School trustees OK sale of bus yard to North Las Vegas
A dilapidated 2-acre maintenance yard for the Clark County School District will be part of North Las Vegas’ downtown revitalization plan after trustees approved a notice of intent to sell the property to the city for $750,000.
Trustees wrestled with the topic for about an hour Thursday before voting 5-2 to sell the property at Lake Mead Boulevard and Jefferson Street.
Trustees Carolyn Edwards and Linda Cavazos rejected the plan, citing the $3.7 million cost of relocating the maintenance yard, which will be primarily funded by government services taxes.
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“I appreciate what you’re trying to do, and I think it’s a good thing,” Edwards told city officials. “My problem is having to incur a $3 million cost in order to accommodate you.”
The North Las Vegas City Council, in its capacity as the city’s redevelopment agency, will consider June 6 whether purchase the downtown property as a potential commercial or office space.
“For the school district, this is just a parking lot,” North Las Vegas Councilman Isaac Barron, whose Ward 1 includes the downtown area, told the School Board. “For us, it’s the future of our downtown.”
North Las Vegas city officials have purchased downtown parcels in piecemeal fashion over the last few years as part of an ongoing redevelopment plan that aims to attract restaurants and shops to the 160-acre urban core preliminarily known as Lake Mead Village West.
Improvements are slowing starting to appear, including the $2.4 million conversion of the Canyon Electric Building into a downtown-area library.
Additionally, construction started last year on the Maya Entertainment Center, a 14-screen movie theater, on a long-vacant 32-acre lot across the street from City Hall and the Silver Nugget.
“It would be nice to have something revitalized over there, quite frankly,” Trustee Linda Young said before voting to approve the land sale.
City and school district officials spent more than three years hammering out the deal to purchase the land, eventually agreeing to a price that’s more than $100,000 above recent appraisals, said Gina Gavan, economic and business development director for North Las Vegas.
If the City Council approves the purchase, the school district will be allowed to remain on the property for 36 months after the sale closes. The lengthy period, Gavan said, gives the school district time to relocate as city officials ponder what to build on the parcel.
“It’s a great opportunity to enhance the food and retail options we already have nearby, or maybe an office,” Gavan said. “We’re also looking at one amazing, large sit-down restaurant because the downtown area doesn’t have one of those right now.”
Contact Art Marroquin at amarroquin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0336. Follow @AMarroquin_LV on Twitter. Contact Meghin Delaney at mdelaney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0281. Follow @MeghinDelaney on Twitter.