Holdout DI homeowners may appeal OK of Wynn resort

David Strow

Friday, Aug. 24, 2001 | 11:17 a.m.

Steve Wynn received a permit from Clark County Thursday night to build his latest Strip megaresort at the site of the Desert Inn, despite the protests of two Desert Inn homeowners he has been fighting in court since last year.

The Clark County Planning Commission awarded Valvino Lamore -- Wynn's holding company -- a permit to use a 53-acre land parcel at the northeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Sands Avenue for the construction of a 514-foot, 2,455-room resort casino. The northern end of this resort will be located at the site where the Desert Inn's southern hotel tower now stands.

"This is another great hotel for Las Vegas, not dissimilar to other great hotels Mr. Wynn has been involved in building in the past," said Greg Borgel, a planning consultant working with Wynn Resorts.

"We think this property is going to be a great drawing card for the Strip," Borgel said, one that could bring "a new surge of elegance" to the north end of the Strip.

Plans filed with the planning commission show the resort will feature a 45-story tower covered in gold glass, with a four-acre lake directly on the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Sands Avenue.

The use permit gives Wynn one year to begin construction of this resort, though this timeframe can be extended by the planning commission. The commission's approval covers the use of the land, not the construction of the resort itself. Construction plans must be approved separately by the Clark County Building Department.

Wynn spokesman Billy Vassiliadis said after the hearing that neither a start date for construction nor an opening date have been set.

The planning commission's decision can be appealed by any opposing party in the next five days. If that occurs, the Clark County Commission would have to also approve the use permit at its Sept. 19 meeting.

That option is now being considered by Stephanie Swain and Sharon Greenbaum, two homeowners at Desert Inn Estates. They are two of the 10 remaining homeowners on the Desert Inn Golf Course, and are involved in a lawsuit against Wynn aimed at stopping the redevelopment of the golf course to make way for the new resort. The other former homeowners -- about 40 in all -- have already sold their homes to Wynn, and these homes have been demolished.

And now, Swain said, Wynn has filed plans for a massive new resort without informing the homeowners or showing them plans.

"We always seem to be the last to know what our neighbor is putting up in our backyard," Swain complained.

Borgel responded that the permit application only covered the southwestern corner of the Desert Inn parcel, not the golf course.

"Nothing is happening there (on the golf course), so there was nothing to show them," Borgel responded.

Swain told commissioners that she and Greenbaum weren't concerned with the fact that Wynn wanted to build a new resort. But they did express concern that the development would remove the only access road between their homes and Sands Avenue -- and thus violate a November order by Judge Mark Denton requiring Wynn Resorts to provide the remaining homeowners with road access.

"We feel this proposal is inconsistent with ongoing litigation," Swain said.

But Borgel responded that the homeowners' access to Sands would be preserved. Though the current access road will be removed, an improved entrance will be made available, he said.

"That access to Sands will be maintained as long as they need it," Borgel said.

In the end, commissioners said they didn't have the power to intervene in the access issue by blocking Wynn's permit, and that it was up to Wynn to comply with the court's order.

And they saw no grounds to deny the permit; the commission staff noted in a report that the site is located in the Las Vegas Strip Gaming Corridor zone, and has already been approved for hotel-casino use several times "with more guest rooms and at a higher building elevation."

"We're doing planning and zoning, not construction (permits)," Commissioner Richard Bonar told Swain and Greenbaum.

After Thursday's hearings, Wynn Resorts officials remained tight-lipped on their plans, refusing to elaborate beyond what has been already filed with the planning commission.

Wynn will discuss the project "when he's ready, when the property is as (ready) as it will be," Vassiliadis said. "When that happens, he'll know, we'll know, and you'll know."