Thumbs down on high-rise proposal

Neighborhood opposition has derailed, at least for now, a six-building condominium/office project in northwest Las Vegas that residents said would bring too much traffic and too many people to a suburban area.

The debate is far from over, though. The intersection where the project was proposed, Durango Drive and Deer Springs Way, has drawn the interest of two high-rise projects in the last two years, and the land there is slated for high-density development.

Neither is the debate limited to a single neighborhood or council ward.

High-density, multiple-use developments in areas that haven't seen them before are being championed as an important part of future growth, and not everyone's happy about it.

The derailed project proposed building two 12-story office towers, two 12-story condominium buildings, a parking garage and additional retail space on the southwest corner of Deer Springs Way and Durango Drive.

It was on the Planning Commission's Thursday agenda, but developer Bernie Chippoletti said he's going to withdraw the application and may put the land up for sale.

"A project of that magnitude is difficult if everything goes well and people are behind you," he said. "If the homeowners are adamantly opposed to a development in the area, I've got other things to do."

About two dozen neighboring property owners voiced concerns about traffic, population density and the height of the proposed buildings.

But Chippoletti's project was along the lines of what city planners had envisioned since 2001 for that area, which is on the north side of the Las Vegas Beltway. It's known in city documents as the Montecito Town Center, where the Las Vegas general plan calls for "a dramatic urban environment."

But the project was a little too dramatically urban, said Ward 6 Councilman Steven Ross.

"I talk about that corridor a lot," he said. "It's supposed to be something different, something better."

The town center zoning that applies there limits structures to seven stories, a limit the developer said he didn't want to live with.

"My original request was for something that made sense," Chippoletti said. With changes, he added, "there's still a profit in it, but it's so close it's not worth the aggravation."

That's good news to nearby residents like Jodi Lybbert, who helped organize a petition against the project.

"There would be a lot more traffic in the area, and it would ruin the view, not that we have much of one now," she said. "I think the people around here are just hoping it would stay residential."

Josh Kay and his wife, Elizabeth, also joined the chorus against the project.

He said the height of the project concerned them, and he also wondered if people would actually buy a condo there when single-family homes are available nearby at comparable prices.

"There are places to do the high-rises, like downtown," Kay said. "I don't know if a big structure, where the benefits are all to the residents, is beneficial."

Not that he's opposed to development, he added. Kay said he'd like to see commercial development at the intersection, perhaps two- or three-story buildings with retail space on the first floor and residences on top.

Ross is confident that something will spring up at the intersection. But, he said, it will have to be something that the neighbors accept and fits with the city's plans.

"They can still do something great over there and meet our town center code," he said. "There have been projects approved at more than seven stories. But you've got to get out and talk to the neighbors."

That's what a developer did two years ago. He actually gained neighborhood support for an even larger development on the northwest corner of the Durango/Deer Springs intersection: two 24-story towers with residential and commercial space that would have dwarfed the one- and two-story residences next to it.

People were sold on the idea, Ross said: "It was awesome. It was cool."

But nothing happened in the following 24 months, and when the developer came back to ask for an extension of his approval, an impatient Las Vegas City Council said no.

Ross said he'll focus on holding any future proposals to the city's existing guidelines, although he acknowledged that any dense development might raise hackles on those who would prefer to see development kept away.

"You always have that knee-jerk reaction, especially in the northwest," where people are used to being separated from Las Vegas' more urban areas. "It's a changing dynamic in the northwest, because businesses are recognizing that's where they want to be."

Some people are having similar reactions in other parts of the fast-growing city, and they're protesting what they see as an incursion of tall, dense development into areas with houses and one- or two-story apartments and commercial centers.

The Island Las Vegas, a proposed 50-story building at 401 S. Maryland Parkway, between Desert Inn Road and Sahara Avenue, has left some neighbors disgruntled, although Las Vegas City Council members have looked favorably on the project.

The proposal, which includes condos, retail space, offices, a restaurant and a grocery store, could be before the council later this month.

Meanwhile, a large group of residents last week persuaded council members to vote against a proposed five-story office building on Lake Sahara Drive, arguing that it wasn't compatible with the neighborhood.

The John S. Park Neighborhood Association has promised strong resistance to tall condo buildings near the historic downtown neighborhood, although the group couldn't persuade the City Council to adopt a height restriction for buildings in the immediate area.

Todd Johnson, a consultant who worked with Las Vegas on the Union Park mixed-use redevelopment proposal, said some of this kind of opposition stems from "NIMBYism," as in "not in my backyard."

"The NIMBYism is a very typical response to this," he said, noting that he's been castigated for a proposal he put forward in Denver that introduces a range of uses, including high-density residential, into an area that until now has had only single-family homes.

"The public has come out, just ripped it, and has no understanding of why cities have to move to the next level of density," he said. "It seems to me that it's just an inherent responsibility, given what we're learning about our impacts on the environment."

Still, Johnson said, there's a right way and a wrong way to add density; and he said the two northwest Las Vegas projects may have tried to pack too much density too close to single-family subdivisions.

Both he and Ross said it's vital for developers and project proponents to meet with community members to explain the impacts, benefits and possible shortcomings of any project that's going to affect the people around it.

"There are better and worse ways of doing it. The problem is, in Las Vegas there aren't a lot of good precedents," he said. "When it's not executed well, it gives the whole thing a bad name."