City orders owner out
December 7, 2007 - 10:00 pm
The North Las Vegas City Council approved taking four pieces of property by eminent domain to make way for a major thoroughfare to run through the heart of the city.
The properties are in the way of the proposed widening of North Fifth Street from two to up to eight lanes, including 10-foot-wide landscaped sidewalks and an express bus lane.
The city of North Las Vegas will next file a complaint against the property owners in Clark County District Court.
The $250 million project would stretch seven miles, from Owens Avenue north to the Las Vegas Beltway, and include an Interstate 15 flyover.
One of the four properties the city wants to take is owned by Crescencio Perez, a retired man who has lived on the 1900 block of North Fifth since moving to North Las Vegas from Chicago 11 years ago.
But Perez doesn't want to leave.
Perez thought the city wasn't offering a fair price, though recently the offer has gone up, he said in Spanish as his daughter, Leticia Perez, translated.
Perez said the city has told him it wants him out by March, but he hasn't agreed to sell yet and at this point has nowhere to go.
Transportation planners view the project as an essential north-south alternative to I-15 and U.S. Highway 95 for northern valley residents.
Residential growth is booming north of the Las Vegas Beltway and there are plans for a new Veterans Administration Hospital and University of Nevada, Las Vegas, campus in the area.
According to the City Clerk's Office, Councilman William Robinson voted against the four eminent domain proposals on the agenda Wednesday evening, sticking by statements he made opposing any such action by city government.
The four other members of the council voted in favor of the measures.
Mayor Michael Montandon was not available to talk about city-related issues Thursday, according to a spokeswoman, and did not return messages left for him.
City Manager Gregory Rose did not return a message seeking comment.
Many of the homes on the 1900 block of North Fifth are already vacant and boarded up. Most have trash strewn in the yards and have broken windows.
Leticia Perez said thieves have been rummaging through the abandoned homes, and she is worried they will target her father's house next, figuring he too is gone.
"We're going to have to leave the lights on all night long," she said.
The other three properties the council voted on are not the primary residences of the owners, and one of them is owned by a development corporation, according to the Clark County Assessors office.
A fifth eminent domain proposal was on the agenda, but withdrawn before the vote was taken.
North Fifth between Owens and Carey Avenue is currently two lanes and 50 feet wide. It would need to be widened another 100 feet to make room for the planned improvements.
Contact reporter Francis McCabe at fmccabe@reviewjournal.com or (702) 387-2904.