City Engineering

Special Improvement Districts

Improvement Districts are created to fund public improvements such as roads, curbs, sidewalks, utilities, etc. Usually, these public improvements are funded from the proceeds of a bond issue sold by the municipality. Bonds for your district were sold after a majority of the district's property owners agreed to the district. All properties benefiting from these improvements are included in the district. For more information or to make payments for special improvement districts, please visit this website.

Public Hearing Notice

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Resources

Overview

City Engineering is a division of the Department of Public Works and oversees design services, construction management, special improvement districts, flood control, sanitary sewer, land surveying and right-of-way services in the city of Las Vegas.

Sanitary Sewer

Subdivision Mapping

The city of Las Vegas Survey Section reviews and approves subdivision maps, parcel maps, reversionary maps, boundary line adjustments and certificates of amendment for technical correctness and conformance to all applicable local, state and federal statutes.

Certificate of Amendment Preferred Form

Design Services

City Engineering provides oversight for the design and architecture of city facilities including roadways, bridges, bus stops, intersection improvements, bike lanes, sidewalks, median landscaping, flood control, sanitary sewer, trails, recreation centers, fire stations, parks, parking garages and more.

Horizontal Control Network

The city is currently building a network of horizontal control stations for use on engineering and construction projects, and general surveying. The network is aligned to the current NGS geodetic datum and is compatible with the State Plane Coordinate System, Nevada East Zone and the Nevada Coordinate Reference System (NCRS). The backbone of this network is the Las Vegas Valley Water District (LVVWD) GPS base station network. When LVVWD broadcast coordinates are combined with an NCRS coordinate system, alignment to the city’s horizontal control network is virtually automatic. All elevations to be used on surveys within the city should be referenced to system of benchmarks that comprise the city’s vertical control network. Below are some coordinates on existing Clark County GIS control points, LVVWD base stations for reference and some coordinates for natural control on prominent structures.

Construction Management

Providing oversight for the city’s active construction projects and compliance for safety, environmental, costs, contract and design standards.

Vertical Control Network

The city maintains a network of of approximately 2,500 benchmarks for use on all engineering and construction projects aligned to the current NGS vertical datum, NAVD88. Periodically the network has been adjusted to account for subsidence due to seismic activity and groundwater extraction. Currently the city publishes benchmark elevations based on the most recent adjustment published in 2008. City benchmark elevation references should indicate the published adjustment (e.g., 1234.56’ NAVD88 2008 Adjustment). The vertical control network undergoes continuous maintenance as benchmarks are destroyed and replaced.

Find a Benchmark
Click here to try our new Find A Benchmark app, currently available in beta.
Report a Missing or Disturbed Benchmark, or Incorrect Information

Nevada Coordinate Reference System

The Nevada Coordinate Reference System (NCRS) works seamlessly with GPS and published RTK networks, and it is ready-made to integrate with GIS and other georeferenced data. The NCRS zones were designed to be as large as possible without sacrificing accuracy. They can be used in their original form (not scaled) and still be accurate enough to meet the needs of the surveying and engineering community. Please read the overview of this system and than utilize the resources below.

Surveying for Capital Improvement Projects

City of Las Vegas capital improvement projects (CIP) refer to all projects that are publicly funded and managed by the city. These include public works projects for roadway, sewer, storm drain and city-owned facilities such as parks, community centers and fire stations. The surveying for these projects are provided by consultants, contractors and city staff. All surveys for these projects are to follow city-specific standards.

Surveys prepared for engineering design include topographic mapping, as well as roadway alignment, right-of-way and boundary surveys. Most projects will require a record-of-survey prepared to memorialize any alignments, rights-of-way, boundaries and survey control the project scope requires. All topographic surveys that utilize aerial mapping require both verification and supplemental field surveys to be performed. Any projects that require design of any surface grading or drainage will require an existing ground DTM to be prepared. This DTM shall incorporate the best available survey information from all location methods performed; be it aerial mapping, lidar scanning, conventional surveys, etc. This DTM is to be approved by the project’s surveyor of record and submitted to the City Surveyor for approval prior to beginning any surface grading design. All CAD drawings prepared by the surveying consultant shall adhere to city CAD standards. See the Standard CIP Design Survey Scope and Requirements.

Construction surveying required for city capital improvement projects include construction layout/staking, utility final location surveys (open-trench as-built surveys) and post-construction monumentation surveys. All construction staking shall comply with state-mandated accuracies per NAC 625.775 . Be advised, the city does not believe a vertical positional certainty of 0.05 feet (or better) can be achieved through GPS measurements alone, and proper consideration should be given to the equipment used for stakes requiring that level of accuracy.”

Private Development Projects

Private development projects refer to all civil improvement projects administered by the Department of Building & Safety’s Land Development and Offsite Inspection division. Survey’s for these projects include engineering design for civil improvement plans, construction staking and utility final location.

