Monday, Jan. 5, 2004 | 11:07 a.m.
The two sides that have battled over a proposed high-rise hotel in Summerlin have one more chance to reach a settlement before Wednesday.
Station Casinos representatives and opponents to the proposed Red Rock Station casino near the Las Vegas Beltway and Charleston Boulevard will meet tonight at the West Sahara Library in an effort to reach a consensus. Both sides said last week they are hopeful that they can agree on the height of the project -- the central sticking point -- as well as issues related to the amount of traffic the planned casino would generate and how it would fit into the neighborhood.
Environmentalists, community activists from across the urban area, a group called Summerlin Residents for Responsible Growth and the politically potent Culinary Union want the height of the central tower reduced and the overall project scaled back.
Station Casinos and Summerlin developer Howard Hughes Corp., along with the trade unions, constitute a politically powerful bloc supporting the project with the higher tower and 1,500 rooms.
Without a consensus, the two sides will square off Wednesday during the meeting of the Clark County Commission. Permits from the commission are needed for any buildings taller than 100 feet at the Red Rock Station casino site.
Ultimately, with or without a consensus, it will be up to the Clark County commissioners to decide what height is appropriate for the project.
The commission on Dec. 3, faced with dogged support and opposition, postponed a decision -- but warned Station Casinos that 300 feet was too tall for the central tower. At that meeting and since then, the commissioners have warned that without a consensus they will determine what the proper height should be.
Commission Chairman Chip Maxfield, whose district includes much of Summerlin, said he has worked through the holiday season to find a compromise. He doesn't know if the two sides will find that common ground tonight, but he said he is hopeful.
Maxfield said to make a deal that works, Station Casinos will have to bend.
"If there's a compromise to be had, it's got to be under 200 feet," Maxfield said.
Gabriel Lither, a Las Vegas attorney and leader of Summerlin Residents for Responsible Growth, said both sides "are slowly gravitating" towards a compromise. A meeting three weeks ago, however, failed to produce an accord.
Opponents stuck to their general position that no new casino should be more than about 130 feet, about the height of existing resorts in tony Summerlin. Anything more than that could interfere with views of the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area and the Spring Mountains to the west, they argue.
Station Casinos executives, however, said that going below about 250 feet would make their project impossible. They envision a large resort as the centerpiece of the company's Las Vegas "neighborhood casino" empire.
"We've sort of said there's no point in having a second discussion if they can't come down," said Carolyn Edwards, a community activist opposing the height and size of the project.
"Ideally, we would find a conclusion that we both could live with, and we could bring that to the county commission," she said.
Edwards said other issues include the number of rooms planned for the resort and the size and height of the signs pasted to the side of the resort tower.
"The height of the tower is not the only issue," she said. "There's some wiggle room there."
Lesley Pittman, Station Casinos vice president, said the last several weeks had people on both sides "taking a breather." The company, however, sent a letter to several thousand of its card-club members asking them to contact the County Commission to support the project.
The Station Casinos mailer mirrored an opposing campaign supported by the Culinary Union, which phoned Clark County residents and asked them to contact the county in opposition.
"We feel there is a silent majority out there who is eagerly awaiting our project and we want to encourage them to voice their support," Pittman said.
She said the company has already made substantial concessions to the opponents, including scaling back two secondary towers for time-share condominiums.
The meeting tonight will have one additional player. Clark County Current Planning has promised to attend.
Current Planning head Barbara Ginoulias said her department would not try to guide or influence the discussion but would attend to answer any questions posed by either side.
Her office had recommended to the County Commission approval of the project as originally envisioned by Station Casinos. Planners in the office echoed the arguments of the gaming company and Howard Hughes Corp. that the area has always been planned as a substantial employment node, and the written recommendation noted that planned office buildings literally across the street from the proposed casino would be 250 feet high.
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