Wal-Mart OK surprises county commissioners

Thursday, June 3, 2004 | 11:34 a.m.

Clark County commissioners were stunned Wednesday when they learned they had apparently already approved a controversial proposal to build a Wal-Mart Supercenter on airport-owned land.

During a hearing to take up the matter, commissioners were told by the developer's attorney that they approved the project in March when they voted to OK the development of 65 acres of land at the southwest corner of Russell Road and Eastern Avenue.

Chris Kaempfer, attorney for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Marnell Corrao Associates, which holds the lease to develop the commercially zoned land, said the plan to put a Wal-Mart at the site was included as a sub-lease in agreement.

Commissioners said they did not know they approved the 200,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter.

"None of us knew," Commissioner Myrna Williams said.

The commission delayed approval of the retailer's land-use requests until at least mid-July, ordering further studies and input from nearby residents.

The issue prompted calls for additional review of airport leases by county staff outside of the Aviation Department and criticism of the department's handling of the business-leasing arrangements that have become a sometimes-controversial practice.

Clark County commissioners and staff have known since 1999, when they purchased the last of the homes on a 155-acre swath east of McCarran International Airport, that commercial and light industrial uses were destined for the land. The leases supporting the mix of commercial uses would help recoup the $25 million the airport invested buying the land.

Wal-Mart, however, was not part of the political mix during the years when the commercial area was established. The retail giant is a political hot potato, thanks in large part to the company's near legendary anti-union stance and its brushes with federal immigration and labor laws.

In 1999, the county commission passed a law, later rescinded in the face of a legal challenge, that banned the Supercenters, a mix of a traditional Wal-Mart discount store and a grocery.

On Wednesday the county commission heard stiff opposition to the plan from more than two dozen residents who live north of Russell, just across from the proposed Wal-Mart, and an officer of the Las Vegas local United Food and Commercial Workers Union. The complaints from the neighbors focused on the infrastructure challenges presented by a large retailer to the three-decades-old neighborhood next door.

"Traffic is already a problem at Russell and Eastern," said neighbor Mary Cooke, who said traffic races through her community in an effort to avoid the traffic congestion. "The Wal-Mart is not next to our neighborhood. This property is in our neighborhood."

The opponents hired a traffic engineer from California, Stephen Orosz, who said the developer's traffic study failed to fully account for the number of cars that would be attracted by the retail centers and "is underestimating the traffic impacts significantly.

The opponents said the Wal-Mart would endanger children in their neighborhood by increasing traffic.

The two-hour debate continued into the evening as airport officials attempted to ascertain what the commission has already approved, if it included a Wal-Mart Supercenter, and if there could be grounds to reverse the decision. Kaempfer, however, said that is not an option for the county.

He noted that the issue before the commission Wednesday was a design review. Design reviews are planning elements that, unlike zoning or master-plan changes, rarely engender controversy. A zoning request that would specifically allow a Wal-Mart Supercenter would almost certainly provoke opposition.

But the applicant already has the needed zoning on the site, and with a 50-year lease agreement quietly approved on the commission's March 16 consent agenda, it apparently has the right to build on the site.

"The fact that this is a Wal-Mart has no bearing on this," Kaempfer said. "This is not a zoning issue. ... The lease specifically references the sublease with Wal-Mart."

He agreed to meet with the residents, many of whom said they are concerned that the nearby intersections are already overburdened with traffic and a new Wal-Mart Supercenter would make the situation much worse.

"The fact that we're meeting is not a suggestion on our part that this Wal-Mart is going away," Kaempfer said. "We have a lease with the county... all signed, all legal.

"Neither one of us want to end up where this is going," Kaempfer said to Commissioner Rory Reid, raising the possibility of a legal battle.

Reid, however, noted that his prior approval of zoning for the now-vacant land included a provision for offices on the north side of the land in question, land slated for parking under the Wal-Mart proposal.

Reid said the Wal-Mart approval could affect the development of the rest of the area, which he called "a unique opportunity to master-plan 65 acres."

Reid, who represents the area, said he wants a fully formed traffic study and master-plan for the development.

"I think there is a whole lot of work to do," he said.

His colleagues appeared to agree, with the lone exception of Commissioner Mary Kincaid-Chauncey, who cited a previous appointment and missed the debate.

Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates said she has always been a skeptic of the airport's practice of leasing land for commercial purposes, a practice that extends beyond the airport environs to the 5,300 acres of the Cooperative Management Area. The Cooperative Management Area, largely controlled by the airport, restricts residential development in areas around the airport to reduce noise-related complaints.

She said airport officials need to maintain tighter controls over the uses of the airport-controlled land.

"We can't just give the land away and expect them (the developers) to do everything," Gates said.

"My personal feeling is the airport should not be in this business," she said. "For too long we have had people in the community that take advantage of this land, take advantage of the neighbors."

Commissioner Williams instituted one change that could lead to better awareness of what is included in the airport leases that win her board's approval. She instructed County Counsel and Deputy District Attorney Rob Warhola to review the airport's leases before they reach the commission.

"I think it is extremely important that Rob, you go through that carefully," Williams said.