Letter: Commissioners deserve thanks for reversing vote

Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2003 | 8:52 a.m.

Congratulations to Clark County Commissioners Bruce Woodbury, Yvonne Atkinson Gates, Chip Maxfield, Rory Reid and Mark James for reversing last year's commission vote that allowed homes to be built under the airport flight path. Mr. Woodbury was the long dissenter in the prior vote, 4-1, and it formed a basis for reconsideration of the vote on Feb. 6 with the above commissioners voting 5-2 for reversal against the commissioners holding out for the erroneous zoning -- Williams and Kincaid-Chauncey. Thanks to the Sun for thoroughly reporting the facts to us.

Had that erroneous vote not been reversed, it would have violated master planning, would have doomed future airport buying of nearby industrial land, and would have led to more than 300 unit residences directly under the roar of the jet-flight paths. Who would have bought these units? And upon buying, how many would have fled due to noise? And how many would have sued the developer and the county for allowing this to exist in the first place?

Thanks are also due to agencies opposing the zone change: the County School School District, the Clark County Department of Aviation, the Spring Valley Advisory Board and the county planning staff.

And new brooms sweep clean. Newly elected Commissioners Reid and James, as noted above, voted to correct this mistake. Congratulations to them!

PAUL LARSEN