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May 12, 2006
$2 BILLION PROJECT ON SOUTH SIDE 7,000 units on 900 acres 'approved'
By PHILLIP GOMEZ
The $2 billion project, conceptually called the Gateway Planned Community, is slated to comprise some 7,000 or so dwelling units - both single-family and multi-family residential - a large hotel-casino, a big-box store, shopping centers, clustered shade trees, public parks and bike paths. Local developer Tim Hafen owns several parcels zoned General Commercial surrounding the development, which will sprawl south from near Manse Road to Thousandaire Boulevard. The Hafen family asked to have prior approval of Gateway's plans before the development proceeds. That request was included in the RPC's recommendations sent to the county commissioners. Mark Fiorentino, Focus Property Group's vice president for governmental affairs, made the presentation to the board of planning commissioners, saying that his company is currently working on four other master planned communities in southern Nevada. Pahrump's planned community has been in the works for about two years, Fiorentino said. Gateway - straddling South Highway 160 and designed with two major access roads intersecting the highway with traffic signal lights - is designed as a mixed-use community of varied architectural design and both residential and commercial land uses. By far the most significant issue of the night was Pahrump's well-known bugaboo - given voice by Nye County Commissioner Patricia Cox but pronounced by the other commissioners as well. "My biggest issue is: 4,000 square-foot lots is not Pahrump," Cox said. As with several other commissioners, Cox's anxieties stemmed from her fear that the town was getting saddled with wall-to-wall residential, similar to the sea of congested rooftops in east Las Vegas and in Southern California - right at Pahrump's southern gateway. "My biggest issue is setbacks," Cox said, "because of noise and fire. When you have houses that are close (together), you have noise and fire issues." Fiorentino had just explained, "No one is going to want to move here who doesn't want the lifestyle we're presenting." The operative word was "density." "You have to allow some higher densities to achieve our goals," Fiorentino said. "This is where you should have your higher densities," he said. "We're not impacting anybody (out where no homes currently exist). ... What is it about the lots that offend you? ... If you drove past (them) would you be proud of it? What is the harm?" Fiorentino said that the company's market research showed that many homebuyers were looking for smaller lot sizes. Concern was also raised from the commissioners about traffic safety at the future Manse Road intersections. Focus Group would be responsible for paying for most of the cost of the signal lights, Fiorentino said, but that still leaves the Nevada Department of Transportation, a glacial moving state bureaucracy of hyper-careful engineers, to give approval before any traffic controlling device is installed. In the meantime, planners and Pahrump residents alike worried that more cars will be vying for access to the highway from the new development once construction is completed in its first phase. Focus "doesn't do houses," Fiorentino said. The development company plans the conceptual and architectural design for the coordinated construction plan and puts in the infrastructure that is to be commonly shared: the roads, wastewater treatment plant, community wall, parks and paths. The builder then has to conform with the penciled design themes and standards, Fiorentino said, including the varied floor plans for homes, their colors and the differing setbacks for garages. Another issue that caused commissioner concern was the new residents' impact on the Pahrump Basin's aquifer. Fiorentino said water conservation standards for the community exceeded the county's recently passed ordinance dealing with xeriscaping. He said the company's standards were "very stringent for the front yards," with no turf allowed there and a list of acceptable desert plants from which residents could choose. Fiorentino then circled back around to the residential densities he wanted, explaining that laying water mains and conduits for household sewer treatment would depend on how many people lived in the community. "One of the ways to use the water more efficiently is to have more density," he said. Moreover, greater densities mean more residential units for employees of businesses to live in, meaning that more businesses would be attracted to come to Pahrump. That in turn would indicate greater future sales tax revenues going to support public infrastructure needs, Fiorentino said. "Residential doesn't pay for itself," he said, meaning the public infrastructure of roads, flood control and social services, among other things. "You can't attract employers if their employees can't find a place to live." As for the water demand, he said the development had all the water rights it needed. "Once the faucets are turned on, they'll never turn them off," he said. "You may not be able to add any new faucets," he added regarding the future time when water in the Pahrump Valley becomes really scarce, i.e., deep and expensive to pump. "But you are a long, long way from that (future date)," he said. In point of fact, the state water engineer has already declared the Pahrump Valley overdrawn in the number of water claims the underground aquifer can naturally sustain. On the density issue the commissioners, led by RPC Chairman Carrick "Bat" Masterson, insisted on reducing the unit densities for single-family residential from 8 units per acre to 6; for multi-family residential, the RPC recommended a reduction from 18 units to 16 per acre. Mountain Falls was limited to six units per acre when that development came before the RPC for site plan approval, Masterson said. Masterson also had a rebuttal to Cox and the other commissioners, saying, "People say (dense housing) isn't Pahrump, but Pahrump is changing." The favorable action by the board recommends approval to the Board of County Commissioners. Focus Group requested a minor master plan change to Mixed Use, a non-conforming zone change to Mixed Use and a conditional use permit for a gaming establishment on 72 acres, to be built on the east side of the highway north of Manse Road. The applications now go to the county commission for board approval. |
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