Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2004 | 11:06 a.m.
Clark County and a longtime property owner on the Strip could soon go to court to settle a dispute that has simmered for nearly a decade.
The county is attempting to take a tenth-of-an-acre slice of land at the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Sands Avenue to build a pedestrian bridge connecting the Wynn Las Vegas resort site to property owned by the Venetian. The family that owns the tiny property is fighting the move, arguing that the county's offer for the property is way too low.
The Clark County Commission is scheduled to consider setting a final, binding offer for the land today. If the offer of about $2.7 million is rejected, which representatives for the property owners say is likely, then the issue is scheduled to go before a District Court jury Feb. 23.
Attorney Laura Fitz-Simmons, representing the Rozzelle family, said the county is unfairly trying to take the main source of income from an ailing, elderly woman, Monica Rozzelle, 87.
Fitz-Simmons also charges that the county is serving as a stalking horse for the Venetian, which made efforts to acquire the property before the county announced in 1995 that it would buy the land as part of its redesign of the intersection.
"It's really a casino project," she said. "They are moving to clear that whole area and build their new resort, and they need the corner. ... The thing just stinks."
The Venetian earlier this month announced that it would tear down the Tam O'Shanter Motel near the corner, between Sands and the Venetian. The Venetian owns the property.
The company has not announced plans for the site, but Venetian spokesman Ron Reese said the company wants to be ready to move quickly to develop the 1.8-acre property. Reese, however, said the demolition and future development is not predicated on the construction of a pedestrian bridge.
While the Venetian now accepts the bridge as "a necessary improvement," that wasn't always the case. The resort had in the past fought the proposed bridge, Reese said.
"This pedestrian bridge has been advocated by the county for many years, long before there was a Venetian or a plan for the Venetian," he said.
The Wynn resort is scheduled to open next year.
Mike Chapman, a Reno-based lawyer representing the county, said the only reason the county wants the property is to build the pedestrian walkway across the boulevard.
"This is a project that is being built for the public, for the purpose of separating pedestrians from vehicles," Chapman said. "It will save lives."
Although fatal pedestrian accidents on Las Vegas Boulevard are rare, Clark County Public Works, which plans a network of pedestrian bridges at the intersection that ultimately would take pedestrians out of the way of automobiles at the site, argues that the project would make the intersection safer.
Erin Breen, director of the state's Safe Community Partnership at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, agreed that the pedestrian walkways can save lives.
"I think they are extremely necessary," she said. Although no recent pedestrian fatalities have occurred at the intersection of Spring Mountain, Sands and Las Vegas Boulevard, there have been serious accidents.
"There have been lots and lots of crashes there involving pedestrians," Breen said. And with the proximity to several large casinos, including Le Reve now under construction and the Venetian's still undisclosed plans for expansion at the corner, "You have to realize it's only going to get worse."
Breen said there have been 142 crashes with eight pedestrians injured from 2000 through 2002 at the intersection. But many of the crashes were likely pedestrian near-misses, she said, noting that 86 of the automobile crashes were "rear-enders," a common accident when cars stop suddenly to avoid people in the road or crosswalk.
A similar pedestrian bridge at Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard carries 100,000 people a year over the busy intersection there, she said.
"That's 100,000 conflicts that have been removed from street level," Breen said. "I think they've been a huge boost to the whole tourist feeling of well-being."
Public Works has proposed three walkways. The first would span the Strip north of Spring Mountain Road, joining the Wynn property at the entrance to the Fashion Show mall. The other two bridges would carry pedestrians across Spring Mountain and Sands Avenue, immediately to the east and west of the intersection. Those bridges would also link the mall with Treasure Island, the Wynn property and the Venetian.
The department hopes to being work this year. Adjacent property owners, including the Venetian, have pledged to contribute 50 percent of the estimated $12 million cost of the bridges. Clark County's share will be paid from an existing Resort Corridor room tax.
Questions of motivation aside, a primary issue in the dispute is the price the county is willing to pay for the property.
Chapman said the county's offer, which comes to about $750 a square foot, would represent the second most expensive buyout in the history of the Strip. The first was the Venetian's purchase of the former Rosewood Grille, which sold for $1,165 a square foot.
The family is asking for $6.3 million, or about $1,600 a square foot.
Chapman said the Rosewood Grille property, now slated to become a multi-level shopping center, was worth more because it was larger, about one acre.
"All other sales are below $500 a square foot on Las Vegas Boulevard," Chapman said of the historical record.
Fitz-Simmons isn't buying it. She said the Rozzelle family has owned the land for decades as the Strip grew around the property, which provided $10,000 a month in income in its most recent incarnation as home to a car-rental business. The car-rental business was shuttered a year ago when the county moved to condemn the property.
But the land is worth much more than $750 a square foot, Fitz-Simmons said.
"We're saying that the property that the Rozzelle family owns is worth far more per square foot because it is right on the corner," she said. "This is a diamond, this piece of property. There's nothing else like it."
Although they are far apart on a final number, both sides said they'd like to settle the dispute.
Chapman said the county has been and will continue to be open to discussions, but said the price demanded by the family is not realistic.
Fitz-Simmons said the family has come down but the county has to be ready to accept a "reasonable settlement."
"We have made the last two settlement offers and they have rejected both of them," Fitz-Simmons said. "If we could get a fair price, we'd settle. I'm not going to let the county come in and strong-arm this little old lady."
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