Plant’s future to be debated

Jeffrey Libby

Friday, Aug. 31, 2001 | 10:54 a.m.

Henderson resident Alice Purvis could be Poly West's worst nightmare. The 1947 graduate of Basic High School and retired buyer for the nuclear industry dug up newspaper reports of safety and labor violations by the Texas-based trash bag manufacturer while "just trying to find out" about her new neighbor.

That Internet research, along with concerns aired by other nearby residents, is clouding a proposal by the parent company, Poly-America, to build what would be the largest manufacturing plant built in the Las Vegas Valley in a decade.

On Tuesday, the Henderson City Council will hold a public hearing before casting a final vote. The Planning Commission earlier this month granted a variance to the trash bag manufacturer. But Purvis' husband, James, appealed the decision last week.

Poly West wants to erect 32 75-foot silos at a proposed 380,000-square-foot plant. Regulations allow a maximum height of 50 feet in the park southeast of the Mission Hills neighborhood that is zoned for light-industrial use.

The plant would be the company's fifth, producing trash bags and plastic film for such western regional clients as WalMart and Costco.

Local business groups have lined up to support Poly West. The Henderson Chamber of Commerce and the Nevada Development Authority sent letters to the Planning Commission touting the jobs and the economic diversification the plant could bring. The plant will hire 100 workers initially. It could employ 500 workers in seven to 10 years.

The safety concerns first aired by Purvis haven't changed minds. Nor has the fact that the plant will pay workers an average of $6,500 less annually than other Clark County manufacturing jobs.

"The question is what you want to see in your neighborhood," Ron Meek, president of the Chamber of Commerce, said. "But I see the plant as a plus for the town. Plastic is something everyone comes into contact with daily, in one form or another. It makes sound economic sense."

Meek said he did not see the plant as a safety hazard. Neither does Fulton Cochran, deputy fire chief, who testified to the proposed plant's safety before the Planning Commission.

But Poly-America had three large fires in the late 1980s and early 1990s, according to reports by The Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Dallas Morning News. A representative for Poly-America also verified those reports in testimony before the Planning Commission.

Fire departments from four cities evacuated more than 250 residents while putting out a 1991 fire at the home plant in Grand Prarie, Texas. Plant officials blamed two other major fires on arson.

In 1996, 78 undocumented workers were arrested in a raid by Immigration and Naturalization Services, according to newspaper accounts.

By Tuesday, Purvis, who is still researching, may have more information for the City Council. Other residents say they will air concerns about the plant's compatibility with the neighborhood.

And unlike the Planning Commission, which is limited to making decisions based on land-use issues only, the City Council will have the discretion to vote in what it considers to be the best interest of the community.