Sloan heliport proposal concerns residents

Dan Kulin

Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2003 | 10:58 a.m.

The Clark County Department of Aviation will likely recommend construction of a regional heliport on county-owned land in Sloan, but some Henderson officials and residents worry that location would bring helicopter noise to the city's southwest neighborhoods.

Others are concerned a heliport in Sloan would adversely impact nearby Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area, possibly to the point that helicopters wouldn't be allowed over the area, which would steer helicopter traffic over much of Henderson.

Henderson City Councilwoman Amanda Cyphers said she will be following the matter closely because helicopters have the potential to damage quality of life.

"Whether you live next to it or they fly over your house helicopters have a huge impact," Cyphers said, adding that sometimes she is awakened early in the morning by helicopters flying over her house.

A report done for the County Aviation Department evaluated 13 potential sites for a regional heliport to serve Grand Canyon tour companies. Based on factors including land availability, distance from the customer base on the Strip, terrain, and surrounding land uses, the report identified three sites as the most suitable for a heliport -- land in Jean, Boulder City's Eldorado Valley, and Sloan. The report concluded that Sloan was the best location for a heliport.

County Aviation Department Director Randy Walker said the Jean and Eldorado Valley sites are too far from the Strip to be attractive bases for helicopter tour companies. While the county could offer incentives such as lower rent and fuel costs at a regional heliport, the government could not force the helicopter companies to locate there, he said.

But the Sloan site is just off Interstate 15, and only 11 minutes by car past McCarran International Airport, where many tours depart from now, he said.

A public meeting will be conducted at 6 p.m. Jan. 26 at the Clark County Government Center to review the suggested heliport site. Walker said the County Commissioners could vote to designate a heliport site during their Feb. 3 meeting.

Barring any new issues arising during the public meeting, Walker said he expects his department will recommend that commissioners select the Sloan site.

The county bought 45 acres in Sloan for about $11 million during the summer, because Walker and others thought the area might turn out to be the best site for a heliport. But Walker said the county's ownership of the land was not a consideration in evaluating the sites.

The county is looking for a regional heliport because the state Legislature imposed a Jan. 1 deadline for counties with a population over 400,000 to study non-urban heliport locations. Ideally, all Grand Canyon helicopter tours would be based from a non-urban heliport, officials have said. Walker said the Jan. 1 deadline was unrealistic because the studies couldn't be finished in time, but he noted that they are only a month behind the target date. There is no penalty for missing the state's deadline, he said.

Walker said under a best case scenario, a heliport could open in Sloan in about 4 1/2 years. If that is the selected site, the county would have to do an environmental analysis of the project, and then design and build the heliport. That heliport would probably average about 80 to 90 round-trip helicopter flights a day, he said.

The debate over where a regional heliport should go has drawn strong reactions from residents and officials in Henderson and Boulder City.

Henderson city officials have long opposed the Sloan site. Assistant City Manager Bonnie Rinaldi said the worry is that the helicopters will not be allowed to take the proposed flight path from Sloan because it could disturb sensitive areas in and around the conservation lands. If barred from that proposed flight path, the helicopters would be forced to fly over much of Henderson to get to Railroad Pass on the eastern edge of the city.

With that in mind, Henderson city staff suggested the County Aviation Department consider land near Railroad Pass for a heliport. However, that suggestion drew fire from Henderson neighbors who live near the pass, and now Rinaldi says the city no longer supports the Railroad Pass sites.

The report, done by the private firm Ricondo Associates, also recommended against those sites saying they were too close to residential neighborhoods.

The Sloan site also alarmed Las Vegas resident and environmental activist Jeff van Ee, who worries the site would adversely impact the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area, a 48,000-acre site that is home to endangered species, rare petroglyphs and federally designated wilderness.

"I don't think they've adequately considered the impact of the flight paths on the wilderness area," van Ee said. "I believe what's really needed is a full-fledged environmental impact statement to look at the impact this project would have not only on nearby private land, such as Anthem, but on federal land such as the Sloan Canyon area."

A full environmental impact statement would, by federal law, not just study the impact of building a heliport at the site, but also the impact or lack of impact if the heliport was never built in Sloan, van Ee noted.

Van Ee said he also is concerned that the county did not assess the effect that future growth would have on the ability of the heliport to function successfully. Future residential development in the area was cited by county planners as a concern about the site in previous public testimony.

Henderson's Anthem community is the closest city neighborhood to the Sloan site, and one resident said he expects to hear the helicopter noise whichever flight path the helicopters take from Sloan.

Favil West, secretary/treasurer of the Sun City Anthem Community Association, said even if the helicopters fly along the mountains to the south, their noise will bounce off the mountains toward the residences.

"It's like an amphitheater," West said.

Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson said he's heard complaints from some Anthem residents about the noise from go carts in Sloan, which adds to his concern that a heliport would bring too much noise to the area.

"But if it must go there it will be real critical that the take-off pattern be away from Anthem and the residences," Gibson said.

West's association is holding a public meeting at its community center on Jan. 8 to discuss the prospect of a heliport in Sloan.

Walker said he expects the neighbors won't notice more noise from helicopters coming and going from Sloan. Walker said he recently flew the flight path in a helicopter and said that he didn't even see a home until he reached Railroad Pass.

But West says the additional noise would come.

"They draw it on a map and make it look real good but the realities are not as they say," West said.

Walker also said that the county would clear up any potential flight path problems before building a heliport in Sloan. He said if the helicopters were forced to take the longer flight path over much of Henderson, the flight path that most worries city officials, then the Sloan site would probably not work out. That's because that alternate flight path is much longer than the other flight path and would add too much in fuel costs for the helicopter companies. Every additional minute in flight time costs a helicopter company about $250,000 a year in fuel, Walker said.

Greg Rochna, president of maverick Helicopters, a Grand Canyon tour company based at McCarran, said the Sloan site would be an ideal location for a heliport.

Looking for a location that would bring less noise to area residents two years ago, Maverick officials decided Sloan would be the best site and purchased land there. Now that the county appears poised to put a heliport there Maverick is selling its Sloan property and plans to be a part of the regional heliport instead.

Rochna said the Sloan site has many advantages, the greatest of which is its distance from residences.

"It's about 2 1/2 miles south of any homes and the flight path is over mountainous terrain," he said. "From Anthem you can't even see the helicopters because of a ridge line."

Rochna said if for some reason the Sloan site doesn't work out Maverick would just stay at McCarran.

Although others say the Sloan site has potential problems for Henderson residents, Rinaldi said its still much better than having helicopter tours based out of the Henderson Executive Airport. The city airport has Anthem homes to the south and east, and the designated flight path from there would bring helicopters over much of the city.

"What we really want is something better than the Henderson airport," Rinaldi said.

Henderson officials say the best choice in their opinion is the Eldorado Valley site, which is opposed by Boulder City officials.

Boulder City Mayor Bob Ferraro said a heliport probably couldn't go there anyway because the vacant land is either part of a desert tortoise preserve or in the city's energy zone.

Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury said he'll have to be convinced that residents would not be bothered by noise from helicopters using a Sloan heliport.

"If they can't make those guarantees then I can't support it," Woodbury said.08

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