By Vernon Robison

Moapa Valley Progress

The Moapa Town Advisory Board (MTAB) approved a series of proposed minor changes to the Clark County Land Use Plan at a meeting held Tuesday, November 29.

County Planner Kevin Smedley, who presented the changes to the board, explained that most of the changes were procedural in nature.

The biggest change was the addition of a new Institutional land use category, Smedley said. This category was established to include parcels of quasi-public use such as utilities and places of worship. In the previous land use plans, those parcels were designated as Public Facilities, Smedley said.

“Public Facilities was applied broadly to properties like NV Energy or various churches,” Smedley explained. “But with Public Facilities, those entities could circumvent certain requirements like the number of parking spaces and other things. So Institutional was created to not allow them to apply under Public Facilities. So they have to meet all those requirements like parking and so on.”

Starting with a map of the Warm Springs area, Smedley listed a number of changes to parcels owned by utilities and other quasi-public entities that would be placed in the Institutional category. All of these were approved by the board.

The former Warm Springs Ranch property, owned now by Southern Nevada Water Authority; along with adjacent parcels owned by U.S. Fish and Wildlife and the Moapa Valley Water District; were changed to a Public Facilities designation from their previous Agricultural land use designation. Smedley explained that these lands, once part of the Warm Springs Ranch had been acquired by public agencies to be preserved as a natural water source area and an education center for the public.

Warm Springs parcels now owned by the Desert Conservation Program, which had been set aside to maintain as habitat, was also changed from Agricultural to a Public Facilities designation.

The R.V. Park at Warm Springs also saw a change from Commercial Tourist designation to Commercial Neighborhood. This prevented the possibility of a casino to be built on the parcel, Smedley said.

The board approved all of these changes.

Many of the proposed changes to the lower Moapa map dealt with properties that had been set aside for Major Development Projects reverting back to previous designations. The Hidden Valley Ranch property and surrounding parcels which had been proposed for a major project was to revert back to an Agricultural designation. Likewise the Lewis Ranch property south of the I-15, which had been part of the Riverview Project, reverted back to Agricultural and Residential Rural designations.

These were all approved by the Board.

But there were a couple of instances of parcels where the Land Use Plan was proposing a change, as per landowner request; from a Rural Residential designation which allows one house per 2 acres; to a Rural Neighborhood designation allowing one home per acre. These proposals to increase possible density were rejected by the board.

In a separate zoning item, the MTAB approved a request from the owners of the Glendale facility for an extension on several waivers of development standards which had been issued three years ago after a fire destroyed the Glendale store, cafe and bar.

Glendale spokesperson Bonnie Rinaldi explained that the project had faced a lot of new conditions after the fire. These included an increase in the setback for the gas station canopy as well as curbs, gutters and sidewalk improvements for the roadway.

“We said: ‘Wait a minute’, we just wanted to get our store rebuilt,” Rinaldi said. “So we asked for waivers for those things.”

The waivers were granted with a three year review. The company was now asking for an extension on the waivers and also to make the waivers permanent so that it would not be subject to review unless they were applying for a significant change to the property.

“If we have a new proposal or expansion to the property then we will come back and do the street improvements,” Rinaldi said. “But for now we are just asking you to approve the waivers again without a time limit.”

The board unanimously approved the request.

Rinaldi concluded with a report on the new facilities at the property. She acknowledged that the new ARCO/AMPM store at Glendale had required a significant change in management for the convenience store.

“It does have more of an ARCO attitude than the family business feel that it had before,” Rinaldi said.

She explained that, after the fire, the Glendale partnership had rebuilt all that it could with the insurance money. But that had only gotten the shell of the building constructed. The group had looked for financing to finish the structure but had not been able to find a bank that would finance the project, she said. So Glendale owners had entered an agreement with ARCO that allowed them to finish the building. But this also took management of the store out of local hands and put it under the ARCO corporate control.

“The businesses opening soon on either side of the store; the restaurant and bar; will be family-run businesses,” Rinaldi said. “So that hometown feel will come back into it there.”

Rinaldi said that the new Glendale Cafe and the Broken Spoke Saloon were both expected to open in the next 60 days.