Monorail details hammered out

Adrienne Packer

Wednesday, Oct. 27, 1999 | 11:28 a.m.

Brain-storming discussions about how to run a proposed monorail along Paradise Road this week have so far brought ideas ranging from an underground tunnel to single pylons in the median.

But despite concessions offered by monorail supporters, representatives of disgruntled homeowners believe they're on a road to nowhere.

"There was lot of discussion about different design alternatives, but nothing was decided about anything or is there apt to be in a few days' time," said Jon Twichell, a transportation expert hired by the Desert Inn Estates Homeowners Association.

Having already been told by Clark County commissioners that the $600 million monorail project will move forward, Desert Inn residents are simply fighting to keep it from destroying their property values.

MGM Grand-Bally's Monorail LLC chairman Bob Broadbent revealed plans last week that showed 14 "straddle bents" -- concrete beams that span the width of a roadway -- along a one-mile stretch of Paradise Road.

Homeowners in the adjacent Desert Inn Estates groaned. Paradise Road business owners balked. And the commission directed the monorail group, county planners and concerned residents to meet immediately.

Broadbent said that during the first meeting, engineers working on the monorail project agreed to scale back the number of "straddle bents" along Paradise to four or five.

Broadbent said three would be constructed at the entrance of Desert Inn Estates to allow traffic to move freely through the intersection and two would be built by the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Sun Harbor Budget Suites.

On the remaining stretch of Paradise between Desert Inn Road and Sands Avenue, the monorail would glide along tracks on single pillars in the median.

"There is not quite as much visibility because the pylons in the center blocks out the view of a car for a half-second," Broadbent said. "But you've got that problem all over town."

Clark County Assistant Planning Director Lesa Coder said several designs were suggested Monday, and planners are now drawing sketches of each alternative in preparation for another meeting Thursday morning.

"We'll go over the sketches and look at the benefits and constraints," Coder said. "We won't look for one everyone will be 100 percent happy with because I'm sure no one will be 100 percent happy with any of them. We'll look at which will be the most logical, reasonable and preferred."

Twichell said the original "straddle bent" design not only upset homeowners, but also concerned others who attended the brain-storming meeting, including more attorneys representing more property owners.

Twichell said as more information is collected from the monorail group, businesses along the 4-mile monorail route are becoming more concerned.

"People are slowly coming to realize what damage to their property value and enjoyment of their property this thing would cause," Twichell said.

"It is typical, though disappointing the Planning Department has not exerted more energy in doing something about this situation rather than cramming a bunch of meetings into two weeks."

Despite objections from some commissioners during their Oct. 20 meeting, the board finally agreed to delay decisions regarding the traffic impact study and design of the monorail until Nov. 3.

During the last commission meeting, homeowners tried to convince the board to kill the project. They said allowing a monorail to pass by their homes with its passengers peering into their yards is a violation of their Constitutional rights.

Homeowners also tried to convince the monorail group to buy their property. Broadbent rejected the possibility Tuesday, saying his company and the property owners could never agree on the appraised value of the homes.

"We're trying our best to be civil and not get mad," Broadbent said. "It's a matter of planting bushes and big trees that would block the monorail. We'll try to do it all."

When the collection of business owners, residents, planners, monorail backers and hotel-casino attorneys meet again Thursday, they will study how the monorail will travel along Sands Avenue.

Attorneys representing the Venetian hotel-casino have expressed concerns about how delivery trucks will access the Sands Expo Center if the monorail supports prevent left turns.

The monorail route approved by the commission shows the light-rail traveling from Bally's north to Harrah's, east to Koval Lane, north to Sands Avenue and east to Paradise. The monorail route terminates behinds the Sahara hotel-casino.