County gives hotel monorail green light

Adrienne Packer

Thursday, Nov. 4, 1999 | 11:22 a.m.

During the final showdown with monorail proponents Wednesday, it was apparent embattled homeowners had lost a yearlong war when they encountered a Clark County commissioner armed with a cache of statistics.

After an emotional two-hour debate that included an abrupt recess to allow tempers to cool, the board voted 6-1 to approve the design and traffic analysis for the monorail. Commissioner Myrna Williams was the lone "no" vote.

Cam Walker, a consultant for MGM Grand-Bally's Monorail LLC, said the decision is expected to accelerate the state's review of the group's $600 million bond request.

"The process now moves to the state, which is looking at the feasibility and viability of the project," Walker said. "The state looks to the local body, the county commission, to see if they approve it."

Walker said if the state grants the funding, the three-year construction process could begin as soon as January.

The commission's vote infuriated residents who own homes in Desert Inn Estates, a country club community that will be bordered on two sides by monorail tracks that come within feet of property lines.

Paula Quagliana, president of the Desert Inn Homeowners Association, forced Commissioner Bruce Woodbury to call a recess after she accused the county of holding secret meetings, favoring casinos and ignoring residents.

"Each time we come here, we are left out of the democratic process," Quagliana, still fuming, said after the meeting. "The idea that the Clark County Commission would hold their hands to take people's property away is un-American."

Residents and business owners asked the board to delay its decision another two weeks while they continue to study the monorail design.

But Commissioner Dario Herrera, who was heavily backed by the casinos involved in the monorail group during last year's election campaign, strongly encouraged his colleagues to approve the design.

Herrera rattled off estimated ridership numbers and fare box figures supplied by the MGM Grand-Bally's group. He also offered statistics on how the monorail would reduce the amount of carbon monoxide emissions by 135 tons.

He said holding more discussions would not be productive and it is not the commissioners' responsibility to worry about the "minutia."

"All we do in the long run is delay a process that I think will greatly, greatly benefit the residents of Clark County in the future," Herrera said. Critics of the project who participated in two meetings with county planners last week said they were led to believe the board would delay its decision another two weeks.

The opponents, which include the Venetian hotel-casino, small business owners and residents, said they had made some progress during the two meetings. They convinced the monorail group to reduce the number of "straddle bents" -- concrete supporters that span a roadway -- from 14 to three on Paradise Road.

The number of straddle bents on Sands was reduced from six to two and on Koval from seven to two.

The compromise offered by the monorail group hardly satisfied Williams, who has always been opposed to the monorail route. Williams also took exception to Herrera's comments.

"I don't consider worrying about residents and businesses who could be harmed by this minutia," she said.

The meeting that commissioners had hoped to keep short quickly boiled down to a theme that has been present throughout the entire process of controversial project -- trust.

Critics of the project quickly noted after the meeting that Herrera might have favored the monorail company because he received nearly $70,000 from the Hilton, Bally's and the MGM Grand last year.

And homeowners noted that Woodbury and Bob Broadbent, who is chairman of the monorail group, are close friends.

That was not the only relationship questioned during the process: Ken Mahal, a senior activist, was told to sit down during a meeting last month after he questioned why Jacob Snow, a friend of Broadbent's, replaced Kurt Weinrich as executive director of the Regional Transportation Commission.

Homeowners also grilled Clark County planners about why they met with the monorail group and representatives of the Venetian on Tuesday to discuss the project. Quagliana said despite promises her organization would be invited to all meetings regarding the monorail, it was not notified of Tuesday's gathering.

The accuracy of design plans also were questioned. Opponents of the monorail said new plans were sprung on them during the meetings last week, but Walker and Broadbent insist they have not changed the designs since they were submitted to the county in September.

"We are being asked to 'Just trust us, everything will be OK,' " said a frustrated Lance Earl, who represents the Venetian.

Before voting in favor of the monorail project, Commissioner Erin Kenny ensured that the county would have authority to stop and take another look at the project at any time.