Rogich’s plan for bar loses game of inches

Erin Neff

Thursday, March 16, 2000 | 11:08 a.m.

The state's most powerful political adviser's attempt to juice in a tavern license got squeezed instead Wednesday -- by a mere 16 inches.

Just 10 minutes before the Las Vegas City Council's meeting, Sig Rogich learned that a city surveyor had mapped Rex Bell Elementary School closer to Rogich's former office building than anyone had previously thought.

Rogich, former owner of the state's largest advertising firm and an adviser to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, wants to turn his former offices on Westwood Drive -- in an industrial area near Palace Station -- into a tavern.

City surveyor Rita Lumos said the distance between Rogich's old offices and the school is 1,498 feet, 8 inches -- just shy of the 1,500-foot separation requirement between schools and taverns.

City code prohibits the council from waiving the 1,500-foot distance requirement.

Rogich's surveyor figured the same distance at 1,504 feet and never considered that issue a problem.

Due to the discrepancy, the council held the item for two weeks as a shocked Rogich left the meeting with a stern, "no comment."

In the past two weeks Rogich, his associate Lee Haney and attorney Mark Fiorentino made numerous trips to City Hall lobbying for the project and attempting to resolve a number of issues related to the application.

Initially Rogich focused efforts on his former office's distance to the Olde Town Tavern inside a Travelodge on Sahara Avenue.

Even unbeknownst to city planners at Wednesday's meeting, that tavern license had been transferred to a location on Rainbow Boulevard last month, making that issue moot.

"I didn't know that until just now," admitted city planner Robert Genzer when that issue was raised.

Neither did the council, until shortly before the meeting, leading some to question the oft-changing details.

"I am under the impression that these issues become a moving target," City Councilman Larry Brown said.

When he was briefed Tuesday, for example, nobody mentioned the school to him, Brown said.

Fiorentino was equally shocked.

"It's extremely unusual," Fiorentino said after the meeting. "I've never had them do this before. I have never had them question a survey."

Fiorentino said Rogich's surveyor used county recorder maps. The city apparently did a field study using computer-generated maps as a starting point.

Genzer said the city routinely accepts applications from prospective developers, even if later records show the city should have denied the application due to a distance requirement. It is only after the records determine the discrepancy that the developers are denied, he said.

Rogich's Ranger Building Corp. applied for the license and use permit last August. It was only during staff checks that planners found the office was too close to another proposed tavern, Camilio's Bar. The distance to the Travelodge was disputed.

Although Rogich applied for a tavern license, city staff suspected the real impetus for the use permit was to allow a sexually-oriented club at the site. That use is permitted in the area of Westwood Drive.

One of the concerns planners had was the percentage of space in the proposed tavern designated for retail use.

"Staff finds the provision of retail area, in particular, raises the issue of the potential for establishment of a sexually-oriented business in conjunction with the proposed tavern," the planning report states.

The Planning Commission last month denied the request.

Rogich has spent the weeks since lobbying council members with assurances he does not intend to turn the offices into a strip club.

Still with the nude scepter hanging over the case, Councilman Gary Reese said he would have trouble supporting the proposal.

Mayor Oscar Goodman also appeared to be against the proposal Wednesday as he cautioned Fiorentino to accept the abeyance.

"If we hear it today, it's going to be at 1,498 (feet)," Goodman said. Such a move would have resulted in a de facto denial.

Even still, Rogich's influence in local politics leads some to believe he will get what he wants.

Councilman Michael McDonald abstained on Wednesday's vote because Rogich is his political adviser. McDonald is facing a state Ethics Commission hearing next week to determine whether he should have abstained on an unrelated vote also involving his personal relationships with the applicant.

McDonald said he should be able to vote on the Rogich matter April 5.

Some had suggested McDonald abstained because the vote put him in a difficult position between his adviser and his friend, Rick Rizzolo. Rizzolo owns the Crazy Horse Too strip club, which would be in competition with any club that could open in Rogich's building.

Erin Neff covers Las Vegas government for the Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-4062 or 229-6436, or by e-mail at erin@lasvegassun.com