Palm Hills residents to get a break from rocky history

Valerie Miller

Monday, Aug. 30, 1999 | 9:08 a.m.

Palm Hills has hit another bump on its road to completion.

The Henderson Planning Commission Thursday voted unanimously to deny a request by the developer, Desert Communities, Inc., to change the route allowed for trucks to haul gravel out of the site in order to complete the 162-acre subdivision.

Developers had requested the city to allow them to haul crushed rocks north on Horizon Ridge Parkway to the Horizon-U.S. 95 interchange instead of the already approved route south of the site on Horizon Ridge Parkway to Foothills Drive, then north on College Drive to the freeway, a less populated route.

Planners said the request to change the route would not only adversely affect the neighborhood but would have been another in a long list of concessions made to developers of the community.

"I think one of the major problems we have had over the last two years, we (the Planning Commission) have been told by the applicant 'We'll do this' and 'We'll do that' to comply with conditions, but six months later it doesn't mean anything," Commission Chairwoman JoAnn Huffaker said in frustration. "I have nothing to base any credibility on the fact that this applicant will do anything faster if we change the haul route or make more compromises."

The 3-year-old Palm Hills development has been plagued by problems almost from the beginning.

Originally developed by a partnership involving Jim Rhodes, founder of Rhodes Homes, the project was put in a court-appointed receivership after development came to a halt due mostly to financial problems.

Earlier this year an entity Jim Rhodes is affiliated with, Desert Communities, Inc., purchased the assets of the company that held Palm Hills, Rainbow canyon, LLC, again giving Rhodes some control over the development.

Shortly after the purchase by Desert Communities, Inc. the Planning Commission and City Council approved a use permit for a rock crusher to remove about 800,000 cubic yards of material over a period of years to complete the development.

Many residents showed up at public and neighborhood meetings to voice their concerns about both past problems with the development as well worries about safety and noise problems that could be caused by allowing a rock crusher.

As a result, with the approval came strict conditions imposed by the Planning Commission that set out a haul route, limited hours of operation and required the operation be monitored, as well as requiring the developer to post a bond to ensure that conditions were met.

About a dozen residents showed up to voice their exasperation at the latest problem they've had to face since moving into Palm Hills and the nearby Palm Canyon development.

"We worked on weekends and we had meetings with you (planners) for months about that rock crusher, and we finally agreed on a haul route," Palm Canyon resident Roxy Spencer said. "And now it's August and we're back here again. We have better things to do with our lives than to keep coming back here to fight to preserve our lifestyle."

"Horizon Ridge Parkway backs up to my house," said another resident, John Melanson. "How would you like to have 70,000 tons of gravel going by your house every day for years?"

The commission sympathized with the plight of the residents.

"This is really a nightmare situation," Commission Vice Chairman George Bochanis said about the problem-plagued development. "I oppose this because I feel residents have been through enough and it's time to stop it now."

Desert Communities can appeal the denial to the City Council, but that is unlikely, according to Bart Monroe, a spokesman for the company.