects, such as public transit access and education, that need to be part of discussions as designers gather to discuss life in Las Vegas.

“Any step in this direction is very positive,” Futrell added.