Wednesday, April 22, 1998 | 9:59 a.m.
Unless the Barbary Coast hotel-casino and the Flamingo Hilton hotel-casino can work out their differences over the design of a pedestrian bridge at Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo Road, the Clark County Commission may make that choice for them.
That's what commissioners told representatives from both companies Tuesday after hearing reports from both on their separate plans for building pedestrian crossings at the busy Strip intersection.
"We may get to the point where we have to impose a design," Commissioner Bruce Woodbury said. "This can't go on forever."
Attorneys for both sides were confident that something could be worked out in the 30 days they were given by the Commission to work with public works officials on a compromise.
"We'll have half of a nightmare and half of a beautiful corner" if an agreement can't be worked out soon, Commissioner Erin Kenny said.
Kenny was referring to the pedestrian bridges under construction at the south and west legs of the intersection. That project is being built privately by the Bellagio hotel-casino after forging separate agreements with Caesars hotel-casino and Ballys hotel-casino to build a privatized walkway connecting the three properties.
Commissioners also thought they had an agreement with the hotels to jointly build bridges at the north and east legs of the intersection, as Barbary Coast lawyer Michael Leavitt reminded them.
The board on Dec. 16 ordered staff to begin negotiations on the bridges, but in March the Flamingo Hilton decided to shift gears -- designing its own north leg across to Caesars after the county had spent $300,000 on engineering designs.
Hilton lawyer Greg Jensen said doing so would save the county $3 million. But Leavitt offered another plan that included the south leg and the north leg he said would save the county twice that amount.
Leavitt also argued that the Hilton plan would disrupt pedestrian traffic at the intersection, but the Barbary Coast plan would follow the existing patterns.
"If the Flamingo and Jensen are willing to maintain the existing pedestrian patterns," Leavitt said, "then we won't have any problems."
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