DI homeowner appeals Wynn casino resort plan

David Strow

Monday, Sept. 10, 2001 | 10:44 a.m.

The Clark County Commission will consider Steve Wynn's application to build his latest Strip megaresort at the site of the Desert Inn later this month, following an appeal of the Clark County Planning Commission's approval of the project.

The planning commission on Aug. 23 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 hotel-casino and a 4-acre lake fronting the Strip. But this decision will now have to be approved by the county commission, following an appeal by Stephanie Swain, a homeowner at the Desert Inn Estates.

Swain unsuccessfully argued against Wynn's application at the Aug. 23 hearing; planning commissioners said they were powerless to address her concerns in a use permit hearing, since it was purely a zoning matter.

The commission will consider the appeal Sept. 19 at 9 a.m.

"We intend to affirmatively present our proposal to the county commission on Sept. 19, and we believe the property, on its own merits, is something that will be welcomed and approved by the commission," said Marc Rubinstein, senior vice president and general counsel of Wynn Resorts.

Swain's appeal lists nine reasons for rejecting the permit, including an argument that the permit was "inconsistent" with an ongoing lawsuit between Swain and other Desert Inn Estates homeowners and Wynn Resorts. The homeowners are trying to stop Wynn from redeveloping the golf course for use in a resort project.

The appeal also cited the loss of an access road to Sands Avenue, allegedly without notice to the homeowners, "life-threatening denial of access to emergency vehicles," potential loss of property values from reduced access, and a lack of information about the continued use of the golf course.

"We have lived on these properties, which we own and have paid a high premium financially and physically year after year .... only to be ignored in the master plan/land use guide standards for approval demonstrated by this application and the planning commission," Swain wrote in a letter to the planning commission. "It may very well be that not all of our concerns fall under this commission's jurisdiction, however, we must voice our rights as citizens and neighboring landowners on every level and in every forum."

"(The appeal) is consistent with her manifest intent of delaying and obstructing any project Mr. Wynn proposes on this site," Rubinstein said. "We do intend to live and let live as neighbors, and we have no intention of interfering with their neighborhood as a result of this project.

"We believe the commission will see that once they understand the scope of this project. They will see there really is no basis for an appeal."