Centennial Hills project would construct 293 homes

A small group of concerned residents gathered Oct. 29 to question developer representatives of a potential residential project near Gilcrease Avenue and North Fort Apache Road .

Jean Christensen and her husband recently moved from Albuquerque, N.M., into an adjacent community by D.R. Horton, the developer hoping to break ground on the vacant property, and she said she has been quite happy.

"I'm living in a D.R. Horton community, and it doesn't appear to be slipshod development at all, so I'm not concerned," she said "What I'm concerned about is the dust, because when they start with that big equipment, it gets nasty fast, and they satisfied me. They gave me a (phone) number."

She came to the meeting, attended by about 15 community members, to ask about dust control and said she was satisfied to learn that there would be people she can call if she notices any issues.

"I'm eager to have all that property developed. It will make the community safer," Christensen said.

D.R. Horton is requesting a major modification to the town center property from the city to transfer it from a mixed-used zone and employment center to a medium-low density residential area for 36.6 acres. The developer plans to build 293 homes with three parks and room for a swimming pool once a homeowners association is established, said the developer's attorney, Bob Gronauer.

"By doing this, we're eliminating all commercial on the property," he said.

The project is expected to go before the Las Vegas Planning Commission on Dec. 11 and be addressed at a January Las Vegas City Council meeting .

The property, currently designated for apartments, offices and commercial, would be limited to single-family homes with a density of 7.8 homes per acre, below the zoning requirement of eight homes per acre, Gronauer said.

Gronauer said the developer plans to offer three floor plans, with homes starting at $200,000, and every home would be two stories up to 35 feet.

"This is a lot of acreage in this area to start home development, but the good news is that obviously somebody sees there is market to do this up here in the northwest, and you're taking away some potential intense commercial multi-family uses and doing single-family out here," Gronauer said.

Gronauer said D.R. Horton developers hope to build the walled and non gated project within two years and plan to break ground by January 2014, but it will depend on the market. Construction could be as long as four years, he said.

He said that he's had other clients in the last 10 years approach the city about changing the land designation to single-family residential and they were always declined, but commercial developments have moved south.

"For the most part, the way this is developing out, there's probably going to end up all being residential, and commercial will all end up south of here," he said about the potential property.

Off-site improvements, including finishing the road and gutter, would be completed in the first phase, he said, including sidewalks and landscaping the perimeter.

"Hopefully, we believe, this is a good fit in the puzzle for the rest of the area geographically," Gronauer said.

Contact Centennial and North Las Vegas View reporter Laura Phelps at lphelps@viewnews.com or 702-477-3839.