North Las Vegas agrees to buy downtown land for redevelopment
North Las Vegas purchased a downtown parcel for redevelopment, decreased the business license fee for medical marijuana shops and agreed to purchase 28 new vehicles for the police department.
The City Council, in its capacity as the North Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency, on Wednesday night agreed to pay $805,000 to Tropeco Plaza LLC for a 3.65-acre chunk of land near the northwest corner of Las Vegas and Lake Mead boulevards, adjacent to a Rebel Oil service station.
The purchase allows the city to string together a continuous 10-acre section of property that will be used for a “large master planned project” that officials declined to immediately disclose. The project is part of an ongoing redevelopment plan that aims to attract restaurants, shops and a library within a 160-acre urban area preliminarily known as Lake Mead Village West.
The city owns 21 acres of land spanning 97 parcels within the Lake Mead Village West area, city spokeswoman Delen Goldberg said.
In other action:
—Medical marijuana shops operating in North Las Vegas will be charged a 3 percent business license fee based on gross sales receipts, under an ordinance unanimously approved by the City Council.
City officials had previously charged 5 percent of gross revenue receipts for dispensaries, but the state Legislature this year reduced that threshold to 3 percent. The City Council also agreed to eliminate annual fees collected from medical marijuana dispensaries, and will now instead impose a one-time $60,000 origination fee on the businesses.
City officials will continue to charge a 2 percent gross business revenue fee for medical marijuana shops within the Apex Industrial Park to encourage the city’s designated “Green Zone,” Goldberg said.
—The City Council agreed to spend nearly $1.1 million for 28 new police vehicles. Plans call for buying 2018 models of 11 Ford Taurus cars and 17 Ford Explorer Police Interceptors, city officials said.
“I don’t know about a Ford Taurus, but we can soup that thing up,” North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee quipped.
The move is aimed at replacing 28 police vehicles that were manufactured between 2005 and 2010 and have “reached their life expectancy due to age, mileage or high maintenance and repair costs,” according to a city report.
Contact Art Marroquin at amarroquin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0336. Follow @AMarroquin_LV on Twitter.