Council approves 2nd redevelopment area in Las Vegas
Property tax money collected along three major streets in Las Vegas could be diverted to attract new developments or improve existing businesses under an ordinance approved Wednesday by the City Council.
The council vote 5-2 to create the city's second redevelopment area. Ward 2 Councilman Bob Beers and Mayor Pro Tem Stavros Anthony voted against the measure.
The approval puts property along West Charleston Boulevard from Interstate 15 to Rainbow Boulevard, West Sahara Avenue from I-15 to Decatur Boulevard and Decatur between Sahara and U.S. Highway 95 into a new redevelopment zone.
That means a portion of future increases in property tax revenue will be funneled back into the redevelopment zone to revive business in the area. It's similar to the redevelopment zone created in 1986 that city officials credit with reviving downtown Las Vegas. Property tax rates don't change because of redevelopment nor does any tax based on values before the zone is created get included in the diversion.
Ward 1 Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian, who represents the new redevelopment zone, said she proposed the ordinance to prevent the area from decaying as much as downtown did before the revival began.
"We are sliding down and down and down," Tarkanian said. "I don't want us to end up a dump."
Beers and Anthony opposed the plan, saying it is unnecessary, will divert resources that would otherwise go to schools and libraries and is unlikely to raise enough money to make a significant improvement in the area.
Beers, in particular, objected to language in the redevelopment plan that asserts the newly created redevelopment agency's power to use eminent domain to conduct private-to-private property transactions.
"I was taken aback by the degree to which the plan talks about eminent domain," Beers said.
He acknowledged the council is bound by a separate resolution that states it is city policy not to use eminent domain in such a manner but added "certainly a future council could change its mind and resolve to start using private-to-private taking."
Anthony cited a portion of Nevada state law that says redevelopment areas are meant to fight the "growing menace of blighted areas to public health, safety and welfare."
"I don't see how we can fit the statute," he said.
Others, including Mayor Carolyn Goodman, said redevelopment has proven effective downtown and that the council has an obligation to reduce and prevent blight in the Charleston, Sahara and Decatur business corridors.
"We really have to try, try to give everybody a boost up wherever we can," Goodman said.
The areas were selected because properties inside the boundaries meet standards for deterioration and blight, and have lagged behind the rest of the city in economic development.
According to a survey of the proposed redevelopment zone, 66 percent of the 704 commercial parcels in the area showed some degree of blight, from visible deferred maintenance to buildings with demolished foundations and thoroughly overgrown property.
The redevelopment area would have a life span of 30 years and, according to estimates from the city, could generate anywhere from $14 million to $112 million in money to reinvest, based on projections that property values could rise from 0.5 percent to 3 percent.
The money can be used to back bonds, support matching grants for facade improvements or create other incentives to development.
Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at
bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285.
