Problems could lead to closure of Sky-Vue

Sito Negron

Thursday, April 22, 2004 | 11:05 a.m.

The owners of Sky-Vue Mobile Park haven't fixed longstanding health and safety risks at the park and are being fined for dumping raw sewage in trenches behind another trailer park they own, city and county officials said Wednesday.

At Sky-Vue leaking sewer lines, water supplied to trailers through garden hoses and faulty wiring continue to pose a danger to residents, employees and the general public, according to a report delivered to Las Vegas City Council.

The problems at Sky-Vue, 15 W. Owens Avenue, might lead to a forced closure of the park by next week, officials said.

Meanwhile, the Clark County Health District announced Wednesday that inquiries into another trailer park owned by Sky-Vue operator David DiMarco led to a $10,000 fine. The district said he disposed of raw sewage in trenches behind trailers at his College Inn Trailer Park at 4615 E. Lake Mead Blvd., in Sunrise Manor in unincorporated Clark County.

The potential city action and the health district's fine follow a string of investigations into health and safety issues associated with the Sky-Vue and its operators, Sandi and David DiMarco:

The ownership of Sky-Vue is murky. A city order dated April 13 lists T&B Del Corp. as the owner of record, CCSD Properties as the managing agent, and West Owens Management Group LLC "as purported legal owner."

T&B Del Corp., owned by Tracy Del Fante, who is a partner in several Nevada corporations with David DiMarco, previously purchased Sky-Vue from a company owned by David DiMarco. CCSD is owned by David's father, Andy DiMarco.

David DiMarco owns the College Inn trailer park, according to the health district. The district also is reviewing Trailer Vegas, 3975 E. Lake Mead Blvd., owned by DSD Properties, a corporation registered in Nevada to David DiMarco.

The tangled situation -- involving city, county and state investigators -- has complicated the response by government agencies. The fractured jurisdictions, in which separate agencies look at a piece of the problem, but not the whole, has been blamed in part for allowing the Sky-Vue problems to escape regulation until recently.

Wednesday, however, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, hearing the report from Neighborhood Services Director Orlando Sanchez that the repairs to Sky-Vue are not getting done, demanded immediate action. "I don't want to hear we can't do something about it ... let's step up!" he shouted.

Later in the day, Las Vegas City Attorney Brad Jerbic said city staff has "asked the mayor to consider a special council meeting next week, to authorize the city attorney to take legal action."

That legal action could include shutting the park down.

That would take a massive coordinated response, described as "triage," as city officials work with social service agencies to make sure that people have a place to go, and that their belongings and pets are taken care of. It's further complicated by the fact that some people rent their trailers, and others own them.

Jim Vilt, a lawyer with Nevada Legal Aid, said it wouldn't be wise to rush in and shut the park down immediately.

"The same conditions that existed when they first inspected exist now. Why not give these folks at least two weeks to ... find substitute housing, to not rely on a triage center being set up," Vilt said.

Some residents criticized the city response April 9, when officials went through the park with buses and bullhorns as night fell, offering people an opportunity to leave immediately and stay at Budget Suites. However, some said that their homes were burglarized while they were gone, and others thought the abrupt arrival of city staff at night was disconcerting.

More than 40 households took the vouchers, Sanchez said Wednesday. He said the cost of putting people up at Budget Suites until they found new housing was $25,000. Council approved giving $40,000 to Clark County Social Services to contribute to the cost of putting the residents up.

Beth Jones, a former Sky-Vue resident and manager, who called health and safety officials to the park, told council members that they shouldn't be paying the cost.

"I don't want my city to pay for their crime, and I believe it (the condition of the park) is a crime," she said.

Councilman Lawrence Weekly, whose Ward 5 contains the park, said that "they (the DiMarcos) will have their day, and eventually ... they'll have to pay."

Weekly was present during the April 9 operation that moved the initial wave of park residents, and said it was haunting.

In a later meeting with the DiMarcos, he said, they told city officials that the park conditions were nothing new.

"Probably so," said Weekly. "But now that the city has been put on notice, we have to step up."