Something for everyone

Great expectations set for Open Space and Trails Plan

For some, open space means carefully manicured lawns and perfect playground equipment. For others it's unplanned, with bunches of wild flowers and random rock piles. Officials want both to be valued in Henderson, where the Open Space and Trails Plan was adopted in December as the first document of its kind in the history of the city.

Planners expect the site to make quite an impression.

"This plan will be a model for open space plans around Southern Nevada and the United States," said Debra March, a member of the Henderson Planning Commission who worked on the Open Space Plan Advisory Committee.

The plan, which took the committee about one year to put together, details and defines the city's goals in terms of open space at every point on the spectrum.

The document even begins with an actual spectrum illustration, with the term "open space" on one end, defined as lands conserved in their natural state or improved with natural-appearing elements, and "parks" on the other end, defined as areas programmed for active recreational use.

The document, nearly 50 double-sided, oversized pages, outlines trails, parks and natural open areas that exist today and what would be considered ideal conditions for those elements in the future.

It also defines how those conditions would interface with existing plans throughout the county or in other cities.

There is a chapter called "Today," which covers existing conditions, a chapter called "Tomorrow," which covers goals for open space, and a section called "Strategies," which covers implementation plans.

The plan includes a list of "landmark projects," or open spaces that are considered very important -- Sloan Canyon, Black Mountain Regional Preserve, River Mountains, Southwest Henderson, Upper Pittman Wash, Cornerstone, Bird Viewing Preserve, Old Landfill, BLM Quarter Section, Heritage Museum and Railroad Pass.

The plan also includes a section about possible ways to fund open space initiatives and goals.

Shelly Labay, principal planner for the city of Henderson, said surveys have shown that nine out of 10 residents consider open space important in Henderson.

As Henderson continues to grow, it's important to preserve open space, said March.

"We need places where you can go and just drink in nature," she said.

The committee studied cities similar in size, growth rates and climates to get an idea of what comparable communities have done. Scottsdale, Ariz., for instance, has 11,363 acres of municipal open space, giving it 51 acres per 1,000 people. Henderson has 2,308 acres of municipal open space, giving it 9.8 acres per 1,000 people.

Not all of the comparison cities were so far ahead. Peoria, Ariz., which had a similar growth rate to Henderson's -- 169 percent from 1990 to 2000 -- has only 1,800 acres of municipal open space, or 13 acres per 1,000 people.

Planners believe future generations may be thankful for the breathing room as the city gets more and more densely populated.

"It's what our parents and grandparents would have expected," said Jane Feldman, conservation chair for the local chapter of the Sierra Club.

Feldman, who also was on the Open Space Plan Advisory Committee, said planning ahead to incorporate open space is one of the things that makes urban living bearable.

Preserving threatened species is another benefit to keeping certain areas of the city open, Feldman said. The rare desert pocket mouse was able to survive in the middle of Las Vegas, even though houses were springing up all over because of the Springs Preserve, she said.

Although wildlife welfare is not the sole purpose of open space planning, it is a wonderful side effect for people like Feldman who are concerned for species that live along desert washes. Leaving some space offers room for a number of species.

"It's all for people to enjoy as well as animals," Feldman said.

Developers are expected to have more open minds in terms of open space requirements now that the plan is in place. They were already required to set aside land in each development but those on the committee hope the document will prompt less common ideas for the undeveloped land.

"Only a limited number of people play golf," said Alan O'Neill, who represented the nonprofit group Outside Las Vegas on the Open Space Plan Advisory committee. "What the residents were asking for was some plain old green space."

People need a place to throw a Frisbee around, said O'Neill.

O'Neill said one possible reason Southern Nevada cities may not have planned too specifically for open space in the past is the vast tracts of public lands in the area. But planning beforehand to link public parcels together with trails and include new parcels within new housing developments makes sense, he said.

"I was tickled to see the forward thinking in Henderson," O'Neill said.

For copies of the Open Space and Trails Plan, go to City Hall, 240 Water St.