Tuesday, February 11, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

NLV bemoans strip club plan

County proposes `red-light district' at gateway to upscale neighborhoods

Click image for an enlargement. Graphic by Mike Johnson.

North Las Vegas officials see their city's renaissance in a recently annexed swath of desert where they hope high-end communities and new businesses will boost the city's image and economic base.

But a proposal by Clark County might strip them of that vision.

With limited space remaining in industrial areas off the Strip and south of McCarran International Airport, county planners want new districts designated for topless clubs and adult-oriented businesses.

The largest proposed district bumps up against North Las Vegas' border and is situated in the entryway to 7,500 acres the city annexed from the federal government three years ago. It sits in an area North Las Vegas plans to someday annex.

"We spent all those years trying to get that 7,500 acres, and this is what they want to put right on our doorstep?" Councilwoman Stephanie Smith said. "This will be in the heart of North Las Vegas and our gateway."

City leaders say most of the 7,500 acres will be blanketed by affluent, master-planned communities expected to rival the Summerlin area in Las Vegas and the Green Valley area of Henderson.

If the county's plan is approved, potential home-buyers would have to travel past what city leaders referred to as a "red-light district" to access the community's treasured neighborhoods.

The city learned about the proposed adult business district at Interstate 15 and the planned Las Vegas Beltway on Wednesday. Commissioners are scheduled to vote on the ordinance Feb. 19.

Commissioner Myrna Williams, who recommended the new district, said there are few industrial sites remaining in the core of the county where adult clubs are allowed. If more industrial parks are built, they will infringe on neighborhoods in unincorporated areas of the county.

Williams insisted the county never danced around North Las Vegas officials when they discussed the new topless club boundaries.

"We've discussed it at all our recent meetings, so I don't know how they didn't know about it," Williams said. "The purpose of this is because many years ago when we determined adult uses would go in (industrial areas), we didn't have the population we have now. They're intruding on residential areas."

Clark County issued an average of three business licenses for new strip clubs, cabarets and adult bookstores for each year between 1995 and 2001. Last year, eight new licenses were issued, most of which were for topless clubs that serve alcohol.

"There's been a recognition of how lucrative these businesses are, and you have a lot of people trying to jump on the bandwagon," said Ardel Jorgensen, the county's business license director.

North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon said it's clear why the city didn't know about the plans: It never received a call from the county.

"They certainly are not involving us in discussions; that's fairly cut and dry," Montandon said. "But we know now, and we will be involved, and we will object."

Clark County's draft ordinance says the district near North Las Vegas will stretch from I-15 south to Ann Road and be bordered by Hollywood Boulevard on the east and Range Road to the west.

The other proposed new adult districts are south of McCarran off Sunset Road and west of the Strip south of Russell Road.

The adult businesses must be in areas zoned for manufacturing and must be at least 1,000 feet apart from each other and 1,500 feet from schools, parks, homes and libraries.

North Las Vegas Economic Development Director Mike Majewski said he hadn't heard of the new adult business boundaries until Thursday and has yet to hear from county officials.

"I'm hearing this for the first time, so I can't say what kind of impact a district like this would have," Majewski said. "It's something that definitely needs to be scrutinized."

County planners did not discuss their proposed boundaries with the city, said Phil Rosenquist, director of the county's department of development services. But he said county administrators and commissioners would listen to the city's concerns.

"When staff put together the overlay district, their intent wasn't to dump all these adult uses on the North Las Vegas border," Rosenquist said.

Allowing adult businesses along city boundaries isn't an unprecedented decision by the county.

Henderson leaders expedited annexation procedures in part because of the county's zoning decisions along city borders. The county allowed the adult club Pussycats to be built across from Henderson's planned regional park.

Montandon said the city intends to expedite its plans to annex the area in which the district is planned. He acknowledged the acreage is zoned for industrial uses, but said that doesn't have to equate to strip clubs.

"We don't want it," Montandon said of the adult-use district. "Try putting that into the gateway to Summerlin or one of their master-planned communities. See what they think."