NLV Council rejects casino proposal

Lisa Snedeker

Thursday, Nov. 19, 1998 | 11:05 a.m.

The North Las Vegas City Council sent a strong message Wednesday to potential casino developers and residents: It does not support gambling in its neighborhoods.

While NevStar Gaming and Entertainment Corp.'s casino project breezed through the North Las Vegas Planning Commission last month with 6-0 approval and minimal citizen opposition, the City Council voted the project down Wednesday night in a 3-1 vote, with one abstention.

In the standing-room-only council chambers, about 50 residents spoke for and against the proposal to build NevStar 2000, a hotel-casino and entertainment center at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Coralie Avenue. In the end, the vocal majority won.

Councilwoman Stephanie Smith cast the lone vote in favor of granting the request for a use permit. Councilwoman Paula Brown abstained, citing a possible conflict of interest.

During the two-hour hearing, residents opposed to the project told the council that while they were concerned about increased traffic and crime as well as a drop in property values, their main objection was to the casino and its possible future expansion.

"Don't build a casino in my neighborhood," Alicia Avants, a mother of five teenagers, pleaded with the council. She echoed the sentiments of many of her neighbors.

John O'Keefe, senior pastor at the Fellowship Christian Church, said a family-friendly casino, as described by one of the NevStar 2000 spokesmen, "is at some level an oxymoron."

Michael Signorelli, NevStar's chairman and chief executive officer, wanted to build the $140 million project about 800 feet south of the intersection of Martin Luther King and Craig Road by 2000. The 35-acre complex would have included a 200-suite hotel, a 37,000-square-foot casino, a bowling center, a 12-screen movie theater, an arcade, retail shops, restaurants and meeting rooms.

Currently residents in the area must drive to the Texas or Santa Fe hotel-casinos or elsewhere in the valley to find similar amenities.

Marilyn Kirkpatrick, a 30-year resident of the area, said she was tired of having to take her business to Las Vegas and wanted to see North Las Vegas offer some of the same attractions.

"We've got to build a community," she said. "I wish this many of you had turned out for the meetings to build the new library."

Kirkpatrick was referring to the community workshops in which residents helped design the new North Las Vegas branch library to be located on the southwest corner of Martin Luther King and Alexander Road. The library's proximity to the NevStar 2000 project concerned some residents, as well as Councilman John Rhodes.

"It has a number of good things, but I can't get over it having a casino," he said. "It's too close to neighborhoods."

A number of residents said they would like to see the project located somewhere else, away from residential areas.

Signorelli, however, said if he could not build at that site, he would not build the project in North Las Vegas.

"There are five cities in Clark County," he said. "Maybe another community will be more receptive."

He added he was disappointed that emotions prevailed in the meeting rather than objectivity.

Arthur White, a business owner in North Las Vegas, was disappointed as well. He told the council he thought the project was important to the growing community.

"I think the council voted the way it had to vote, but I don't agree," he said. "Are we living in North Las Vegas or Utah?"

Mel Close, spokesman for NevStar, told the council the project would have brought the city roughly $1 million a year in revenues.

"That would pay for 10 additional police officers," he said. "It takes a casino to generate those kinds of dollars for North Las Vegas."

NevStar 2000 also would have added 1,200 jobs, which Signorelli promised Councilman William Robinson would be filled by North Las Vegans.

NevStar, which owns the Mesquite Star hotel-casino, may take legal recourse because the company met all the city requirements and was denied approval for a zoned use, according to Close.

But Robinson said he was denying the project despite the fact that city forefathers zoned and created infrastructure in the area for a casino.

"Thirty years ago this project was planned," he said, before moving for denial of the project. "Someone erred 30 years ago."

Smith said that while she is personally opposed to gaming, she had to vote for the project because developers had met the city's requirements to the satisfaction of staff. She also added that gaming was already in the area in the form of slot machines at Vons.

Mayor Mike Montandon, who lives near the area NevStar 2000 was slated for, made no secret of the fact that he did not support the project or any other proposal for a neighborhood casino.

The NevStar project is the fourth casino proposal recently denied by city officials. There has been a rush to have projects approved before Dec. 31 when state Senate Bill 208, passed by the 1997 Legislature, goes into effect, putting tough new requirements on proposed neighborhood casinos.

"North Las Vegas doesn't want gaming in its industrial corridor or in its gaming overlay areas," Signorelli said. "I guess North Las Vegas doesn't want gaming."