City ordinance would allow nonresidents to hook up to Las Vegas sewer system

Noncity residents could soon be eligible to tap into Las Vegas’ sewer system if the City Council approves a new measure this week.

The issue mostly affects the city’s northwest side, where substantially-sized “islands” of unincorporated Clark County sit inside the city’s outer bounds. The county’s system doesn’t extend that far north.

The ordinance on Wednesday’s City Council agenda will allow non-city residents to connect to the city’s sewer system if:

■ There’s sufficient capacity.

■ The property owner provides the infrastructure needed for the hook-up.

■ The property owner requests that their local government, Clark County for instance, initiate an interlocal agreement with the city to allow for the service.

Non-city residents would pay the same fees as city residents until there’s a change. City officials said at a recent committee meeting that a follow-up ordinance to address outside-city fees also is expected to go before the council at some point.

An expired interlocal agreement allowed county landowners to hook into city infrastructure, paying normal connection fees and sewer bills, without their land being annexed into the city.

A year ago, when the Nevada Legislature adopted a bill barring cities from forcing unincorporated property owners within “service areas” to be annexed as a condition of using public utilities, the Las Vegas City Council passed an ordinance defining the service area as property within existing city limits.

This summer, county commissioners passed a measure to set up a process to determine whether allegations of improper annexation of land by the city have merit.

Las Vegas city officials have proposed a series of agreements with Clark County, on land use in the northwest, election fees and a mutual aid agreement, aimed at starting to repair what’s been a fractured relationship between the two. The city annexing unincorporated county land, largely in the northwest, has been one of the areas of tension.

One affected property owner, who’s in favor of the proposal to allow non-city residents to hook into the city sewer system, told council members at the recent Recommending Committee meeting that building a custom home on his unincorporated Clark County property has been held up for months because he hasn’t been able to hook into the city’s system, despite the sewer line being located right in front of the property.

Contact Jamie Munks at jmunks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0340. Follow @JamieMunksRJ on Twitter.