Henderson City Council shows support for stadium proposal

Inch by inch, the Las Vegas National Sports Complex LLC is taking steps toward building a multi billion dollar sports complex in Henderson.

The Henderson City Council allowed developer Chris Milam to take one thing off his growing to-do list at the Sept. 6 council meeting -- move forward with a feasibility study to see whether he can finally build a sports complex after several failed attempts in Las Vegas and Clark County.

"There is a lot of work to be done," said Henderson Mayor Andy Hafen. "People say this is a done deal. This is far from over."

The Las Vegas National Sports Complex group, led by Milam, hopes to build the proposed stadium on 485 acres owned by the Bureau of Land Management east of Interstate 15 near Las Vegas Boulevard and the M Resort.

The Henderson City Council voted 5-0 to send a letter to the Bureau of Land Management supporting the developers' interest in buying the land.

The estimated cost to build the complex is $1.35 billion .

The complex would include an entertainment arena with 18,000 seats and a stadium with 22,000 seats that would be designed to host major soccer and rodeo events.

"There are large concert events we don't have a large enough facility to accommodate," said Lee Haney, a representative with Las Vegas National Sports Complex. "The future stadium will give us the ability to attract those events."

Haney added that there is no better site in the valley than the newly proposed option.

If the project goes through, Haney said, it could create more than 10,000 jobs, 4,000 of which would be permanent after construction is completed.

"This is a great way to jump-start the economy," Haney said.

At the Henderson City Council meeting, both Haney and Dennis Porter, director of utility services with the city of Henderson, presented information about the proposed site.

Porter said the city of Henderson was first approached in June.

On July 8, the city confirmed that the sale of the BLM land was a potential option for the developer .

Porter also made sure to address concerns.

"There will be no tax increase," Porter said three times in his presentation. "The city will not be gifting the land to Las Vegas National Sports Complex."

Haney outlined financing principles from the developer including, and repeating, no new taxes, no redirection of any existing tax revenue, no recourse to the city of Henderson, no impact on the city of Henderson's borrowing capacity and a portion of the new taxes generated by the venues in the facility will be recycled into the building.

The responsibility to plan, design, develop, fund , construct and operate the project would belong to the Las Vegas National Sports Complex.

Now that the Henderson council has shown its support, the next steps include conducting feasibility studies, along with public hearings and public meetings for the neighbors to voice their comments.

If everything goes smoothly, the land could be acquired by April 2012, and phase one construction could commence as early as July 2012.

Haney said the plan is to have the complex open by spring 2014, with the hope of inviting professional soccer and National Basketball Association teams to play. The city of Henderson is planning a public meeting by Oct. 13.

The master plan overlay is slated to go before the Planning Commission Oct. 13 and the City Council Oct. 18, in which the council can choose to approve a development agreement.

Christine Guerci-Nyhus, the interim city attorney, said there are provisions in the current agreement that protect the city.

"There are ways to exit the agreement if it is found not to be feasible," Guerci-Nyhus said.

Contact Henderson/Anthem View reporter Michael Lyle at mlyle@viewnews.com or 387-5201.