Agreement is ‘major step’ needed to build Las Vegas Raiders stadium

The Raiders have agreed to pay for pedestrian bridges or other infrastructure necessary for a planned 65,000-seat NFL stadium near the Las Vegas Strip, a Clark County official said Wednesday.

Outlined in a development agreement scheduled for public discussion next week, the Raiders would be responsible to pay $1.4 million for public safety equipment, an emergency operations center inside the stadium and improvements to nearby roadways and sidewalks.

“Our district attorney is very comfortable the county is covered in all aspects,” county comprehensive planning director Nancy Amundsen said Wednesday.

County commissioners are scheduled to consider the development agreement for approval on Jan. 3.

Doing so would clear the way for the Raiders and the Las Vegas Stadium Authority to complete their own development agreement, which needs to be in place by February if the stadium is to be finished before the start of the 2020 NFL season.

“It’s a major step in the process,” Amundsen said.

Parking and improvements

Although the development agreement does not answer where the Raiders will find the nearly 14,000 off-site parking spaces necessary to comply with county code, the team must have an updated transportation study in place by September.

The study will identify parking locations and include plans for how to reduce the impact of pedestrian and vehicular traffic to and from the stadium. That could include improving roadways and widening sidewalks.

Design consulting firm Kimley-Horn and Associates previously estimated almost a third of all NFL game attendees will walk from hotel rooms located within a mile of the stadium.

The Raiders also have agreed to pay for the construction of any pedestrian bridges necessary to bring ticket holders to the stadium. A 30-foot-wide bridge linking the stadium to Mandalay Bay over Interstate 15 is already being discussed.

How much the team will pay to make these improvements won’t be known until the master transportation study is published, Amundsen said.

“There’s no way for us to estimate (the cost now), but we need it to be done for the safety of the public,” she said. “The Raiders have to mitigate the impact of their development. It’s as simple as that.”

The Raiders also have agreed to buy and install about $1.4 million in equipment for firefighting, communications and traffic control. The team will also build an emergency operations center for police and firefighters overlooking the football field somewhere on the stadium’s upper floors.

Next step forward

County staff has recommended commissioners approve the development agreement. If that is done, the Raiders must create and obtain funding for a deconstruction plan before vertical construction on the 225-foot-tall stadium can begin.

Should the project halt before completion, the plan would provide the county the means to either tear down the unfinished stadium or wrap it.

Contact Michael Scott Davidson at sdavidson@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861. Follow @davidsonlvrj on Twitter.