Phil Speight, Chair, City of Henderson
Doug Shelby, Alternate, City of Las Vegas
Dale Askew, Clark County
John Sullard, Boulder City
Kurt Fritsch, Alternate, City of North Las Vegas
The Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition Technical Committee meeting was called to order by Phil Speight, Chair, at 4:00 p.m., on Thursday, April 13, 2000, in the Pueblo Conference Room, 1st Floor, at the Clark County Government Center, 500 South Grand Central Parkway, Las Vegas, Nevada, 89106.
The Agenda for the April 13, 2000, meeting was duly posted in compliance with the Open Meeting Law.
A motion was made to approve the April 13, 2000, agenda. This motion was approved unanimously.
A motion was made to approve the Minutes of the March 9, 2000, meeting. This motion was approved unanimously.
There were two issues discussed at the SNRPC Board March 23, 2000 meeting they are 1) boundary land use planning and 2) the Governor's Fundamental Review.
Phil Rosenquest, Clark County, stated that one of the mandatory components of the SNRPC Regional Policy Plan is boundary land use planning; therefore, this issue will be included in the plan activities. Mr. Rosenquist stated that the Coalition also discussed the need to develop a legislative package consisting of information from different agencies such as the Nevada League of Cities (NLC), the Nevada Association of Counties (NACo), and from the different jurisdictions. The package will be used as a tool of awareness on the various legislative issues. He suggested that the Technical Committee consider directing the lobbyist from the different jurisdictions to work together to assemble and coordinate that effort. The members agreed to follow staff suggestions and place the legislative package item on the Technical Committee's agenda for June and present the package in report form to the Coalition in July.
Because there were no specific details on the recommendations of the Governor's Fundamental Review Board, the members agreed to continue monitoring the process of the Board and report back with any new developments.
Agenda Item V. Receive an update on the Planning Consultant Activities; direct staff accordingly.Bristol Ellington, City of Henderson, informed the members that the consultants were in Las Vegas on April 5th and 6th. They were successful in conducting several interviews with included the opportunity to meet with Senator Jon Porter for over an hour. One of the recommendations made by Senator Porter was for the consultants to meet with Senator Ragio to gain from his experience in dealing with regional planning in the Reno, Spark's area. They are attempting to set up an interview with Senator Ragio. During their visit, the consultants also met with representatives from Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) and will meet with the RTC again when they return later in the month. The RTC will be preparing an urban form fitting which consist of looking at land use as it relates to traffic demands. Part of the urban form fitting will conduct a visioning process and the RTC has agreed to time the visioning process with timing for the regional policy plan so that the results and findings from the visioning process will be incorporated into the plan. The consultants still have approximately fourteen or fifteen more individuals they would like to interview and after that they plan to take time to brief the elected officials on their findings. The consultants plan to meet with the elected officials from each jurisdiction and the school district during each visit to Las Vegas. They would like to take the opportunity at the next Coalition meeting scheduled for April 27, 2000, to talk to the Coalition about the guiding principles which are 1) acknowledge and mitigate growth, and 2) respect local autonomy. The consultants will also discuss public communication and education out reach, the proposal for a speaker's bureau, and a media and editorial board. They are returning to Las Vegas on April 27th and 28th to continue their interviews. A copy of the revised draft as of April 6, 2000, Public Communication/Education Plan for the Southern Nevada Regional Plan Southern Nevada Region
(Exhibit A) was distributed to each Technical Committee member prior to the meeting.After discussion, the members suggested that a representative from the Technical Committee, as well as, one of the Planning Directors accompany the consultants when they meet with Senator Raggio.
Jeff Hardcastle, the Nevada State Demographer, gave the members present a presentation on the roles of the office and current projects of the Nevada State Demographer's Office (Exhibit B). Upon conclusion of his presentation Mr. Hardcastle informed the members that his office and the services they provide are available to the Coalition as a resource.
After discussion, the members agreed to have Mr. Hardcastle meet with the Planning Directors first. After the Planning Directors have had the opportunity to meet with Mr. Hardcastle, he will then be scheduled to present to the Coalition Board at their meeting scheduled for June 22, 2000.
Each member was provided with an information packet prior to the meeting. The packets included a copy of the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act (ACT) of 1998, the Project Charter, a letter that was signed by the majority of the Technical Committee members, a letter from U.S. Department of Interior National Park Service, and newspaper articles (Exhibit C). Mr. Rosenquist stated that some of the provisions in the charter will not allow local jurisdictions to use any money form the special account for park acquisitions even though the ACT states that some of the money can be used for parks, trails, and open space.
Each Coalition member was supplied with copies of a packet with various items concerning the ACT. The packet consists of an summary of the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management ACT of 1998, a summary of actions regarding the Project Charter, issues with the Special Account process, a page of bulleted key points, and a draft letter of concern to the Nevada Congressional Representatives (Exhibit D). Mr. Pinkerton stated that there is a need to have the local units of government as part of the steering committee and also part of the recommending committee to give their recommendations on the spending of funds from the Special Account which goes to the Secretary of Interior for approval. Staff has been unsuccessful in their efforts to get a response from the February 25, 2000, letter sent to the BLM asking for compliance with the ACT. Mr. Rosenquist suggested that the Federal Lands Disposal Subcommittee be allowed to begin assembling a list of projects in Clark County for disposal.
After discussion, the members agreed to present this item to the Coalition at their next meeting noting that that the intent is to elevate the issue to the next level of management within the BLM prior to taking any other action. In addition, to recommend that the Coalition direct the FLDS to develop their own list of projects for disposal.
Mr. Rosenquist stated that the SNRPC's application remains in the running after the first cut of applications in Washington. The receiver of the grant should be announced before the next Coalition meeting.
Mr. Rosenquist stated that Mary Kay will make the presentation to the Coalition at their next meeting. He stated that one of the conclusion during the conference is that a community vision process needs to be developed to elevate the Smart Growth principals and identity. No action was taken on this item.
John Sullard stated that Councilman Hardy asked to have a list of the accomplishments of SNRPC to include the accomplishments of the Southern Nevada Strategic Planning Authority (SNSPA) developed and distributed to all the members of the Coalition.
After discussion, the members agreed to direct staff to work together to develop the list and present it at the next Technical Committee meeting.
Mr. Sullard stated that there was an indication to the Agriculture Department that the cities have all the proper zoning established in regards to the keeping of bees and to the response to Africanized Bee incidents.
To his knowledge this is incorrect; therefore, he recommended having a presentation made to the Technical Committee on how each jurisdiction handle incidents and then present to the Coalition if the Technical deem necessary.
After discussion, the members agreed to direct staff to look at the zoning ordinances to determine if there is prohibition against bees within the jurisdictions. After that determination is made, the Technical Committee will discuss how each jurisdiction responds to bee incidents.
Mr. Sullard stated that in the future some type of regional calendar should be created for specific events and happening in each jurisdiction, such as the Farmer's Market in the City of Henderson. No action was taken on this item.
The agenda items for the April 27, 2000, SNRPC meeting is as follows:
Report on Boundary Land Use Planning
Report on Consultant Activity
Report on the Governor's Fundamental Review
Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act
EPA Sustainable Development Challenge Grant
ULI Smart Growth Conference
The next meeting of the SNRPC Technical Committee is scheduled for May 11, 2000, at the Las Vegas Valley Water District.
Mr. Sam Pierce, a representative of the Sierra Club, stated that he is very interested in the work of Coalition and he will be an observer in the meeting and would like to be placed on the mailing list.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:05 p.m.