Kyle Canyon development plan gets Las Vegas City Council approval

A development proposal calling for more than 9,000 new homes in northwest Las Vegas took a step forward Wednesday, but it’s likely years from becoming reality.

The City Council voted unanimously to approve the Kyle Canyon Gateway development agreement, a plan that seeks to replace about 1,700 acres of what is now open space on the urban outskirts with houses, businesses and schools.

The proposal, which won’t come to fruition until the economy improves to the point developers can sell parcels in the area, is a pared-back version of a pre-recession plan that called for 16,000 houses.

It’s on both sides of U.S. Highway 95 between Horse Road and Sheep Mountain Parkway, a generally open area on the route from Las Vegas to the rural Mount Charleston area.

"The economy of Las Vegas the economy of the world has changed," said Bob Gronauer, an attorney representing landowners KAG Property, LLC. "Because of all those changes, we are here today to ask for a change in the current development agreement for Kyle Canyon."

Although developers are scaling back, the plan still has skeptics who wanted more restrictions on gambling and alcohol sales and a different mix of parks.

Todd Schwartz, president of the Spring Mountain Ranch Master Association, a nearby association with about 1,600 homes, said residents in the area oppose off-site alcohol sales and widespread gambling in the commercial areas, which are near Scherkenbach and Bilbray elementary schools.

"The one thing we have fought out there is alcohol in the off-site sales," Schwartz said.

Gronauer, however, urged the council to maintain the flexibility for gambling and alcohol sales to cast the broadest possible net for tenants who might occupy the space.

He said competition is intense to attract top-tier grocery stores, and restrictions might discourage chains from considering the space.

"Don’t make a premature decision tonight to hurt yourself for a great development in the future," Gronauer said, adding the council and neighborhood residents would get a chance to weigh in on individual business proposals during future meetings.

Gronauer agreed to conditions to prohibit tavern, payday loan and sex -oriented businesses. He also agreed to requirements to set aside about 75 acres for three new schools, provide $4.1 million for a fire station, pay $218 per residential unit for a Metropolitan Police Department substation, construct a 46-acre floodwater basin and maintain the amount of parks and trails originally proposed though there would be 7,000 fewer homes.

"Even though we have less density, you are going to have more open space for those people to play in," he said.

It’s not clear when the development will go forward with construction.

The larger project was originally proposed by Focus Property Group. But the land was foreclosed upon in 2008 by Wachovia bank. KAG bought the land out of foreclosure.

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-229-6435.