Soil contamination perils LV commercial site

Erin Neff

Monday, Sept. 11, 2000 | 11:33 a.m.

For years residents in the neighborhood of Decatur Boulevard and Vegas Drive have complained about a centrally located eyesore that doesn't just look horrible, but also hampers other redevelopment efforts.

A collective cheer rose from the area when the city recently discussed plans to buy the old Decatur Shopping Center for $2.9 million.

But hopes of enticing redevelopment money to turn the pigeon-infested building that has become a haven for illicit drug sales into a service-oriented commercial strip have hit a snag that may delay any change.

A benzene spill, believed to have come from a Rebel gas station that once stood on part of the site, has seeped into the soil, causing uncertain contamination of the ground water both under the property and to the east.

"This is just something that the residents are so sick and tired of," Las Vegas City Councilman Lawrence Weekly said of the lack of development at the site, which is in his ward. "We are trying to get this taken care of."

Environmental scientists' preliminary studies of the benzene seepage place cleanup costs at $150,000 to $346,000. But the studies have not conclusively determined the extent of the contamination, David Oka of the city's Redevelopment Agency said.

"We could get actual bids (to clean the spill), yet we can't guarantee that there won't be cost overruns," Oka said during last week's Redevelopment Agency meeting.

The Las Vegas City Council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency, was troubled by the city's potential liability if the spill proves larger than anticipated.

"In a worst-case scenario, we the city and the (Redevelopment) Agency could be liable for $200,000 to half a million dollars," Councilman Larry Brown said.

Rossmore Development Co., current owner of the shuttered shopping center, has reserved $346,000 in a bank account for the cleanup efforts.

David Johnson of Rossmore said his company inherited the contamination when it received the site from the estate of the former owner in the late 1980s.

Ideally the city would like complete remediation of the site before the close of the sale, Brown said.

But Lesa Coder, the city's director of the Office of Business Development, said the cleanup could take two years.

Mayor Oscar Goodman said he believes it would be hard to avoid any liability in the contamination.

"Once the city gets title to this, we're going to be liable," Goodman said.

Rossmore will meet with city staff members to work out details of the cleanup and the city's purchase of the property.

A presentation is expected at the Sept. 20 meeting of the Redevelopment Agency.