State panel to hear protests of proposed North Las Vegas casino

Kris Hill

Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2001 | noon

Neighbors of a proposed Station Casinos site at Craig Ranch Golf Course in North Las Vegas will get to air their objections before a little-used state gaming panel.

A review panel of the Gaming Policy Committee Tuesday granted four residents the March 12 hearing on the City Council's approval of the casino site near Craig Road and Commerce Street. The panel is scheduled to vote on the site March 27.

Station Casinos sought the golf course site to replace an already approved location less than a mile away. Neighbors of both sites have expressed concerns over the effect of a nearby casino on their quality of life.

Neighbors have a number of concerns that met the panel's criteria, Deborah Lewis, spokeswoman for the North Las Vegas Neighborhood Preservation Group, said.

Residents near the proposed casino are worried privacy, increased traffic and people leaving the casino drunk and wandering through the neighborhoods.

They are also concerned about the safety of the students who attend Elizondo and Wilhelm elementary schools, the effect the casino would have on real estate values and the impact it would have on the city's understaffed police department.

Station Casinos spokesman Jack Taylor said the company had no comment.

This will be the second appeal the panel has heard since its creation in 1997 as part of legislation to restrict neighborhood casinos.

The first case was heard early last year when a group of residents appealed a Clark County Commission decision to approve a proposed casino in Spring Valley in southwestern Las Vegas. The panel upheld that appeal last year, and in January the developers dropped their lawsuits to reverse that decision.