Kyle Canyon Gateway OK’d

The city of Las Vegas has entered a development agreement with Focus Property Group for a master-planned community known as Kyle Canyon Gateway.

The agreement, adopted Wednesday by the City Council, sets development standards and design guidelines for the 1,700-acre community west of U.S. Highway 95 at Kyle Canyon Road.

Focus, which paid $510 million for the property at a Bureau of Land Management auction in 2005, is required to help fund roads, schools, parks and police and fire stations. The developer will meet with local residents to get ideas on design standards for mixed-use areas and the proposed gaming enterprise district.

Kyle Canyon is the first large-scale, master-planned community in Nevada that has a “traditional” neighborhood design, Focus Chief Executive Officer John Ritter said. It’s different from the “new urbanism” concept at Inspirada, a 1,940-acre community being developed by Focus in Henderson.

Development plans call for 16,000 residential units built around a town center area, he said.

City officials met with residents of northwest Las Vegas to help shape the master plan for Kyle Canyon Gateway. The development agreement allows growth in a way that preserves the area’s natural resources and incorporates them into the project, Las Vegas Councilman Steve Ross said.

One of the main objectives was to ensure that the primary arroyos running through the property are retained as open space.

“In addition to this being a sustainable community, this project is also an example of smart growth and protecting families,” Ross said.

Kyle Canyon’s design guidelines include detailed descriptions of how the developers are to incorporate and provide access to the area’s natural environment and proposed trail system. The arroyos are excluded from development and are integrated into the community’s parks and open space.

The plan also limits gated communities to a maximum of 4,000 units, or 25 percent of total residences. Solid block walls will be minimized and fencing that has an open design will be used.

Streets will be pedestrian-oriented with sidewalks and trails separated from the roadway by landscaping buffers.

Focus is also developing Mountain’s Edge in the southwestern Las Vegas Valley and Providence in the northwest.