Foes of federal building applaud ruling

Sito Negron

Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2004 | 11:11 a.m.

In what appeared to be a neighborhood victory over City Hall and a powerful developer, District Judge Kenneth Cory ruled Tuesday that the proper procedures were not followed in rezoning a parcel of land on Buffalo Drive, just south of Charleston Boulevard.

What the decision means exactly, however, still is unclear.

The neighbors who fought the rezoning took it to mean that the process must begin again, from the application to rezone the lot to votes by the City Planning Commission and the City Council. The rezoning of a residential lot allowed developer Irwin Molasky to construct a building that will be used by the Social Security Administration.

"We're cautiously optimistic. If the application has to be refiled we get another chance," neighborhood resident Carolyn Stone said.

The city and developer, however, said that was not the case.

"We're not going to go through the whole process again," said Chris Kaempfer, who was representing developer Irwin Molasky. Although the lawsuit was filed against the city on behalf of two neighbors, including Stone, Molasky signed on to the city's side as an "intervener" because it was his property at stake.

The issue will be clarified, possibly as early as today, when the winning counsel writes up an order for the judge to sign.

Stan Parry, the lawyer representing the neighborhood, said he plans to write the order "with the process starting over."

However, until the judge signs the order, he said, "there's not a decision."

Parry said he plans to write the order quickly, possibly by today, and let the city and Molasky's lawyers review it. If all parties agree, it's sent to the judge for review to ensure it fit his decision. However, if the parties cannot agree, the judge will sit with both sides and elaborate on what exactly he meant.

Cory was not available for comment. Michael Sommermeyer, the District Court spokesman, said he could not clarify the judge's order until Cory meets with both sides and signs the document.

Las Vegas City Council voted 4-3 in December to revise the city plan governing land use and rezone the 4.26-acre plot on Buffalo Drive and Del Ray Avenue, across the street from Buffalo Park.

The neighborhood lawsuit argued that the city went against its own procedures for amending the general plan and rezoning the property. The general plan sets overall land use for an area, while zoning could be considered a subset of the general plan, and applies to specific pieces of property.

In this case, the general plan considered the area "desert rural," a residential designation, and the council changed it to "office." Then it rezoned the specific property from "residential estates" to "office."

Parry said that changing the general plan requires a "supermajority," two-thirds of the entire Planning Commission, before the proposal can be sent to City Council. He said the Planning Commission voted 3-1 to approve the general plan amendment.

While the attorneys for both sides went into those issues during the hearing Tuesday, what Cory ended up ruling upon was the application to change the land use.

City rules require the property owner to make the application. If the property is being sold, documents attesting to the planned sale must be attached to the application. The idea is to prevent someone from changing someone else's property use.

Molasky was buying the property, but made the application before the sale was final.

"When you have a master plan, it is supposed to be changed under fairly strictly set forth procedures. I find the application was not put forward in adherence to the law," Cory said.

He did not rule on the other issues.

Councilwoman Janet Moncrief, who represents and lives in the area in question, said she was elated at the decision.

"I never thought it should be there. It's the wrong place," Moncrief said.

She echoed residents of the neighborhood in saying that many bought homes there thinking the zoning would protect their investment.

"It's in a high-end neighborhood, residential. They made large investments thinking for sure that land would stay desert rural. A lot of them told me they looked at the zoning in that area because they thought the council would keep that zoning," Moncrief said.