Culinary, Turnberry dispute over planned resort grows

David Strow

Friday, Nov. 23, 2001 | 10:39 a.m.

Florida condominium developer Turnberry Associates has yet to break ground on its planned Las Vegas Strip resort, a massive London-themed casino at the site of the old El Rancho.

But it appears to already have a powerful enemy: The Culinary Union.

On Wednesday, the Clark County Commission was set to hear what appeared to be a routine matter -- an application by Turnberry to make several alterations to a resort design approved in February. Those plans called for a 2,050-room hotel and 90,000-square-foot casino, built to resemble the city of London. The resort will have features from the London skyline, such as Big Ben, the Tower Bridge and Buckingham Palace.

The two major new features are the addition of 842 timeshare units and a 500-foot high Ferris wheel-style observation ride. The Clark County Planning Commission approved these changes last month. The Culinary appealed this decision, forcing the matter to be decided by the Clark County Commission.

Culinary officials did not speak at Wednesday's commission meeting, and declined to discuss their motives afterwards. But at the planning commission meeting Oct. 18, Culinary researcher Dale Bretches made it clear Turnberry is in for a fight.

"Turnberry had made it clear it intends to approach its labor-management relations in the same manner as the Venetian, effectively guaranteeing picket lines outside of this property," Bretches said. He did not elaborate.

The feud between the Venetian and Culinary has been a bitter one, raging since before the property opened in 1999. The Culinary is demanding recognition by a "card check," under which the union is automatically recognized if it presents management with signed cards from a majority of a property's workers. The Venetian has repeatedly said it will only bargain with the union if it prevails in a National Labor Relations Board-supervised election. The dispute has led to two years of protests outside the Venetian by Culinary members.

The sidewalk in front of the Turnberry resort narrows to 10 feet in some places, and the Culinary argued Oct. 18 this would make public access and protests difficult. The Culinary also wanted a guarantee from county officials that its rights to protest on the sidewalk would be protected.

"There's plenty of room for handbilling," said Turnberry attorney Jeffrey Silver. "We can only surmise what their motives are, since these (design) items have been addressed or are being addressed."

Culinary and Turnberry officials are scheduled to meet to discuss the concerns. Since this meeting hasn't been held yet, the Turnberry application was delayed by the county commission until January.

Silver was unable to say when Turnberry would actually begin construction on the new resort. Once Turnberry gets its plans approved by the county, it can take those plans to investors and begin the process of raising money, he said.

"This is just the first step," Silver said.