Lawsuit threat doesn’t stall cop building project

Bill Gang

Tuesday, July 20, 1999 | 10:48 a.m.

The Police Protective Association plans to go ahead with its office building in Enterprise township despite a lawsuit filed to stop the development by 393 residents of the southwest Las Vegas neighborhood.

While construction is still months away, the police group's attorney, John Dean Harper, said plans are proceeding on the business complex on 10 acres that would include a bar for off-duty Metro officers.

District Judge Mark Gibbons has not issued a restraining order or an injunction to prevent the project from going forward, and Harper said Monday he doesn't expect the judge to do so.

The lawsuit, filed through attorney Chuck Gardner, challenges a rezoning decision by the Clark County Commission in March permitting the complex in a neighborhood zoned for homes on half-acre lots. It contends the police association used its political influence behind closed doors to muscle the zoning change that was contrary to the county's master plan.

Gibbons on Monday told homeowners they need to refine their lawsuit before returning to seek an order halting the project on the northeast corner of Warm Springs Road and Valley View Boulevard.

Harper said that if such an order were issued, the homeowners -- known as Enterprise Residents II -- would have to post a bond "in the amount of the potential damage" the police association would suffer by any lawsuit-caused delay. That could be millions of dollars, he said.

Beyond that, Harper said he expects the lawsuit will fail because residents can't show they would suffer "any undue hardship" because of the commercial development.

But the residents complain that businesses would be adverse to the residential nature the area always has enjoyed.

Gardner has said that six of the seven commissioners voted to change the zoning after they were "encouraged" to do so during private meetings with police association officials.

"Because it was secret, because it was back door, the people of Enterprise Township were snookered," attorney Thomas Pitaro said at a June 21 court hearing. He called the December commission meeting "a sham hearing" that was the result of "the real hearing behind closed doors."

The police union has owned the property in the rural neighborhood for three years. Saxton Inc. is designing four office buildings for the site; two will be single story, 20,000 square-foot buildings and two will be two-story, 40,000 square-foot buildings.

In one of the buildings will be a "debriefing room," which is essentially a tavern where police officers can unwind.

No court dates will be set for the lawsuit until it is recrafted to meet Gibbons' requirements.