Businesses near airport ask for more parking room

Thursday, Sept. 19, 2002 | 9:56 a.m.

Owners of businesses oriented toward the gay and lesbian community charged Wednesday that Clark County Aviation Department officials have deliberately cut off access to parking in a congested area north of McCarran International Airport.

Ed Uehling, owner of the building with the Icon nightclub, said airport officials have refused to meet with business owners from the cluster of bars and clubs north of the Tropicana Avenue-Paradise Road intersection.

Uehling and others from the neighborhood spoke at the regular meeting of the Clark County Commission zoning board. On the table was a proposal to build a golf course and accompanying facilities on 44 acres the airport owns near the intersection.

Uehling said he supports the project, but that some way should be found to accommodate the demand for parking in the area.

"This is a public trust of land, and it shouldn't be used as weapon against our community," he said.

Josh Ryan, a female impersonator who performs as Sasha Scarlett at Sasha's nightclub, said the difficulties in finding parking for customers coming to the area "was an issue of a conservative agenda against gay and lesbian businesses."

County Aviation Director Randy said customers of the neighborhood's bars, restaurants and nightclubs years ago parked on airport land, but those areas were blocked off because of liability concerns.

Most of what the airport owns in the area now is leased to other companies, or soon will be, he said.

Walker said earlier talks between the business owners and the airport staff did not produce a resolution to the parking problem because the owners seemed to have difficulty getting money together to cover required improvements to the lots or to cover leases for the space.

The airport is not interested in giving away the area for free, he said.

However, Uehling and other activists said they have offered to lease areas that have not generated any county income for years. And they said the airport has granted much more favorable deals to other interests.

Some county commissioners were irked that instruction to county planning staff last March to arrange a meeting between the business owners and airport staff never happened.

"I'm concerned that we've given the impression that we really don't care about the business owners involved," Commissioner Erin Kenny said.

Walker said he is happy to talk with the business owners, but they may not get everything they want. He said the 44-acre property now slated for a golf course would be hurt if several acres were peeled off for use as a local parking lot.