North valley looks to significant construction changes in the year ahead
The North View takes a look at what the year has in store for the northern area.
HUCKLEBERRY PARK
Huckleberry Park, 10596 Farm Road, is set to celebrate its grand opening inside the Providence master-planned community.
The park draws its name from Mark Twain’s character Huckleberry Finn.
“The park was designed to reflect the character and value of the American spirit,” said Jason Thompson, executive vice president of operations and finance at Focus Property Group. “It’s a reference to young children and their colorful and playful past.”
The 8-acre park is set to feature dog parks, a multi-use events field, a full basketball court, swings, exercise trails, picnic areas and a small outdoor stage.
For more information on the park, call the Providence information center at 702-433-5084 or visit providencelv.com.
SKYE CANYON MODEL OPENING
Construction grading for the first phase of Skye Canyon started late last year. The first phase is set to include 700 homes near U.S. Highway 95 and Horse Drive.
The community, which was previously called Kyle Canyon, was going to be developed by Focus Development, which lost the property due to foreclosure in 2008.
The new developer, Olympia Companies, is working with Stonehill Capital Management and Spectrum Group Management to build 9,000 homes on 1,700 acres, along with parks, jogging and bicycle paths and hiking trails.
The master-planned community is estimated to take seven to 10 years, but a model opening is planned for the summer.
In addition, Indian Hills Park, designed inside the community at the southwest corner of Iron Mountain and Fort Apache roads, is set to be renamed the Alyn Beck Memorial Park this year after Metropolitan police officer Alyn Beck, who was shot and killed from ambush while eating lunch at a CiCi’s Pizza in northeast Las Vegas on June 8.
“This is going to be a good year in terms of development,” said Ward 6 City Councilman Steve Ross. “Unlike the other five wards, Ward 6 continues to grow.”
CONSTRUCTION UPDATES
A walking path is planned between the Viper Lacrosse Fields at 6105 N. Durango Drive and the Raptor Play Park at 6005 N. Durango Drive.
Additional restrooms are planned at Teton Trails Park, 7850 N. Bradley Road, at the request of residents.
Construction of the crossing under U.S. 95 and Durango is near completion. The contractor is placing backfill over the excavation to finish the project.
Construction of the Rainbow storm drain at Ann Road and Tropical Parkway is substantially complete, and the contractor is working on punch list corrections to close out the project.
Work continues on the excavation and installation of the Grand Teton storm drain system on Durango between Grand Teton and Ackerman Avenue to channel storm drain water to the newly installed underground system. This project is approximately 55 percent complete and scheduled for completion by mid-2015.
TULE SPRINGS
The U.S. Senate approved a historic lands package attached to the National Defense Authorization Act that declares prized prehistoric fossil beds near North Las Vegas as a government-protected national monument in early December, and President Barack Obama signed it into law Dec. 19.
The measure creates the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument. It also grants UNLV a 1,886-acre parcel in North Las Vegas for a future campus and 600 acres for a job creation zone.
“This area covers a greater span of time than any other Ice Age fossil site,” said Jill DeStefano, president of the Protectors of Tule Springs, a volunteer group formed to assist in the preservation and protection of the resources of the area. “This has 250,000 years of uninterrupted geologic history. It documents two different ice ages.”
Tule Springs Fossil Beds outside Las Vegas is set to become a national monument, preserving its thousands of fossils that show traces of Ice Age mammoths, bison and American lions.
DeStefano said that once the legislation becomes law, the National Park Service will appoint an interim superintendent to lead the council in the Legislature. The legislation also calls for the creation of a 20-member advisory council to shape the development.
“2016 will be the 100th-year anniversary of the park service, and we’re hoping to have something available to the public by then,” DeStefano said. “Right now, we’re still in the planning stages, but we are ecstatic beyond belief.”
TRUE WILD SANCTUARY
In November, the city of Las Vegas approved a special use permit for the nonprofit True Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary to rescue and provide a permanent, safe home for abused, unwanted, neglected and abandoned exotic animals.
“We are very realistic with the sanctuary and all of the work there is to do,” said Tamara Mardueno, founder of the nonprofit. “The sanctuary will not be finished by 2015, but we would like to complete some habitats and continue helping as many animals as we can by providing or assisting in placing them in a proper forever home at another sanctuary.”
The city permit will allow the sanctuary to house animals, which include small primates, such as marmosets and capuchins; mammals, such as coati mundi; and kinkajous and small cats, such as servals.
The sanctuary will allow no breeding or exposure of the animals for profit. Once at the sanctuary, the animals will not be removed, adopted out or sold.
Although the sanctuary won’t be open to the public, Mardueno said its goal is to educate people about the value in conservation of wild animals and the dangers of owning them as pets.
For more information, visit truewild.org.
THE FUTURE OF NORTH LAS VEGAS
North Las Vegas plans to move forward with its development project at Apex, a roughly 20,000-acre industrial park, this year.
The city is taking advantage of the economic diversification district legislation written for Tesla’s manufacturing plant in Northern Nevada that allows big tax breaks for companies that move into the area.
Mayor John Lee hopes to use the tax incentive to lure businesses to North Las Vegas.
Conversations are taking place with a major developer to build a water pipeline in the area, according to the mayor’s office chief of staff, Ryann Juden.
“Our hope is that in the spring, we’ll be able to approve private financing of the water pipeline,” Juden said. “We have major announcements coming up that will make our vision of the Apex into a reality.”
Park Highlands, a 2,600-acre master-planned community, is set to break ground this year in North Las Vegas.
The 15,000-home development east of Aliante Parkway will be the largest master-planned community built in the Las Vegas Valley since the start of the Great Recession.
Juden also added that the city plans to have “major movement” in the downtown North Las Vegas area.
“We want to change the face of downtown and make it exciting,” Juden said. “We have outdoor dining, retail and entertainment components planned to redevelop the district.”
Other upcoming announcements include changing the College of Southern Nevada Cheyenne campus to CSN North Las Vegas Campus and plans to extend the 215 Beltway and turn the surrounding land into real estate.
“With the passage of the Tule Springs bill and its establishment of a national monument and accompanying job creation zones combined with our earlier announcement about significant progress in developing the Apex Industrial Park, I am confident that North Las Vegas will help lead the way in moving the Southern Nevada economy to the next level,” Lee said.
Contact North View reporter Sandy Lopez at slopez@viewnews.com or 702-383-4686. Find her on Twitter: @JournalismSandy.
