Developer seeks master‑plan amendment to add 183 units in Rainbow Canyon; applicant and HOA discuss gates and ridgeline protections

Staff described a three‑part request to amend land use, rezone parcels and approve a tentative map that would add 183 units to Parcel M in Rainbow Canyon, increasing total units within the community to 2,073 (below the plan cap of 2,988). Planning staff recommended approval and noted the request includes revisions to hillside overlays, ridgeline exhibits and the circulation plan.

Michael Tassy, representing the applicant, said the request primarily cleans up earlier hillside regulations and combines existing pods into a single tentative map covering roughly 70 acres within a 196‑acre parcel. He told the commission the proposal would disturb about 23 acres previously identified as nondisturbed in exchange for restoring about 13.1 acres and providing nearly 16 acres of open space where only 3.5 acres are required. "We're proposing to protect the ridgelines in this area," Tassy said, and noted a traffic study had been accepted by the city.

Tassy also said the applicant is working with the Marble Mesa homeowners association and has agreed, outside of a condition the commission can impose, to install a gate at Marble Mesa to reduce through traffic. Dallas Holmes, identified as an HOA representative, told the commission he and neighbors pushed the applicant to remove townhomes adjacent to Marble Mesa and said the developer had committed to a gate agreement and to relocating lower‑density product closest to the existing neighborhood.

Staff and the applicant addressed resident concerns about emergency evacuation and visibility of new homes from existing neighborhoods, describing landscaping and a six‑foot block wall along ridgelines and noting multiple access routes exist from Lake Las Vegas Parkway. After public comment and commissioner discussion, a motion to approve the applications (subject to findings and conditions) carried.