Unfinished park prompts Clark County to stop home construction
Starting Friday no new homes will be built in Southern Highlands until a long-awaited sports park is completed.
In an email sent this month to the master-planned community’s developer, Clark County director of comprehensive planning, Nancy Amundsen, said the county will stop issuing residential building permits for the southern Las Vegas Valley community of more than 7,000 homes.
County commissioners will discuss next Wednesday whether to give Olympia Companies until July 31 to finish the park. Thursday was the deadline.
Commissioner Susan Brager, whose district includes Southern Highlands, said she intends to make good on her promise that residential construction won’t move forward until the park is open.
“I need to stand by my word,” she said. “They will get it finished.”
Olympia Companies spokesman Matt Driscoll said that the company has been mindful of the deadline but also was committed to the overall quality and safety of the park’s amenities.
“Some of the delays encountered were outside of our control, but we have every intention of offering a completed Sports Park to the County on or before the end of June,” Driscoll said in an email. “We are confident that this Park will be a first class addition to Southern Highlands.”
On Thursday morning construction was underway on the park, southeast of Stuckey Elementary School. Workers were installing basketball hoops and backboards, while semitrailer trucks dumped dirt onto the property. Several light poles and shade structures have been erected. Plans show it will have four lighted soccer fields.
Olympia has a deal with the county to build all the community’s parks in exchange for not paying a special construction tax of up to $1,000 a home. Between 1999 and 2007 the company built seven parks.
The sports park is the final park Olympia agreed to build. It was initially slated for completion in 2008 but was delayed because of the Great Recession.
It has been delayed many more times since then, including twice since December 2016.
Contact Michael Scott Davidson at sdavidson@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861. Follow @davidsonlvrj on Twitter.