More subterranean parties approved

Jeff Schweers

Thursday, March 7, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

An underground house that won previous approval from the County Commission to hold large parties got a one-year extension on its permit along with an increase in the number of people it can entertain at one time.

The board unanimously approved the one-year extension on Wednesday, six months after initially allowing the owners a one-year use permit to hold up to four subterranean nocturnal soirees a month for up to 150 people at a time.

Wednesday's action modified the conditions of the permit to allow up to 250 people at a time for each function, the right to hold an aggregate of five parties at night a month, and to push the closing time from midnight to 1 a.m., with an hour afterward for clean-up.

Commissioners Myrna Williams and Jay Bingham were absent.

The home belongs to Thomas "Tex" Edmundson, a flamboyant Florida businessman who had the idea to make money off the legendary house on Spencer Street behind the Greystone office complex.

But neighborhood opposition kept Edmundson from getting permission from the county for five years. The board first denied the request in 1991 and again in 1993 after neighbors protested that approval would increase traffic and the number of cars parked along Spencer.

George Ogilvie, representing the Tex Tex Corp., said conditions were adopted to appease neighbors.

An agreement signed by neighboring property owners allows some off-site parking at the office complex. The company also agreed that all guests would be transported to the house by mini-vans, which will drop off and pick up the guests inside the compound.

The company also agreed to rebuild the driveways to commercial standards, as requested by the Clark County Planning Commission.

Karen Gordon, president of Activities Planners, a Las Vegas convention and events planner, said the company has had one party since the board's September action, a sit-down dinner party for 142 Sunoco executives attending the World of Concrete convention in January.

The next event is planned for later this month, she said.