MARK WAITE / PVT Audrey Zachary speaks to Pahrump planning commissioners on behalf of First International Bank officials, sitting in the audience in the front row behind her. Advertisement

A zoning change was approved by Pahrump regional planning commissioners last week for a 1.1 acre site on Highway 160 where a First International Bank is planned.

The bank, with an address at 3341 E. Alfalfa St., will be located in a rapidly growing area on Highway 160 just west of Rainbow Avenue and east of Homestead Road. It will sit next to a new shopping mall, which is next to Tropical RV Centers.

The planning department specified the bank will have to have an address fronting on Highway 160. Planners noted the impacts to residences behind the property on Alfalfa Street could be mitigated.

First International Bank opened the first-ever bank branch in Amargosa Valley last year.

Plans for the Pahrump location show a building of 12,000 square feet with three smaller, adjoining, retail properties. A temporary modular bank building is being planned while the main bank mall is under construction.

The 1.1-acre property was rezoned from neighborhood commercial to mixed use. The Nye County Commission will consider the recommendation March 18.

First International Bank will join Bank of America, Nevada State Bank, Wells Fargo Bank, Community Bank of Nevada and Flagstar Bank in a growing Pahrump banking industry. Wells Fargo built a stand-alone building two years ago, after having had only an automated teller machine at the Rebel convenience store. Community Bank took over a Valley Bank, just built in Pahrump about five years ago.

The rezoning was passed without a fuss. The only discussion revolved around a request to pull an application for a master plan amendment and rezone it to mixed use, which allows a bank as a permitted use instead of general commercial.