Union against granting waiver to developer

Jeff Schweers

Thursday, Feb. 5, 1998 | 10:09 a.m.

Trade union representatives say they will campaign against Clark County commissioners who vote to grant developer Jim Rhodes a waiver that would allow him to sell more than 2 million tons of gravel around the valley.

Union organizers said letting Rhodes have his way is the worst kind of leap-frog development and lends fuel to supporters of a growth boundary that would hurt the building industry.

"If they think we're going to let these issues lend credence to the ring-around-the-valley people, they're nuts," said Bill Stanley, a business representative for the International Union of Elevator Constructors Local 18.

Stanley said unions oppose a growth boundary because it would hurt the livelihood of trade workers like carpenters and electricians, and leap-frog development stretches government services at the expense of taxpayers.

"If we don't get that type of development in check, people like (Sen.) Dina Titus are going to get their ring around the valley and limit growth," Stanley said.

Titus, D-Las Vegas, introduced a growth boundary bill during the 1997 Legislature that failed to get passed into law. Titus has said that the boundary combined with regional planning would help to limit urban sprawl and better manage growth.

About 200 members from 15 trade unions showed up at Wednesday's County Commission zoning meeting to speak out against Rhodes' application for the waiver. But the waiver request was delayed a third time, until March 4.

"A lot of us live out there," said Wayne King, an organizer for the Teamsters Local 631, explaining the presence of union workers outside the Clark County Government Center.

"He's tried everything he could for last two years to get that gravel plant approved," King said. "Now he wants to sell the gravel and have it delivered on roads that are not designed for that kind of heavy traffic."

The Teamsters are also fighting Rhodes on a related labor issue.

"His drivers went to election a year ago, and voted to unionize," King said. "As soon as they were certified he terminated them and sold his equipment."

Rhodes officials could not be reached for comment.

The County Commission approved the 1,400-acre, 9,000-unit master-planned Rhodes Ranch community two years ago along with a permit to have a gravel pit with temporary, portable concrete mixers.

Residents in the southwest valley community that borders Rhodes Ranch have opposed the gravel operation from the start, saying they are concerned about heavy gravel trucks driving down two-lane dirt and gravel roads.

The homeowners have taken Rhodes to court over his claim to the mineral rights he obtained from the Bureau of Land Management. They lost in district court but have appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Rhodes has agreed to confine excavation to what was needed for the golf course.

The county mandated that the gravel be used for on-site construction and off-site sales to other Rhodes' projects within a five-mile radius. The county health department's air pollution control hearing board allowed Rhodes to process 250,000 tons to ensure the pit would not become a commercial mining operation.

Last April, the county rejected a request by Rhodes to expand the gravel operation.

Engineers for Rhodes said they underestimated gravel production by 2 million tons and asked the County Commission to waive the five-mile radius so the company can sell the excess, which reaches several stories. The extra dirt has been valued at $7.5 million.

"That's 53,000 truckloads," King said. "That's an awfully big mistake."

King said dumping that much gravel onto the market would create an unfair climate for other gravel companies.

"They said they would drop the price so low, no one else is going to be able to sell," King said. "They're hurting legitimate law-abiding businesses and our members."