Complex reluctantly turns off fountains

Jennifer Knight

Thursday, Jan. 22, 2004 | 11:21 a.m.

Faced with mounting fines and bad publicity for allowing water fountains to continue to run at three of its commercial properties, Triple Five has finally turned the water off.

"In the spirit of efficiency, we've decided to turn the fountains off and pursue other avenues," said Barry Bender, vice president of Triple Five Development, owner of the Boca Park Shopping Center at Charleston and Rampart boulevards. "Our objective is to get these fountains back on."

The water district banned commercial fountains throughout Clark County in August, giving resorts and other specified properties an exemption to the rule. As fountains such as the one at Boca Park Shopping Center kept flowing, so did water restriction fines.

Seven fines over the past three weeks have cost Triple Five more than $2,000. The company's fountains were wasting five to seven gallons a day through evaporation, water officials had complained.

"I don't think it's as much a consumption issue as it is about regulation," Bender said. "That amount of water usage is equivalent two toilet flushes."

Bender said at some point the company had to cut its losses and focus on an appeal process with the county, which is scheduled next month, he said.

County officials say they have tried to work with owners such as Bender but the restrictions are a must in a desert city enduring years of drought. Since restrictions went into place in August, the Southern Nevada Water Authority has fined commercial users a total of $3,600 for running fountains.

After hearing that the Boca Park properties finally complied, Doug Bennett, water authority conservation manager said, "That's good. I think we want everybody to show leadership. Some of these things appear to be a sacrifice, but when you are experiencing a severe dought, people realize that it can't be business as usual during a drought."

Bennett said he hopes that customers won't allow the lack of running fountains to dissuade them from shopping at the center, but Bender worried that might be the case.

Some store workers and patrons at the shopping center said that while the fountains will be missed, most doubted having them off will hurt business. But many said they don't see the point in forcing a fountain that recycles its water to be turned off.

"Is it really helping out the drought?" Clara Wronski, 37, asked about turning the fountain off after lunching at the center.

"It was a really nice touch," she said about the fountain. "It added to the ambiance of the place."

Steve Thomason, a manager at the Von Dutch clothing store near one of the fountains, said the loss of the fountain won't hurt his business, but he doesn't see why it needed to be shut off.

"Considering its recycled water I don't see what the waste is," Thomason said.

Bender said Triple Five has asked the city of Las Vegas for a waiver to the fountain restriction and said he hopes to have the them running again.

"They are as important to us as Bellagio's fountains are to them," Bender said. "Our fountains are very important to us and their tenants."

The water regulations permit Bellagio and other major casinos to continue to have fountains and other water features because of fears that that turning them off could be detrimental to tourism, the state's key industry.