Henderson planners: Neighbors need to see light

Greg Harman

Friday, June 30, 2000 | 11:22 a.m.

When the Clark County School District turned on its stadium lights at Foothill High School -- which were recently recorded at seven times their allowed level, there was only one invited resident ready to view them.

It certainly wasn't the "neighborhood meeting" the Henderson Planning Commission had asked the district for more than a month ago.

Faced with the district's failure to fulfill its May 1 directive, commissioners repeated their request Thursday night.

"This is kind of like the never-ending story," lamented Commissioner Danny Sanders.

"I thought when we asked for a neighborhood meeting we meant more than just the applicant" be invited, Commission Chairman George Bochanis chided Fred Smith, the district's director of construction management.

After the matter was first raised by complainant Jim Born the district discovered the lights at 800 College Drive had been improperly installed and had to be readjusted.

But when the time came to check on the district's progress only Born and a contingent of city and school district officials were present. None of the other residents had been invited.

Born failed to attend Thursday's hearing to consider his request to revoke the use permit from the school district. But another resident told commissioners that the lights are still very bright.

"Our whole neighborhood is brightly lit," said Don Pelissier. "For at least two or three rows of houses it's still brightly lit. I think this is an unreasonable amount of spillage."

The commissioners expressed surprise that the matter had not been resolved.

"To be honest with you, I thought this matter was resolved," said Bochanis. "I'm just real disappointed to hear from a homeowner that it is still blinding to them."

When staff was questioned about the requested neighborhood meeting, Bristol Ellington, assistant director of community development, informed commissioners that his staff had offered to supply the school district with the necessary addresses but its offer was declined.

Smith took issue with Ellington's statement.

"He was evidently talking to someone else," he said as he left the meeting.

But the majority of commissioners chose to err on the side of caution and put off a decision on the matter until residents have an opportunity to view the result of the district's adjustments.

Commissioners voted 3-2 to grant another 30-day continuance, with commissioners Dan Shaw and JoAnn Huffaker objecting.