Commitment of planners, developers and builders key to livability as plan is worked
The rain stops, the muddy fields and puddles dry and the building season gets underway in earnest. A very visual sign of the vitality of a market, building projects are generally a welcome sign though not always. The Board of County Commissioners concluded accepting public comment this week on the Comprehensive Growth Management Plan for Clark County which will direct how and where building – growth – will occur in Clark County for the next two decades. This plan is mandated by the state and has been two years in development. It deserves the diligence imposed by the process to assure we’re in a position to preserve the quality of life we currently enjoy along with being able to sustain the growth that will certainly come our way in the next two decades.
Key to the plan in many respects is the availability of industrial land or, as they are now being referred to, ‘lands for economic development’. These lands bring jobs to the county, in large measure, family wage jobs.
Recently, a global high-tech manufacturing firm was looking to locate a plant in the western United States and Clark County was on the short list of locales they were considering. Reportedly this employer will provide up to 2,000 jobs in the community where they finally locate. That is great news to be on the list for consideration of such a facility. While we had a piece of property available meeting their needs, the sad news was we had only the one site fitting their criteria. There simply was no other inventory available in the county. Whether our site is chosen is yet to be determined but if other potential employers come shopping and we have only one site to show them, or worse yet, none that fit their criteria, we’ll quickly become known for that instead of the many amenities the community offers and will just as quickly be left off of the consideration lists all together.
Addressing the drastic shortage of industrial lands the commission is proposing the addition of 13,105 acres of industrial land throughout Clark County along with nearly 150,000 acres of land dedicated to single family residential property. This is a strong and necessary move by the commission. If the plan holds, we’re much better suited to sustain the growth and development we have been enjoying the last few years and to do it in an orderly and supportable fashion.
The local mandate for concurrency requires the infrastructure (utilities, roads, schools and so on) be in place prior to development. As it happens much of that infrastructure has been built over the last four or five years with transportation projects alone accounting for 11 of the top 100 projects in that time. Schools represented the largest share of the largest projects totaling 19 of the top 100.
The research and planning are complete, and the citizens have had an opportunity to review and comment. It is now time to address any of the last minute issues that may have arisen and formally adopt the plan. Once adopted, let’s streamline the permitting process so that we’re known not only for having available land but land you can build on in a reasonable timeframe.
