Man says LV destroyed tapes in eminent domain case

Judy Odierna

Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2003 | 11:14 a.m.

A man who has been fighting to keep his property from being acquired by the city of Las Vegas through eminent domain is now saying the case should be dismissed because the city destroyed tapes on which officials publicly stated that the property was not needed.

Attorney Chuck Gardner filed the motion Monday on behalf of Paul and Laurel Moldon.

Moldon's property, behind the Stratosphere at 1806 S. Main St., was cited to be seized through eminent domain as part of the Stratosphere expansion plans in 1995. The city has used eminent domain, the power of a government agency to take private property for public use, for downtown redevelopment.

"Am I frustrated? You have no idea," Moldon said. "Somebody, somewhere gave that order because there was something in those tapes they didn't want the world to hear."

Gardner said a public meeting of the city's Downtown Redevelopment Agency on May 18, 1994, would have proven that Moldon's property was never part of the Stratosphere project. But months after he submitted a request for the tape and three others, the city clerk's office destroyed them.

"I asked for all the documents pertaining to the case on June 20, 2002," Gardner said. "In July they said 'We will provide them for you.' I was supposed to get them 30 days after my request and I never did."

City Clerk Roni Ronemus referred all inquiries regarding the matter to City Attorney Brad Jerbic. Jerbic did not return repeated phone calls for comment.

Gardner said in addition to the May meeting he asked for three other tapes from meetings in 1994. One was from Dec. 7, the only public hearing on the item. After the city failed to supply him with the requested documents, Gardner said he went to get a certified copy himself in December.

Gardner said he was informed last week that the city clerk ordered the destruction of all tapes between 1980 and 1998 the day after Gardner got the certified copy of the public hearing. Gardner said he was unaware of the importance of the May meeting until he got other requested documents two weeks ago, which he also requested in June.

The other document was a certified letter Moldon sent the city in August 1994 that said: "The city of Las Vegas will have to justify why the eminent domain has to occur at this time, when as was stated in the May 18 City Council hearing that the Stratosphere Tower Corp. and Vegas World project does not include my parcel in its current planned expansion."

City code and regulations allow public records to be destroyed after five years.

But Gardner said that the city ignored its retention policy for at least 18 years and believes that because the records are pertinent to a legal dispute they should not have been destroyed.

"Now they are lost and gone forever," Gardner said.

Moldon has already lost one battle in his quest to get his property off the eminent domain list. In November 2001 the Nevada Supreme Court ruled that the city's Redevelopment Agency did not have to amend a redevelopment plan to include every new redevelopment project or change. Moldon argued that the seizure of his property did not conform with a 1986 city plan governing redevelopment.

Moldon, who has multiple sclerosis, says the legal battle has caused his condition to deteriorate. Moldon was offered $750,000 for his property, which he turned down because he felt it was an low offer for property that faces Main Street.