Judge delays Sky-Vue closing

Sito Negron

Wednesday, April 28, 2004 | 11:04 a.m.

Depending how one looks at it, residents of Sky-Vue either received a temporary reprieve Tuesday, or they were given more time to spend in an environment rife with fire danger and raw sewage that the park owners simply will not fix properly.

District Judge Kathy Hardcastle signed a stay to stop the city of Las Vegas from closing the battered and aging park. Thursday, the park's lawyers will ask the court for a temporary restraining that would keep the city from enforcing the closure until May 5, when a request for an injunction would be considered.

The situation "just creates confusion now for the residents as to whether they have to move," said Las Vegas Deputy City Manager Betsy Fretwell. She said that since Monday, when the city gave residents 72 hours to leave and set up a system to help people find new homes, about 50 households took the offer and left.

The lawyer for the park, Garry Hayes, wrote Monday in his request to halt the closure that the city and the Clark County Health District are exceeding their legal boundaries with orders to fix leaking sewers and faulty electricity. He writes that the owners, Sandi and David DiMarco, had an agreement with the state Division of Manufactured Housing to fix problems at the park.

Hayes and Sandi and David DiMarco were not available for comment Tuesday.

Besides the issue of jurisdiction, Hayes' basic argument is that the DiMarcos -- contrary to claims by health officials -- are complying with the orders to fix the park, and that the city is acting unilaterally and without good reason in closing the park.

He also argues that mobile home parks in existence before 1980 were exempt from portions of the Las Vegas Municipal Code.

In addition to representing the DiMarcos, Hayes' petition to the court named as one of his plaintiffs Sky-Vue resident Anthony Molina. Hayes also sought to include as plaintiffs unnamed residents of Sky-Vue.

In that sense, Hayes is on the same side as Jim Vilt, a Nevada Legal Aid lawyer who has been following the situation with an eye toward making sure the rights of residents -- especially those who own their trailers -- were respected.

"We need to get the court to articulate some direction," Vilt said. He said the city's action "is dispersing the problem, not coming up with long-term solution."

But Vilt said he isn't supporting the owners. "I hate to have the fate of these people rely on the mobile home park itself, because they're not looking out for these folks," Vilt said.

Fretwell said the situation was avoidable.

"The (private trailer) owners wouldn't be in this situation, the city wouldn't be in this situation, if the (park) owners kept their trailer park in good repair. That's what's unfortunate about this entire thing," Fretwell said.

Before the city took the Sky-Vue to court, the park owners had been under various orders from city, county and state regulatory agencies -- with the first order from the state dating back to Feb. 3 -- to repair the health and safety concerns at the park. In addition, Las Vegas is fining the DiMarcos for operating without a business license since October.

The family's temporary license expired in October. Authorities kept it from being renewed because the DiMarcos had failed to install a fire hydrant and make other fire safety improvements ordered by the city.

Additionally, the Clark County Health District announced April 21 that inquiries into another trailer park owned by 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, 4615 E. Lake Mead Blvd.

In addition to College Inn, the DiMarcos have a stake in Trailer Vegas, 3975 E. Lake Mead Blvd.

Councilman Gary Reese, who used to represent the Sky-Vue area and is chairman of the Clark County Health District board, said the situation revealed cracks in the system through which the Sky-Vue fell.

"Is this a wake-up call for us? Probably," Reese said. There are jurisdictional issues complicating the inspection system, Reese said. But, he added, "I want to take the responsibility for the city. If there is raw sewage running down the street it's up to us to clean it up."

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said of the stay and the petition for a temporary restraining order: "Any kind of delay causes the problem to continue existing. From what I hear in my briefings it's not getting better."

Goodman, repeating a policy line uttered frequently by city officials since the Sky-Vue situation came to light, said the city is "reactive" -- responding to residents complaints -- as opposed to "proactive," in seeking out code violations and forcing owners to fix them.

"We're not sticking our nose in everybody's business. That's not the purpose of the city, but if something comes to our attention ... we're going to respond," Goodman said. "Government has enough to do without snooping around, but if we're made aware of the problem we have to go in and address the problem."