Growing Up RightTeeming with new residents and inundated with requests for new development, Clark County wants to plan smart for growth.
When planners in Clark County, Nev., saw applications for proposed mixed-use developments jump from three in 2003 to 40 last year, they decided the time was right to draft an ordinance to guide the new neighborhoods. County commissioners specifically asked the comprehensive planning department to write standards on the location, height, and density of the developments, recalls Rod Allison, the department's planning manager.
The new mixed-use ordinance, adopted in January, allows four types of mixed-use developments, ranging from an intense urban form with no height limits and a density of 50 units per acre to the least intense suburban form, which limits buildings to heights of 35 feet and density to 18 units per acre.
The ordinance has flexibility built in: It permits for density and height bonuses for builders who include design elements that improve pedestrian access or address environmental concerns. “We anticipate making adjustments to the ordinance. It's a good first step. We'll be building on it from here,” Allison says.
Rory Reed, chairman of the Clark County Council, championed the ordinance, which he says gives both developers and home buyers predictability about the future and positions the county well moving forward. “We have recognized that we're a young city, as cities go,” he says. “We have an opportunity to decide what we want to look like for the next 20 years. You probably only get one chance like that, and we're trying to take [advantage of] that opportunity.”
The county welcomed feedback from stakeholders in dozens of public meetings before approving the ordinance. At least one builder credits the county's approach. “The growth issues that normally plague people don't happen here. The planning's so good,” says Ken Becker, vice president of corporate marketing for Carina Homes. “They're wise in not trying to stunt growth but, just as in the past, to plan for it.”