Residents sue fire department over station in neighborhood

Adrienne Packer

Tuesday, Nov. 3, 1998 | 11:12 a.m.

A recent lawsuit that stemmed from the proposed placement of a fire station is one more example of how public facilities once valued by neighborhoods are now being shunned by residents.

The suit filed in District Court on Thursday by the Spring Valley Residents Association says a fire station planned for the southwest corner of El Capitan Way and Saddle Avenue is not compatible with the neighborhood.

The residents group is asking the Clark County Fire Department -- the target of the lawsuit -- to instead build on a Bureau of Land Management parcel on the northeast corner of West Flamingo Road and El Capitan.

"The primary difference is that the preferred location would place the fire station on an arterial outside of the residential neighborhood," the lawsuit says.

Steve La-Sky, the public information officer for the Fire Department, said Monday he was surprised neighbors opposed the facility.

"My concern is this could compromise our ability to do our jobs effectively," La-Sky said. "Response times are what it's all about in the life-saving business."

The residents fear fire trucks rumbling down 60-foot-wide residential streets would be a threat to the children that play in the neighborhood, according to the lawsuit.

Furthermore, the lawsuit says, they were never told a fire station could be build on their street when they purchased their homes. The homeowners are afraid the station may adversely affect property values.

Lesa Coder, assistant director of the county's comprehensive planning division, said more and more people are showing up at commission meetings to oppose public projects that were once viewed as neighborhood assets.

While Coder said she could not speak to the El Capitan site specifically because of the lawsuit, she said buildings like schools, churches and fire stations are built on land zoned public facility.

Until recently, however, zone changes for the facilities weren't a problem for residents.

"I do believe there has been more protest in recent times regarding those facilities," Coder said. "I don't know what to attribute that to."

Coder guessed that perhaps some users haven't been responsible when it comes to noise or maintenance and landscaping and that has given all facilities a bad name.

"Sometimes in some cases, people hear about a bad apple situation; operators that aren't as good as they could be," she said. "Then residents are real reluctant to do anything close to where they live."

Coder, however, pointed to a nursing home that was protested in the eastern part of the county. She said after the facility was built and open, neighbors wrote the county to compliment their new neighbor.

"There are good stories out there as well as a couple of the bad," she said.

La-Sky said he hopes residents in the Spring Valley area will come to accept the fire station.

"These citizens are within their legal rights and I feel for them," La-Sky said. "But we're great neighbors. Talk about housing heroes in the neighborhood."