Finding direction

VISIONING 2025

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Clarion Associates planner Ben Herman said he believes his firm's effort to put together a comprehensive plan for North Las Vegas' growth is heading in the right direction.

The reaction of Mayor Michael Montandon and other city officials to Clarion's Jan. 10 presentation basically confirmed that the company was on the right track, Herman said via telephone from his Fort Collins, Colo., office last week.

But he added a cautionary note. Given the rapid development in many portions of the city, and the prospect of much more diverse development in the years ahead, Clarion is finding its way as it goes along.

"We don't have a road map for this," he said.

Montandon told Herman and his colleagues that time is pressing. The mayor said while Clarion is conceptualizing plans for the future, events on the ground are already forcing the city to act.

"We know the general direction you're working on in this plan, but we can't wait," the mayor said.

Herman later said that six months ago, such a comment would not have been heard, given the city's apparent reluctance at the time. The question then was, "Do we want to change?"

Now, Herman continued, it appears that city officials think Clarion is heading in the right direction and should continue its work. Similar thoughts were on the minds of many residents who attended the city Planning Commission's open house on Jan. 9, when the panel displayed what Clarion had on the drawing board so far.

The open house, held in the city hall foyer, featured large-scale charts outlining the planning alternatives Clarion is considering.

Herman said he sees the comprehensive plan as an over-arching, visionary document above the level of specific zoning and land-use issues. Herman and colleagues Amy Kacala and Greg Dale said they are trying to give the city the necessary planning tools to manage many simultaneous developments and have them all add up to a coherent and rational whole.

At the open house, Clarion staffers asked whether residents want to allow current development trends to continue or if they want the city to fulfill its in-the-works Visioning 2025 plan.

Clarion's proposals for Visioning 2025 include more downtown redevelopment and a strong focus on master-planned communities, such as Aliante. Such planned communities come with up-front, detailed plans for vast areas, ensuring coherently laid out developments and avoiding a hodgepodge of unrelated subdivisions.

Considering Aliante, Eldorado and the Olympia Group's plan for similar development along Interstate 215, Herman said, "I think that's your saving grace and strength."

A variety of questions will need to be faced, he said, from the way in which the North 5th Street corridor ties in with the upcoming construction of a Veterans Administration hospital at Interstate 215 and Pecos Road, to whether the Cheyenne Technology Corridor should take on a more mixed-use aspect.

At one point, the mayor asked how specific Clarion's development guidelines will be, to which Herman asked how much flexibility is needed.

Herman wondered whether the city is willing and able to shift away from precision land-use designations to a more flexible approach, moving from parcel-based zoning to more general, less-detailed "character-based" zoning. He later mentioned the detail that was available through the use of modern planning technology.

"Essentially, we're planning every parcel in the city," he said.

He suggested the city needs to take a more broad-brush approach.

"You're in a region that is generally planned for this or that," he said.

The mayor said during the meeting that the city has already tried such an approach.

"We ended up getting our heads handed to us in court," Montandon said.

Herman said the city needs to better refine and articulate its development criteria and guidelines in deciding what might be appropriate in a general area.

Planning Commission Chairman Jay Aston said a compromise between the two types of zoning might be an avenue to take.

"We're already in that direction of doing both," said Councilwoman Shari Buck, "and it's going pretty well."

Later on, Herman said he can see the worth of planning in both styles. Citing the use of blocks of different colors to delineate zoning areas on maps, he said, "It's less about what specific color is on your land than how do we want the city to grow."

Herman also stressed the need to better communicate to residents what the city wants to see and what its own plans are.

Councilman William Robinson said the city's population is growing at a head-spinning rate.

"What vehicle do you use to let them know what your plan is and how you're going to implement that plan?" he said.

Herman responded that residents shouldn't be expected to plow through 200 pages of details. He recommended making something available that is less intimidating and no more than 50 to 60 pages long.

In any case, the city's available plan is rich in details but short on vision, he said.

"Your plan doesn't speak to ideas," Herman said. "It doesn't speak to direction. I wouldn't read it."

He suggested something punchy, vivid and brief.

"Maybe you need to have a poster that says, 'Here is what North Las Vegas aspires to be,' " he said.

Aston suggested slowing down the rezoning process by grouping applications, perhaps on a quarterly basis, but the mayor appeared exasperated at the notion.

"It gives me a headache thinking about that," he said.

Expressing concern, Councilman Robert Eliason wondered if developers who have spent a chunk of money on a given property would then have to wait several months before knowing whether they can fulfill their plans for it.

But Aston stuck to his guns, telling the council members that they are letting virtually everyone who comes in the door change the land-use plans for their property.

City Manager Gregory Rose said he can see the benefit of applying the brakes so that the council can better judge the collective impact of the changes it may allow.

Herman said the next step will be to sit down with department heads to get an idea of how the plan will affect their efforts.

Montandon said the effort to produce a balance of residential, industrial and commercial uses in the city will likely work itself out in the long term no matter what happens. But he advised Herman and his colleagues, "We'd like to get to it (right) the first time."