Council rejects halfway house

Thursday, June 5, 2003 | 9:07 a.m.

A proposal to put a halfway house for criminals in a residential neighborhood in the heart of West Las Vegas was shot down Wednesday by the Las Vegas City Council.

The council, by a 5-0 vote, followed recommendations of its staff and the Planning Commission to deny a special use permit for the 1,600-square-foot house designed for up to six felony parolees at 1111 and 1113 E St. between Madison and Jefferson avenues.

Council members Michael McDonald and Lynette Boggs McDonald were absent.

The Rev. McTheron Jones of the Alliance Collegiums Association of Nevada, which had applied for the permit, said Ward 5, in which West Las Vegas is located, is the only one of the six wards in the city that does not have a halfway house.

He said the city's labeling of the project as "a halfway house, criminal" on a city sign at the proposed site and in the agenda documentation was unfair because similar halfway houses in the city and Clark County have not been so labeled.

Jones, a minister for 10 years and a Department of Parole and Probation employee for nine years prior to becoming a minister, told the council that concerns over the "negative impact" of halfway houses are unfounded "when halfway houses are a positive aspect of the community."

Jones pointed to the Ridge House in Northern Nevada, which he said has a 79 percent success rate of ex-inmates who have passed through there, compared to West Las Vegas which he said has an 86 percent rate of parolees returning to prison within six months after their release.

The Rev. Willie Davis, also with the alliance, said, "we can't understand why were are being cycled out," noting that the organization had done everything the Planning Commission and City Council had asked of them, including preparation of an expensive site development plan, which also was rejected Wednesday.

Protesters to the proposal said the issue is not the need for halfway houses. The issue is whether to allow such a facility in a neighborhood that long has been one of the most blighted parts of town.

"This is not a valid location," said Evan Williams, who for 20 years has owned a 16-unit apartment building next door to the proposed halfway house, and recently invested $200,000 to refurbish his property.

"You should evaluate what this neighborhood should be ... Beautify it."

Charlene Rodgers, who owns two units on Madison Avenue that she rents to single mothers, said the last thing her tenants want is criminals fresh from prison as their neighbors.

"The whole idea is to improve the neighborhood," she said. "Why not instead (make the proposed halfway house) free day care for single mothers in the area or a job training center for single parents?"

The halfway house was proposed for a neighborhood that is zoned for medium density residential, which is multifamily dwellings of up to 25 units per acre, and high density residential, up to 50 units per acre. A criminal halfway house, city staff said, conforms to both of those zoning designations in the general plan.

However, the city's staff, in its findings, wrote: "The proposed criminal halfway house use cannot be operated in a manner that is compatible with the surrounding residential uses in that it is more intense in nature than existing development in the area and will not be conducive to residential rehabilitation of surrounding properties."

Ward 5 Councilman Lawrence Weekly called the ministers' proposal "a valid program," but warned before a vote was taken that he nevertheless would support the city staff and Planning Commission recommendations. He asked the alliance to withdraw its application and instead meet with city officials and try to work out a solution that would be beneficial to all.

The alliance members opted to keep the item on the table and sought the rest of the council's support. Without further comment from the other four members, the measure was defeated.