New Public Works base opens in southwest LV

County to pay only $155 a year to lease property

Clark County on Wednesday unveiled a new $22.6 million facility for its Public Works Department.

The 52,000-square-foot building, located at 9935 S. Jones Blvd. in the southwest Las Vegas Valley, will house about 75 employees and act as a base of operations for the department’s road, construction management and traffic management divisions.

“The idea was to bring all of public works … into this campus here,” Public Works Director Denis Cederburg said.

The facility sits on 77.5 acres owned by the federal Bureau of Land Management. The county is paying only $155 a year to lease the property, county spokesman Erik Pappa said.

Nearby home construction visible from the facility’s front door illustrates why the new building is needed.

The valley’s southwest quadrant has seen explosive population growth in recent years. Much of that has been in unincorporated communities such as Enterprise and Spring Valley and therefore falls under the county’s purview.

With more homes and people come demands for new streets, traffic signs and signals.

Public works employees have access to workshops and materialsatthenewfacilitytomeetthat demand. A construction laboratory will be used to test concrete, asphalt and soil compaction. Employees can monitor traffic signals from an on-site control room.

The county plans to move its automotive division, a fuel station and auction yard to the site.

“We have plenty of room for growth,” Cederburg said.

The project was first advertised to the public a decade ago, but the county put it on the shelf from 2009 to 2013 because of the Great Recession.

Construction began in May 2017 and finished at the start of this month.

Commissioner Susan Brager, who represents the district where the facility is located, said she was proud to see the project completed.

“This building is going to be standing for much longer than we are,”shesaid.

Contact Michael Scott Davidson at sdavidson@reviewjournal. com or 702-477-3861. Follow @ davidsonlvrj on Twitter. ON EDUCATION

Chase Stevens Las Vegas Review-journal @csstevensphoto Clark County’s new Public Works Field Operations building on Jones Boulevard near Cactus Avenue will have about 75 employees.