Boomtown clears last hurdle for massive expansion

Thursday, March 26, 1998 | 10:21 a.m.

The Regional Planning Commission late Wednesday approved the massive project for the hotel-casino in Verdi, despite vehement objections from residents who complained it will ruin their neighborhood.

"It will destroy Verdi," opponent Frank Collins told commissioners.

Construction that includes a 2,100-room hotel tower, 100,000 square-feet of casino space, an outdoor amusement complex and an 18-hole golf course will begin in 2000, Boomtown executives said.

Once completed, the project will turn the 120-room hotel and truck stop on Interstate 80 into northern Nevada's largest hotel and gambling resort.

"We move ahead and we try to dispel the concerns of our neighbors," Tim Parrott, Boomtown's chief operating officer, said after the commission approved the plan on a 7-2 vote.

Boomtown executives said the project will boost tourism in Washoe County. Planning commissioners agreed.

"A vote for this project is a vote of confidence for our industry," Commissioner Edward Meagher said.

Phillip Keene, chief executive of the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority, said the Boomtown expansion would help efforts to attract more tourists.

"The Boomtown development would begin to show movement," he said. "We are in a pitched battle with destinations around the country."

Boomtown officials have said they plan to market the resort to draw visitors from beyond the area's traditional northern California market.

Residents of Verdi, a suburban community snuggled along the Sierra foothills 10 miles west of Reno, have fought the project, saying their neighborhood will be destroyed by traffic, noise and concrete.

They also complained that the project does not fit in with the regional plan's designation of Verdi as a suburban area and argued that massive gambling projects should be limited to the city's casino core closer to downtown Reno.

The public is out of luck," said resident and opponent Diane Boone. "I helped write the Verdi plan and this is not close to what we had in mind."