All civil improvement plans shall be based on a land survey performed by a professional land surveyor registered in Nevada. These surveys should be referenced to a valid city survey benchmark located within close proximity to the project, as well as sufficient survey monumentation to control the boundary of the project property. The benchmark and survey monument information is to be included within the civil improvement plans.

All construction staking for private development projects shall comply with NAC 625.775. Be advised the city does not believe a vertical positional certainty of 0.05 feet (or better) can be achieved through GPS measurements alone, and proper consideration should be given to the equipment used for stakes requiring that level of accuracy.

Per NRS 455.131 all installed underground sanitary sewer and storm drain facilities within a public right-of-way or public utility easement shall either be located by the developer’s surveyor or the city. All maps should be submitted to the eighth floor of the Development Services Center, 333 N. Rancho Drive, with a completed submittal form.

The city inspects, reviews and approves Monumentation Tie Maps submitted by private sector surveyors to insure compliance with: NRS 278.371 - Survey, setting of monuments and preparation of final map; NRS 625.380 - Requirements for monuments; UDC Appendix D - Monumentation Requirements; and the Uniform Standard Drawings – Clark County Area. In cases where monumentation is called for which is not associated with a recorded map, such as Capital Improvement Projects (CIP), a Record-of-Survey must be filed to comply with NRS 626.340. These Records-of-Survey must be reviewed and approved by the City Surveyor prior to recording and before final release of the project can occur.

Flood Control

Las Vegas ranks in the top 6 percent of communities in the United States to achieve a Class 5 rating on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Community Rating System. This high ranking translates into a 25 percent flood insurance rate reduction for city property owners within the flood zone.

Flood insurance is available for all properties at a low cost through the National Flood Insurance Program. If you would like to know if you live in flood zone, visit the Clark County Regional Flood Control District or the call the city's Flood Control Section at 702.229.6541. If you require a written determination, pursuant to the Las Vegas Municipal Code No: LVMC 13.40.050, adopted by the City Council on April 16, 2003. Effective May 27, 2003, a fee of $ 20 is to be charged for each official written Flood Zone Determination. Inquirer must allow two to three working days for the official flood zone inquiry response to be mailed out on a first-come, first-served basis.

Pay in Person: Resident provides the property address and/or the Assessor Parcel Number with fee payment. Payment can be made by cash, check, money order or credit card payable to the city of Las Vegas. The Flood Control Section is located on the seventh floor in the Development Services Center building 333 N. Rancho Drive.

Pay by Mail: Resident provides the property address and/or the Assessor Parcel Number with fee payment. Mail your request with payment (by check or money order) to the following address:

City of Las Vegas Development Services Center, Flood Control Section (FZDL), 333 N. Rancho Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89106.

Drainage Studies

We review and approve technical drainage studies addressing the existing, interim and future hydrological and hydraulic characteristics of developments within the city that are more than two acres and/or located within a FEMA designated flood zone. Any development within a flood zone requires a technical drainage study that shall be approved by the city, Regional Flood Control and FEMA prior to the city allowing permits for construction. The city requires a letter of map revision (LOMR) from FEMA once the project is complete to reflect the actual change to the flood zones. The city adds a $50,000 line item to the improvement bond to make sure that the LOMR is provided. We use a checklist submittal process to screen drainage studies submitted for review.

View our Minimum Drainage Study Checklist that must be completed by the engineer and submitted with the technical drainage study. An electronic copy of the complete submittal is required to be submitted with one original hard copy of the study.

The engineer preparing a drainage study must meet with the Flood Control Staff to preview the study prior to the city accepting it for review. Call 702.229.6541 to set up an appointment to submit a new drainage study. Refer to the Public Improvement Work fee schedule for any applicable fees. Once the study is accepted, the review time is two weeks or less.

All drainage studies must follow the Clark County Regional Flood Control District Hydrologic Criteria and Drainage Design Manual. Also available is the current Clark County Regional Flood Control District (CCRFCD) Master Plan Update. These documents are available from the CCRFCD, located at 600 S. Grand Central Pkwy. Suite 300. They can be reached via phone at 702.685.0000 or visit their website at ccrfcd.org.

Right-of-Way

The Right-of-Way section reviews development plans for any additional necessary right-of-way needs. Additionally the section:

Acquires rights-of-way & easements on roads, sewer, flood, traffic & other Public Works projects
Reviews all Planning Actions to acquire rights-of-way & easements through dedication
Appraises land & real estate for city projects
Prepares and reviews legal descriptions and right-of-way maps/sketches
Creates and maintain GIS mapping layers for right-of-way purposes
Disposes of city right-of-way, when applicable, through the vacation process

To accelerate the processing of documents for approval on right-of-way items, the engineering consultant should work directly with the city to ensure accuracy of submittals of legal descriptions, maps, documents and supporting data.