VGK See Gold In Henderson, But Some Residents See Red Over AHL Arena Traffic At Henderson Pavilion; City Working With Traffic Engineer On Issues
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
The Vegas Golden Knights may rule the metro Las Vegas area as their fiefdom, but a VGK plan to build an American Hockey League arena of 6,000 seats at Henderson Pavilion has some residents upset that the AHL venue will create traffic problems in an already-busy area.
Residents have gone to a Henderson City Council meeting to voice their concerns over traffic after others said on an internet neighborhood site that Green Valley Parkway and Paseo Verde Parkway area is not “equipped to handle traffic for a 6,000 seat arena.” Check out their comments.
Then, there are Henderson residents who like the AHL arena idea. Tim Mullin posted this on Twitter in response to this story:
The city of Henderson has started working with a traffic engineer to look at ways at dealing with traffic flow, a city spokeswoman said Wednesday.
“We are at the very beginning of the planning process for a new, modernized entertainment venue that will cater to a number of community events, including AHL hockey games. The City has begun working with a traffic engineer to study ways to move cars and people from/to and around the site with a priority being placed on minimizing disturbances to the surrounding neighborhoods, businesses and public facilities,” the city’s Kathleen Richards said.
“We have a series of public meetings planned to provide information, correct misinformation and gather comments and concerns from the public,” Richards told LVSportsBiz.com Wednesday. She noted city residents can stay informed on the status of the project at hendersonpavilion.com.
Henderson residents won’t have to deal with the Golden Knights’ American Hockey League arena issues for at least a year or two because the Knights will rent the Orleans Arena for the 2020-21 hockey season to house their Triple A minor league team. The Knights are buying an AHL team in San Antonio and re-locating the franchise to the metro Las Vegas area. The AHL team will practice and be headquartered at the new $25 million Lifeguard Arena community ice center being built on Water Street in Henderson.
It’s unclear what the public-private deal to build the AHL arena will be between the city of Henderson and the Golden Knights. The city has discussed enclosing the 6,000-seat open air theater at the site.
Here are some more comments by Henderson residents about the AHL arena.
LVSportsBiz.com has emailed Golden Knights President Kerry Bubolz and VGK PR staffers in hopes of getting comments about the residents’ concerns. We will include the VGK statements if the team sends a response.
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