Official to urge moving heliport south

Dan Kulin

Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2004 | 10:48 a.m.

In an effort to push future Grand Canyon helicopter tour routes away from homes in southwest Henderson, Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury said Monday he will ask his fellow commissioners to deny a recommendation to put a regional heliport in Sloan along Interstate 15.

County Aviation Director Randy Walker said Monday he still plans to recommend the commissioners select the Sloan site, which is now a go-cart track. That site has drawn criticism from residents in Henderson's Anthem community, which is in the southern part of the city and closest to the proposed heliport and likely flight paths.

Environmentalists, American Indians and Bureau of Land Management officials have also been critical of the Sloan site because the flight path from there goes over the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area.

Responding to residents' concerns about the site, Woodbury will instead ask the commissioners to designate land a few miles south of Sloan as the site.

Commissioners are scheduled to designate the land during their Feb. 3 meeting.

About 200 people attended a Monday night meeting at the County Government Center to discuss the proposed heliport site.

Favil West, a member of the Sun City Anthem homeowner's association board and a leader of SHOUT -- Stop Helicopters Over Urban Territory -- said 100 Anthem residents came on chartered buses, and they would have brought more if the commissioners had been expected at the meeting.

More than 1,200 residents showed up for a Jan. 8 meeting in Anthem on the proposed Sloan heliport. While Monday's group was smaller, many of the same concerns were expressed about the potential for increased helicopter noise.

"I'm here to die," Elaine Davis, a teary-eyed Sun City Anthem resident, said. "All I have is my house. Don't make me die in an air expressway."

West said his group is standing behind Woodbury and hopeful that he can convince the other commissioners to go put the heliport farther south, which West said would better ensure a more southern flight path.

At the Anthem meeting earlier this month, Woodbury asked the Aviation Department to look at federally-owned lands south of Sloan for a suitable spot for a heliport. No specific site has been identified yet, Walker said, so Woodbury said he will ask his fellow commissioners to identify a general area along both sides of I-15 "a couple miles south of Sloan."

Woodbury said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has said he would help make some federal land available for a heliport so long as it doesn't cause problems for American Indian petroglyths, which are near Sloan.

West said the members of his group still want the heliport south of Sloan even after three helicopters flying the proposed flight path from Sloan couldn't be heard during a special demonstration done Thursday.

Walker said the helicopters, which flew back and forth along the McCullough Mountains at different altitudes, couldn't be heard by any of the three sound monitors that were aimed at the helicopters from spots in Anthem.

But the test has been criticized by West and others in Anthem because the helicopters flew on the south side of the mountain ridge, instead of the northern side, which is closer to the Anthem homes. The more northern flight path was the one shown on Aviation Department documents as the likely flight path from Sloan to the Grand Canyon.

Walker said the helicopter tour companies would rather fly the more southern route, which takes them over scenic open land. Walker said there are no restrictions on that flight path now, but added the Federal Aviation Administration could decide to prohibit flights over some areas determined to be environmentally sensitive.

West said he thinks some helicopters would use the more northern flight path, even if county officials threatened fines for those who strayed from the more southern path.

The county is looking for a place to put a regional heliport under orders from the state Legislature, which mandated that the county identify a heliport location away from the urban area. Ideally the new heliport would become a home base for Grand Canyon tour helicopters, and alleviate much of the helicopter traffic over densely populated sections of Tropicana Avenue and Charleston Boulevard, over which the tour helicopters now fly on their way to and from McCarran International Airport.

After months of study that started with 13 potential locations, the Aviation Department determined the Sloan site would be best. Possible sites in Jean and Boulder City's Eldorado Valley were also identified as suitable locations, but ultimately were determined to be far away from the Strip to be viable.

Earlier this month the Sloan site won the support of a county citizens committee called the Committee on Helicopter Noise Abatement.

Committee Chairman Ben Contine said the Sloan site was chosen because it was the one that affected the least number of people.

"Now, this affects 100,000 people," Contine said referring to the estimated number of residents who live under or within 1/3 of a mile of the Tropicana and Charleston flight paths.

"But this location," he said about the Sloan site. "These routes don't come within four miles of any residents."