Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2004 | 11:14 a.m.
Instead of a long-proposed but more controversial site, Clark County Commissioners on Tuesday selected an area about two miles south of Sloan as a new base for helicopters.
The commission told the County Aviation Department to begin a federally required environmental assessment for the new site, and directed county staff to work with Nevada's congressional delegation to acquire the site from the Bureau of Land Management.
The site, which would be at a yet-to-be-determined spot along a 3-mile corridor running parallel to Las Vegas Boulevard, would be the new takeoff and landing site for the dozens of tourist helicopter flights that make regular round-trips to the Grand Canyon.
Aviation Director Randy Walker said the new heliport still must clear a required environmental assessment, a process that also will consider several rejected sites and the existing helicopter operations at McCarran International Airport as alternative options.
He said the heliport is likely to begin operating in mid-2008, or 2007 at the earliest. The environmental assessment would take 18 months, and it would take another year for the design of the heliport and a year for construction, Walker said.
The site was not on the list of recommended sites that Walker presented to the commission. Along with sites in Jean and near Boulder City, in Eldorado Valley, Walker and his staff had recommended a site at the Sloan turnoff from Interstate 15, near or on an existing go-cart racing track.
But Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, who had earlier said he supported another alternative, proposed the site a few miles further south. Woodbury said he was confident that the congressional delegation can successfully negotiate the transfer at "no or minimal cost" to Clark County.
The alternative pleased many of the hundreds of observers that packed Tuesday's commission meeting. Many of the observers, some of whom had to sit in the Clark County Government Center's cafeteria after room ran out in the commission chambers, were residents of Sun City-Anthem, a Henderson retirement community just two miles north of the original Sloan site.
Many of those residents were concerned that flights from the original Sloan site would be over their homes, creating unacceptable noise. And many of those residents were pleased that the commission chose as the preferred option a site that puts a few more miles between them and the helicopters.
"I think it's probably a very fair compromise," said George Fournier, a retired Air Force navigator and Sun City-Anthem resident.
BLM officials and American Indians also had been concerned because the original Sloan site could have sent helicopters flying over culturally sensitive petroglyphs in the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area south of Henderson.
Helicopters now use McCarran International Airport as the departure and return point for the Grand Canyon tours. What was once a boutique industry of a dozen or so flights a day has become 80 to 90 flights daily, a booming industry that has sparked intense opposition from residents in older urban neighborhoods along Charleston Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue.
"The status quo is not acceptable," said Ben Contine, chairman of a citizens group that worked for several years to resolve the noise issue. Contine said the positive part of Woodbury's proposal is that it would move most of the offending helicopters away from his neighborhood.
The down side is that it does nothing about the 15 to 30 flights a day that aviation department officials say leave from McCarran to tour the Strip.
Still, Contine is happy with the decision.
"I think it's a testament to the residents of both Anthem and the affected areas that they were willing to get together and work this out," he said. "Unfortunately, this decision today will have no positive impact on the Strip flights."
Assemblywoman Chris Guinchigliani, D-Las Vegas, was another resident who observed the debate and vote. Guinchigliani last year successfully sponsored a bill that requires the county to designate a new, "non-urban" site for a heliport.
She said the city of Las Vegas and other local agencies have to get involved in the effort to further reduce helicopter noise over the neighborhoods.
"That is still a key to the quality of life for my constituents," Guinchigliani said. She said she will work with local governments to ensure "no more special use permits in the urban area" that would allow new helicopter pads.
Helicopter tour operators said the alternative promoted Tuesday also would suit their needs. John Buch, sales director for Maverick Helicopters, said the most important thing is that the commission's 7-0 vote endorsing Woodbury's alternative should end some of the indecision that the companies have struggled with for years.
"We're just happy to have a compromise," Buch said. "If it's two or three miles south (of the original Sloan site), it should be acceptable."
The alternative should only add a few minutes to the estimated 20-minute ride for tour passengers from the Strip, and is not likely to add much if anything to the fuel costs for helicopters heading to the Grand Canyon, Buch said.
Commissioner Myrna Williams, one of at least three of the seven commissioners who represent neighborhoods affected by the tour flights, said she was concerned that Woodbury's alternative might cut off consideration of other sites, such as the original site in Sloan, that could ultimately prove to be more feasible.
Walker told the board that under the rules governing federal environmental assessments, the original Sloan site, the site in Jean and the existing use of McCarran, have to be considered as options. So the county would not lose time in the process if it could not win federal support for Woodbury's alternative and had to go back to the original site outside Sloan, he said.
Tessa Hafen, spokeswoman for Sen. Harry Reid, the senior member of Nevada's congressional delegation, said Reid would consider supporting Woodbury's alternative.
"He will take a look at it," Hafen said. "He recognizes the issue is a concern for many of the residents."
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