Tuesday, September 02, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

City has atypical vision for land

Officials experiment with sustainable growth in northwest

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With the auction of one of the last big parcels of federal land within the city just over a year away, Las Vegas officials are planning for what they call sustainable growth.

Billed as the first of its kind in Southern Nevada, the master plan the city is developing for the 1,600-acre parcel in the far northwest valley calls for a community more in tune with Southern Nevada's climate and environment.

As it's now envisioned, the development, which will straddle U.S. Highway 95 north of Grand Teton Drive, will consume a fraction of the water and power used by a typical Las Vegas development.

It will tap alternative energy sources to power homes and vehicles.

Schools, jobs, stores and parks will be within walking distance.

"We've never done what we're trying to do now, develop the concept of a sustainable community," City Manager Doug Selby said at a public meeting last week to mark the beginning of work on the Kyle Canyon Gateway plan. "This is a way Las Vegas can continue to grow and be dynamic within our resource constraints."

David Rehfeld, a consultant to the city on the plan, said other aspects will be atypical of Las Vegas. One-third to one-half of the land will be left open. There will be none of Las Vegas' trademark cinder block fences walling off residences and no gated communities.

"You won't have a sea of uniform red tile roofs," he said.

The historic drought along the Colorado River and concerns over electric power supplies prompted city officials to undertake their experiment with sustainable growth. "Those factors argue for something more progressive," said Selby, who holds a doctorate in environmental engineering.

The plan will bring large-scale development closer than ever to some of Southern Nevada's most popular wilderness and recreation areas, including the Desert National Wildlife Range, to the east of U.S. 95, and Mount Charleston, to the west.

Residents want assurances those areas will be preserved, said Councilman Michael Mack, who represents the area.

The winning bidder for the land, which the Bureau of Land Management will auction in November 2004, will be required to follow the plan.

But the city's vision probably will be tempered by developers in coming months, BLM spokesman Phillip Guerrero said.

"The city may have an idea of what ought to be built, but developers know what needs to be done and what profit margin is needed to make it go," he said. "It has to be give-and-take."

Even Rehfeld isn't entirely convinced the plan will survive developer scrutiny.

"This is not a smoke screen on the city's part. They're trying to make it happen," he said. "But I have a healthy amount of skepticism. ... I've seen how Las Vegas has developed before."

The proposal has found some critics among environmentalists.

Sierra Club Conservation Chairwoman Jane Feldman applauds environmentally sensitive development, but not so far from the city's core. "Leap frog development is not smart growth," she said.

She imagines residents will end up commuting to the resort corridor, jamming freeways with more traffic and contributing to the valley's air pollution.

The city should look at vacant areas closer to downtown that would required shorter commutes, she said.

Selby admitted there is open space between current development boundaries and the area being planned, but it will have mostly filled in when construction begins on the Kyle Canyon Gateway, he said.

Several residents, who said they choose to live in the northwest because of its rural feel, believe the area should be spared development.

"I moved up here to get away from Las Vegas," said Harold Dalton, who attended last week's meeting.

Dennis Gibbs, who has lived in the far northwest valley for a decade, said development has already crowded out the wild horses he used to see. "They should slow the growth down," he said.

But city officials said continued growth is inevitable and necessary for the well-being of the area's economy.

"There's no stopping growth," Mack said. "Growth happens. We just need to be smart about it."