Time runs out for Henderson casino

Greg Harman

Friday, Aug. 25, 2000 | 11:20 a.m.

A long-planned neighborhood hotel-casino was a victim of growth Thursday night when the Henderson Planning Commission rejected a third zoning extension for the project.

Commissioners said that after five years of surrounding residential growth, gaming is no longer a reasonable use for a vacant 25-acre parcel off Lake Mead Drive.

The parcel, south of Lake Mead and west of Stephanie Street, has received two time extensions on its gaming zoning in the past but Thursday night the extensions stopped.

A unanimous vote denied a third, one-year zoning extension for the proposed South Pacific hotel-casino.

Planning Commission members said the growth of the surrounding residential area since 1995 prompted the denial.

Attorney Brett Larson, representing majority owner Richard Thurman, complained that expansion of Lake Mead and surrounding streets and a difficulty with a utility company easement had handicapped the developers. But he insisted they were just about ready to tackle the project.

"The area is still not yet ripe, but it's getting ripe," Larsen said.

But Planning Commission member George Bochanis said, "Gentlemen, we drive these streets every day, and I can't see they will be able to tolerate the size project you're proposing."

Commissioner Dan Shaw agreed. "I think the nature of the neighborhood has changed dramatically since 1995," Shaw said. "I think the site plan is really inappropriate."

Richard Thurman, majority owner of the 25-acre parcel, said he does not know where he will go with his property from here.

"The neighborhood grew up around this project well aware of what was going in," said an attorney for one of the minor partners as he left the chambers.

"The real issue is age," Assistant City Manager Bonnie Rinaldi said before the meeting. "With everything that's developed around there it's no longer nearly as appropriate.

"With the separation of some of the property there is no longer room for all of the ancillary uses for the casino as it was first approved."

On another matter, commissioners also denied a rezoning request that would bring 6.8 acres of commercial development into a primarily residential area of the Westgate Planning Area in Green Valley.

More than 50 opponents packed the chambers in solidarity against the project but only one resident was allowed to plead his case against RNG properties' proposed project.