All proposed commercial projects in Nevada from small apartment buildings to huge distribution centers require an entitlement from the city or county where they will be located. These legal approvals allowing a property owner or developer to proceed with a project are only granted after the developer follows a series of procedures set down by city or county planners. The process often involves public hearings and community input, allowing local residents to voice their opinions.
Regulations set up by cities and counties are designed to help communities grow in a manner that is logical, efficient, and equitable for both households and businesses. But, as with any government-run process, unexpected delays and roadblocks can occur. This can cause problems for developers who borrow money to finance their project. As the government works its way through all its required procedures, interest expenses mount, and the developer sees the cost of materials and labor go up with each passing week.
Melissa Eure is president of G.C. Garcia, a southern Nevada-based firm that coordinates with local and state governments on behalf of clients wanting to acquire, build, or redevelop a property. “The biggest pain point for developers is the regulatory environment and how much time it takes to get entitlements,” she said. “Entitlements, depending on the jurisdiction, can take six to eight months. Then, you’re looking at roughly another year to get through the civil improvement process, with technical studies for stormwater drainage, traffic, and underground utilities, as well as planning for curbs, gutters, sidewalks, and streetlights. You could be looking at close to two years before you can even get a shovel in the ground.”
Andrew Roether, City of Henderson‘s interim director of community development and services, explained, “When we take in an application, the first thing we do is review it as a team, and we give back a list of comments that need to be addressed before we can proceed. Then, we offer meetings with our staff to go over these items. However, sometimes we’ll get resubmittals that don’t address all the concerns, and so we have to send a reminder. If we go back and forth three times, if we’re having unresolved issues, we set up a meeting and have them come in, whether it’s virtually or in person, and go over the issues, because we don’t want these things to drag on any more than they do.”
Local governments have developed a variety of tools to help smooth the entitlement and permitting process. For example, Reno offers pre-application meetings each week. “Every Monday, we have a three-hour time slot where you can book a 45-minute window on Zoom,” said Angela Fuss, City of Reno‘s Assistant Director of Development Services. “You bring in your project and we have all the key departments there: fire department, planning, engineering, building. This is a great resource to get everyone in one [digital] room discussing the details of your project. That way, you’re not calling five different people individually. You have access to all of them.”
To shorten the timeline for entitlements, North Las Vegas offers a self-certification program in which an architect or engineer becomes certified after taking online classes. They can then certify that the project’s plans meet all of the city’s standards. “There is some auditing on the back end, but this enables them to get a permit in four days,” said Alfredo Melesio, Director of Land Development and Community Services for the City of North Las Vegas. “We have over 30 self-certified professionals on the list.”
Roether said Henderson has a free application called a concept plan review (CPR). “We always joke that we’ll take anything in as a concept plan review, even a plan written on a napkin,” he said. “But, of course, we tell the developers that the level of detail you provide to us is the level of detail that we can provide back to you. Then, we route those plans out to all the relevant departments for comments.”
Local governments encourage person-to-person contact and relationships as a way to address concerns and speed up the entitlement process. “At the City of Las Vegas, we have a person we call our ‘development concierge,'” said Seth Floyd, executive director of community development for the City of Las Vegas. “That’s not actually a title, but he’s a single point of contact for developers, and his job is to remove barriers to getting through the process. If something is hung up, his job is to get it unstuck, and he does a pretty good job of that.”
Because of the cyclical nature of real estate development and construction, city planners may find themselves either overburdened with work, or considering layoffs. To help with this challenge, they may turn to third parties for temporary help. “We try to do as many of the reviews in-house as we can,” said Floyd. “But, of course, we can’t hire 50 people for a project, because we don’t typically need 50 people. So, we rely, to some extent, on third-party inspectors and reviewers.”
North Las Vegas also outsources some entitlement functions, according to Melesio. “We want to make sure we meet our timelines, but there are always highs and lows in real estate,” he said. “When we do get a lot of developments, we outsource them to make sure we meet all our timelines. Our commitment is to the customer, and if we tell them three weeks, we have to get back to them in three weeks.”
The Reno planning department only sends out projects that are unique, according to Fuss. “UNR is getting a new stadium, which is a very unique building,” she explained. “We sent the building permit review to a third party that has expertise because they review stadiums all over the country. We also send high-rise buildings out for third-party review, but for the most part, we do everything in-house.”
