Two halfway house licenses delayed

Kris Hill

Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2001 | 10:37 a.m.

License applications for two proposed halfway houses for recovering addicts and alcoholics in a southeast Las Vegas neighborhood have been delayed until after an ordinance that would require them to be at least 660 feet apart is voted on next week by the County Commission.

It was only a partial victory for residents in the Hazelcrest neighborhood, near Flamingo and Sandhill roads. Two halfway houses that have been operating without business licenses during the past year will likely receive their licenses before the vote, Ardel Jorgensen, director of business licensing said.

That will bring the total of licensed halfway houses in that neighborhood to three. Even if they hadn't obtained licenses before the ordinance was passed, the two houses are more than 660 apart, Jorgensen said.

Because of a statute that requires the business licensing department to issue a license -- if it has been approved -- within 45 business days of the application being filed, the process can't be delayed further, Jorgensen said.

The two proposed halfway houses -- part of a group of five owned by Lorri Ahlm, her brother Phillip Ahlm and their mother Judy Nelson -- are across the street from one another and about 520 feet away from an operating halfway house.

If the ordinance passes, the owners will have to get special use permits from the county's planning division to open the two houses that are within the 660-foot limit, Jorgensen said.

A special use permit would be issued by county planners unless there were significant risks to public health or safety, such as major wiring problems in the house, Charles Pulsipher, county zoning administrator, said.

At this point Jorgensen doesn't know when licenses will be issued to the remaining two halfway houses. She has yet to determine if the ordinance will apply to the houses, she said.

It's not a matter of if they'll receive licenses, but when, she said.