Rural residents oppose county zoning change

Adrienne Packer

Monday, Jan. 21, 2002 | 10:47 a.m.

Before investing a quarter-million dollars into renovating their home, Pat and Jerry Bendorf sought assurance that no unseemly developments would encroach on their rural property.

The word from Clark County officials sealed the deal.

But the Bendorfs and their neighbors soon learned that the fate of land in the airport-controlled area, in the southwest part of the Las Vegas Valley, is unpredictable and its development isn't necessarily dictated by county planners.

In a public meeting, Planning Commissioner Will Watson put it to Pat Bendorf plainly: "What they told you is absolutely correct, but totally worthless."

That's because, no matter what the master plan says, the County Commission can approve zone changes that do not conform. And the airport, when it sells the land to developers, does not ask about future zoning intentions.

The Spring Valley Master Plan shows surrounding property labeled residential estates that will eventually be zoned "open space," shielding the Bendorfs and their neighbors from business developments along Sunset Road.

When the Bendorfs placed their call to the county, the couple didn't know McCarran International Airport -- which controls vacant parcels off Sunset -- had traded 70 acres of neighboring land to a real estate broker who wants to build an industrial complex.

The zone change request submitted by Scott Gragson, who has negotiated 17 land exchanges with the airport, conflicts with the master plan approved by the Clark County Commission in 2000.

The proposal by Gragson's company, Southern Nevada Beltway, was rejected by the Spring Valley Town Board. But the Planning Commission approved it last week.

The Clark County Commission is scheduled to review the proposal Feb. 6, when it meets as the zoning board.

"It was such a set-up deal; nobody even talked," Jerry Bendorf, a retired Clark County firefighter, said of the Planning Commission meeting.

The Bendorfs live in the county's cooperative management area, a 5,300-acre swath of public land that two years ago the federal government turned over to McCarran to control.

The airport is responsible for trading, selling or leasing property within flight path boundaries to prevent unsuitable development like neighborhoods from being built.

But like critics of the airport's disposal process, the Bendorfs and their neighbors who live near Sunset and Jones Boulevard are questioning whether the airport's practices unduly benefit private investors.

Most proceeds from the sales and leases of airport-controlled property go back to the federal government and the airport. The state's schools receive 5 percent.

Pat Bendorf questioned the fairness of the airport's swap with Gragson.

Land zoned residential estates is worth far less than property designated for industrial use, she said. When Gragson acquired the land, it was valued at $4 million.

A former member of the Clark County School Board, Bendorf said that if the zoning is going to be changed anyway, area schools would benefit more if the county changed the zoning before the sale, rather than allowing developers to increase the value of the land with a zone change.

"This is taxpayers' land and we're not making money off it? It's ridiculous," she said.

Aviation Director Randy Walker, who orchestrates land swaps, said he has no control over zoning once the land leaves the airport's possession. The county would not ask to counter its own master plan, he said, and he does not get involved in developers' plans that might require rezoning.

He acknowledged that real estate brokers often make a profit off of zone changes. If Gragson is allowed to rezone open space property to industrial, the value of the land would increase significantly, Walker said.

Walker added that the airport does not support such zone changes.

Gragson's proposal, which is being pitched by real estate attorney Chris Kaempfer, shows an industrial park with more than 1 million square feet worth of warehouse space. Seventeen warehouses or office buildings are planned.

Plans show commercial development across Sunset Road from the residences and office-professional development on the north. The industrial complex would sit on the acreage between.

Kaempfer did not immediately return phone calls on Friday.

However during a Planning Commission meeting earlier this month, he told the board that the project fit with surrounding developments. Across Sunset Road is zoning for an auto mall and adjacent properties are zoned commercial.

"Let's see if we can do something that makes sense," Kaempfer said.

Bill Moore, who also lives near the proposed site, said residents who attended public hearings on the master plan agreed to commercial zoning 660 feet back from Sunset Road -- doubling the amount county planners recommended.

Moore said residents were generous, because an additional 660 feet zoned open space would act as a buffer to their neighborhood. Gragson acquired all 1,320 feet.

Moore fears that once an industrial park is built, remaining vacant pieces near their homes will be zoned commercial.

"Even if they get a little bit, it will start spreading, and soon I'll have a Super Wal-Mart behind my house," Moore said. "We're not fighting the project at this point, we're fighting the zoning."

Walker said while the airport doesn't want additional residential developments in the cooperative management area, it tries to respect homeowners already established.

"Some of the land can't legally be used for residential," Walker said. "But it wouldn't be fair to plop commercial or industrial developments in between homes already developed."