NLV City Council to decide on change in casino’s permit

Diana Sahagun

Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2000 | 10:59 a.m.

The Fort Las Vegas Casino will learn tonight whether the North Las Vegas City Council will allow it to operate without a hotel or shut it down for failing to comply with original requirements when it was granted a use permit.

City Attorney Sean McGowan said an attorney for the casino owners filed paperwork Monday asking for an amendment to the casino's gaming and license permit and waive the requirements to build a 100-room hotel.

In June the owners of the casinos, Patricia and Boyd Bulloch, were given 60 days to file a new use permit with the city and modify it to one that may or may not include hotel rooms.

David Crosby, the owners' attorney, told the council that the hotel condition should be waived because of its location and other circumstances.

In 1992 the council approved a nonrestricted gaming license for the owners of the 4,000-square-foot casino at 2428 E. Cheyenne Ave. with the condition that they would build a 100-room hotel and swimming pool two years from the opening date.

The North Las Vegas Planning Commission approved an extension of time on the license in 1997, stipulating again that the hotel had to be built two years from the opening date. The casino opened in March 1998.

The city has had the 100-room hotel requirement on gaming licenses since 1984. The city of Las Vegas and Clark County currently have 200-room requirements.

Other casinos, like Jerry's Nugget and the Bighorn Casino, were built before the requirement was passed in 1984 and were grandfathered in.

If the council decides to allow the amended permit, it would be considered a new permit and have to be sent back to the Planning Commission, McGowan said.