Appeal to high court looms in Justice Center quarrel

Bill Gang

Wednesday, May 20, 1998 | 10:12 a.m.

A challenge to the way Clark County has seized downtown property by eminent domain for construction of the new Justice Center appears destined to be decided by the Nevada Supreme Court.

District Judge Mark Gibbons on Tuesday denied a motion by attorneys for a downtown law firm to overturn the county's seizure of its office, but postponed enforcement of his order until a high court appeal can be filed.

In questioning the taking of the law office building at South Third Street and Clark Avenue, attorneys John Netzorg and Thomas Beatty cast doubts on the process the county used to choose the site of the new courthouse.

Netzorg argued that in picking the location the law required the county to "weigh the best public good against the least private injury."

In the case of the Justice Center site between Third and Fourth streets four blocks south of Fremont Street, Netzorg charged that the only concern was whether it fit in with the city's redevelopment plan.

"If this is a redevelopment project, which it is, then call it that," he said.

But Deputy District Attorney Michael Foley countered that the County Commission "balanced the options the way they should" at a public commission meeting and concluded the downtown site was the best.

The court action was asking that Gibbons refuse to turn over the office building to the county as the first step in the project that is scheduled for completion in 2001.

But Gibbons ultimately rejected the request and set the wheels in motion for a Supreme Court decision.

Beatty had characterized the case as one of "constitutional protections where dotting the I's and crossing the T's counts."

"Is the cornerstone of the Justice Center to be the trampling of rights?" asked Netzorg, who represents the office building's owner Joseph Gould. The county's appraisal for the building is nearly $1.8 million while Netzorg said his appraisal is $1 million higher.

He argued that the $16 million estimated cost to acquire the two blocks of land chosen by the County Commission was the highest of four sites considered and not the one recommended in a $1 million study commissioned by the county.

Calling the study a "farce," Netzorg told Gibbons, "the county paid $1 million for a report and got ripped off."

Beatty said the law office of Barker, Brown, Busby and Sutherland -- with 50 employees -- will have to spend a million extra dollars over the next 10 years to rent comparable space downtown.

Netzorg and Beatty also were critical of the decision by the city of Las Vegas to create a "high-rise district" around the courthouse that restricts new construction to buildings of at least 75,000 square feet on a quarter block of land.

Netzorg fumed that smaller law firms are being economically prohibited from constructing modest new office buildings that would keep them in proximity to the courthouse.

"The city is taking an element of the community willing to redevelop the area and forcing it out of the market," he said.