Working with local governments to get a project approved can be challenging, especially for inexperienced developers or those who aren’t familiar with Nevada codes and regulations. Eure advised, “Most importantly, get help from someone local who works with the municipalities all the time. I have seen so many developers get their timeline extended because they don’t know how the submittal process, or even the building permit process, works. Then, they end up spending twice as much time or more because they’re making mistakes.” She added, “Go early. The earlier you can bring people on so they can look at the site plan, the better. Give yourself the time to do the appropriate due diligence. You will end up saving yourself a lot of time, money, and headaches later by doing that due diligence up front.”
After the original proposal is submitted, it’s important to stay on top of deadlines, according to Roether. “When it comes to notifying the public, we have hard deadlines by law,” he warned. “If we don’t meet those, we have to continue the application. So, keep in touch with the project planner and make sure to keep on schedule.” He added that it may be helpful for people planning a new project to review previous applications, which are available on the city clerk’s website. “We can let a prospective applicant know when another project similar to theirs was approved a year or two ago,” he said. “There may be something in that case file that they can glean to help them smooth out their process.”
Melesio said he always encourages people to call his office with questions and concerns. “Even though we have email and Teams meetings, I would encourage developers to pick up the phone and give us a call,” he said. “We actually will answer the phone. What I’ve always loved about local government is that this building is full of people who want to see the community succeed and do everything they can to make sure it’s successful.”
Balancing economic diversification goals with zoning requirements and local-level opposition is an important part of a planner’s job, said Roether. “We want to encourage new development and attract new businesses to Henderson, but we also want to minimize impacts on the surrounding properties and existing residents. That’s why the city has a development code. It’s a ‘living and breathing’ document that we’re always reviewing and updating with best practices.” He said the code establishes standards and requirements for different land uses to help achieve balance. “We want to ensure that we are protecting residents, that we have standards about hours of operation and proximity to residential, and that we’re doing enough to mitigate the impacts of what we would consider a noxious use or something more industrial. We listen to residents and consider their concerns as part of this process. We send out notifications to residents who are adjacent or near these projects, so they have an opportunity to express their concerns.”
Balancing economic diversification, zoning requirements, and public approval is even more acute in Las Vegas because the city is running out of land, said Floyd. “It is starting to grow up instead of out. Developers are buying land and going up a little higher with mid-rise development, especially in the urban core and some of our larger corridors. Obviously, that creates some tension with surrounding neighborhoods that have been accustomed to a lower-intensity development. We have identified in our master plan what we call transit-oriented development corridors, primarily on major streets like Charleston, Sahara, and Maryland Parkway. In areas where we know we’re going to have high-capacity transit, we will allow more intense development. We’ve loosened zoning requirements there to lessen parking requirements and allow developers to construct taller buildings.”
Trying to reach a compromise that satisfies all parties can add both time and cost to any project, according to Fuss. “When it has to go to a planning commission or a city council, you never know what additional requirements are going to be placed on your project,” she said. “When a new project comes in, we look at what’s next door. If you’re building next to residential, we want to make sure that we’re protecting those residents. Is extra fencing required for privacy? Maybe extra landscaping? How do we make sure that the headlights from cars visiting your building are not shining into the neighbors? That could add extra expenses for the developer.”
Dealing with opposition from neighbors requires advanced problem-solving skills as well as tact, whether it’s a high-rise building, a low-income housing project, a convenience store, or a data center like the ones that have caused so much controversy lately. “The struggle is real,” said Fuss. “We can’t vote no just because the neighbors don’t want it. There are private property owner rights, and we can’t just vote no on a property that is zoned and allows these types of uses. We just try to mitigate the impacts as best we can.”
City and county planners often work hand-in-hand with economic development agencies to help their communities grow in a way that best serves the needs of their residents. “We want industries that have good jobs and high-paying jobs, but as a city government, we are always in a reactive mode [when it comes to economic development],” said Fuss. “We can’t call a company and say, ‘Hey, we’ve got a vacant site. Come and build on it.’ However, groups like EDAWN (rebranded to Northern NV Now) try to bring in these good businesses, and we partner with them. They’ll reach out and ask us to meet with the developer, to walk them through the good and the bad and whether their proposed project could work here.”
Making the entitlement and permitting process fast and efficient not only helps homegrown companies, but it can also encourage developers from out of state to build here. A slow approval process in Nevada might convince a developer to locate his project elsewhere, meaning lower tax income, fewer jobs, and missed opportunities for Nevadans.
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