NLV council to take new look at nuisance laws

Dan Kulin

Thursday, Oct. 2, 2003 | 9:24 a.m.

The North Las Vegas City Council cracked down on yard sales Wednesday but postponed votes on new restrictions for those with broken-down cars sitting in their driveways and other recommended regulations intended to make neighborhoods look better.

"I want to make sure we're not overstepping our bounds," Councilwoman Shari Buck said of the proposed regulation that would require residents to keep broken-down vehicles out of public view.

Violators of the approved and proposed regulations, which are collectively known as nuisance abatement laws, would face warnings first, then fines and possibly even jail time because violations would be treated as misdemeanors.

"In principle it's a good thing," Buck said. "But I don't know if I have a problem with someone having a car in their driveway with a tarp over it ... It's about individual rights."

James Sohns, one of three residents to speak against the proposed law Wednesday, said the council needs to consider those who fix their cars in the driveway because they do not have a garage or any other place out of sight to store their vehicle.

Buck, who asked that the council postpone a decision on the broken-down vehicles law, said she's also not sure the city should be telling residents how high they are allowed to let their grass grow. Another proposed law the council postponed would require residents to keep their grass shorter than 8 inches.

"Philosophically I have a problem with big government telling people what they can do," she said. Buck said she thinks a refined versions of the laws left unpassed Wednesday will eventually be approved.

Councilman Robert Eliason said that before the city adopts a law requiring residents to keep their lawns shorter than 8 inches, city staff need to clean up some of the grass and weeds growing high from between cracks in the sidewalks.

"We need to make sure our back yard is cleaned up," Eliason said.

Buck joined the 4-1 majority in supporting a new law that requires residents to get a free permit before having a yard or garage sale and limits the number of those sales to two a year per resident.

The city had limited residents to four yard sales a year.

Echoing comments from other council members, Buck said the yard sale law was needed because some residents were holding so many yard sales that it constituted a small business.

Councilman Robert Eliason voted against the measure. He said residents should be allowed to have four yard sales a year.

But Mayor Michael Montandon said two yard sales a year is enough.

"If anyone is having more than two a year, it's a business," Montandon said. "I can't imagine needing more than two a year."

Other jurisdictions on the Las Vegas Valley also limit the number of yard sales residents can hold.

Clark County allows residents to hold six yard sales every six months. In Las Vegas residents can hold two yard sales a year. Neither jurisdiction requires residents to get a permit before having a yard sale.

The new yard sale regulations went into effect immediately.

The council also unanimously approved a new graffiti law that holds parents responsible for graffiti done by their children.

A new sign law that would prohibit using tractor-trailers or other vehicles as stationary billboards or sign holders was voted down at staff's request. City Manager Gregory Rose said that law needed language revisions, and will return to the council in the future.