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Nevada Assembly bill aims to preserve historic neighborhood

Posted at 5:26 PM, May 02, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-02 21:25:58-04

A bill in the Nevada Assembly would make an exemption to the gaming district for the historic Beverly Green neighborhood.

The neighborhood covers more than 100 homes between Paradise Road on the west and Sixth Street on the east and Oakey Boulevard to north and Sahara Avenue to the south, just a few blocks east of Las Vegas Boulevard. It was home to some of the movers and shakers of the Golden Age of Las Vegas in the 1950s.

But today, the neighborhood lies well within the gaming district. Currently, the gaming corridor is considered anywhere within 1,500 feet of the center line of Las Vegas Boulevard.

Assembly Bill 219, sponsored by Assemblywoman Heidi Swank (D-Las Vegas), who lives in the neighborhood, would make an exception for the area where Beverly Green is.

Supporters of the bill argue it would preserve the historic neighborhood and make it more difficult for it to be bought out to make way for large casinos or to be towered over.

While some in the neighborhood say they're happy to see new neighbors like Lucky Dragon expand on the Strip in the area, they don't want too much more encroaching on their residential area.

"There's places for casinos on the rest of the Strip that are suitable, but butting up against historic neighborhoods, I just don't see the reason for that," says Melissa Petersen, who is renovating a home in the neighborhood.

The bill has passed the Assembly, and is now being heard in the Senate.