Las Vegas officials ready to study another Badlands plan
Plans to stretch more than 230 single-family homes across a large swath of the former Badlands golf course are headed for this week’s Las Vegas Planning Commission.
At the Tuesday night meeting, the commission also is slated to weigh in on a new public engagement program for developers who want to build on parks and golf courses that sit in the middle of existing residential developments.
Representatives of Badlands developer EHB Cos. have argued the city putting forth those new rules unfairly targets their project.
“We’re done with the games,” EHB Cos. CEO Yohan Lowie said Friday.
Past plans to put homes and condominiums on the 250-acre Badlands course have drawn the ire of some residents in the surrounding upscale Queensridge development. The course winds through parts of Queensridge, where homes are perched over the closed golf course.
The city’s public engagement plan, if passed, would require developers to hold neighborhood meetings and design workshops for their plans and send neighbors an “alternatives statement” detailing what would happen to the land if a golf course stops operating or an open space isn’t maintained. The statement also would need to outline why the developer wants to build there and whether there are changes to flood control and drainage easements.
Queensridge Owners Association attorney Shauna Hughes said Friday she expects to ask the Planning Commission to delay the new Badlands development plans so they will fall under a new citywide development ordinance.
“I think that makes perfect sense when this is the project that made the need for that ordinance in the first place,” Hughes said.
A new development policy would apply to 23 master development plan areas and special area plans in the city, 11 of which include golf courses, city planning officials have said.
The Las Vegas City Council has considered multiple development proposals for the golf course, amid intense urging from the developers and opponents.
The council approved in February the building of 435 condominiums on the course’s eastern corner, but has rejected or delayed the other Badlands plans over the past two years. EHB Cos. continues to work on those plans for the condominiums, Lowie said.
“They’ve rejected every proposal we’ve come in with,” Lowie said of the opponents to the development.
Representatives from both sides contend the other has been unwilling to work with them.
“I think the feeling is frustration,” Hughes said. “This is the third Christmas in a row, the third holiday season, neighbors have been brought to meetings, and it’s wearing.”
“They haven’t come back with an overall plan for the golf course as they’ve been instructed to do by the mayor and other members of council,” Hughes added.
The Badlands issue drove the rhetoric in the spring’s heated Ward 2 City Council race, which cost Bob Beers his seat to political newcomer-turned-City Councilman Steve Seroka. Christina Roush, a contender in the council race who was knocked out in the primary, opposed the Badlands development during the campaign. Seroka then appointed Roush to the Planning Commission. Roush couldn’t be reached for comment last week.
The council in September shot down Seroka’s pitch to put a moratorium on accepting plans for golf course and open space development to create a new citywide policy, but officials said they wanted to pursue the new policy without a moratorium.
A Planning Commission vote is the precursor to City Council consideration of the development plans. City planning staff recommends approval for the new Badlands plans.
Contact Jamie Munks at jmunks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0340. Follow @JamieMunksRJ on Twitter.
New plans for developing the Badlands golf course
• 75 lots for single-family residences spread across about 72 acres
• 106 lots for single-family homes on 77 acres
• 53 lots for single-family homes on roughly 34 acres
Badlands timeline
September 2015: EHB Cos., the developer behind the upscale Tivoli Village retail center, confirms it purchased the Badlands golf course, but doesn’t disclose plans for the property.
November 2015: The developer submits an application for a general plan amendment, rezoning, and site development plan to the city for a January Planning Commission meeting.
December 2017: A group of homeowners in the upscale Queensridge development, which weaves through the Badlands course, files a lawsuit that named three limited liability companies that own segments of the course and are controlled by EHB Cos.
Between January 12, 2016 and July 12, 2016, the Las Vegas Planning Commission voted five separate times to delay the application to a later meeting. The July delay was for 90 days.
Oct. 18, 2016: A divided Planning Commission approved 720 units at the eastern edge of the course, a fraction of the more than 2,500 housing units that were proposed.
November 2016: EHB Cos. withdraws its application for the portion of the development the commission didn’t sign off on.
Nov. 16, 2016: The Las Vegas City Council delayed taking action on the residential development proposal after a nearly eight-hour discussion on the subject. Mayor Carolyn Goodman urged compromise between the developer and the Queensridge homeowners association.
December 2016: The Badlands golf course ceases operation.
Feb. 14, 2017: The Planning Commission votes in favor of a 61-lot subdivision for the course. The next day, the City Council approved a dramatically scaled-back proposal for 435 for-sale condominiums at the course’s eastern edge. Goodman voices concern about “piecemeal” development, and said she wants to see a comprehensive development proposal for the rest of the shuttered course.
April 4, 2017: Councilman Bob Beers and challenger Steve Seroka emerge the top two candidates in the municipal primary, in a race where the Badlands issue fueled the rhetoric and spending.
May 2017: EHB Cos. submits new plans to the city, to develop a boutique hotel, more than 2,000 multifamily units and 65 homes.
June 13, 2017: Steve Seroka triumphs in the city’s general election, ousting Bob Beers to become the new Ward 2 councilman.
June 21, 2017: The City Council votes down a series of measures that would have allowed 61 homes on 34 of the course’s acres, and delayed voting on the larger development agreement. EHB Cos. CEO Yohan Lowie threatened to turn off the water at the closed course, withdraw the plans and sell the land.
June 2017: The water is turned off at the closed golf course.
August 2017: The City Council shoots down the latest plans.
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