Relocated resident may lose NLV home

Kris Hill

Thursday, April 5, 2001 | 10:57 a.m.

A resident moved by the city from his sinking Windsor Park house to a home in Walker Park may lose the new residence.

The North Las Vegas City Council found Wednesday night that Ron Anderson had breached an agreement with the city that requires him to live in the house, and it voted to begin the foreclosure process.

Anderson is the only homeowner found in breach of the agreement that provided him a $50,000 loan from the city to move from Windsor Park in 1996.

Homes in Windsor Park, near Martin Luther King Boulevard and Carey Avenue, had been slowly sinking for three decades because of poor soil conditions. The city received federal dollars to help homeowners defray the cost of moving out.

The loans, offered to 240 homeowners to purchase new homes in Walker Park, will be forgiven in 10 years if the residents occupy the homes for the first five years.

Anderson's neighbors complained to council members that they have never seen him stay overnight and that there have been a number of tenants over the years.

Wilma and Shedrack Ficklin have been Anderson's neighbors for five years. The couple not only worried about who was living at the house, but also about the appearance of the home.

"If you come out and look at my house, it's a showplace," Shedrack Ficklin said. But he said Anderson's house looks like something found in a slum.

Patrick Nohrden, Anderson's lawyer, contends that the promissory note for the loan does not clearly define the term "occupy."

Nohrden argued that his client has maintained a room there and has slept there on occasion and is therefore in compliance.

Anderson said that the home is currently occupied by a close friend. He briefly lived there in early 1996, but the home has had at least two other occupants.

Council members did not seem impressed by Anderson or his lawyer's arguments.

"If he's not going to live there, then there are a lot of other residents who need a home," Councilman John Rhodes said.

Another frustrated resident, Dorothy Walker, asked the council to take the neighbor's concerns into consideration.

"We were so proud when they built those homes for us. We've honored the agreement," Walker said.