Hotel between LV, Pahrump to be proposed

Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2005 | 9:14 a.m.

A developer will try to overcome the objections of neighbors, an advisory committee and Clark County planners when he brings a proposal to build a hotel on the mountain highway between Las Vegas and Pahrump before the Clark County Commission on Wednesday.

Augie Bustos, a Las Vegas real estate agent and developer, believes his 20-room "motel" will be a boon for weary travelers making the 63-mile trek to Pahrump from Las Vegas.

Advocates and opponents are to square off at Wednesday's meeting of the County Commission when Bustos tries to get zoning changed from rural-open land to general-commercial.

Bustos said his motel will provide respite not only to motorists but also to people who simply want a taste of the mountains for a few days or firefighters who battle wildfires in the mountains every summer.

"It will help commuters go back and forth, or people like you or me who want to enjoy the mountains but who can't afford a million-dollar home," Bustos said.

Right now most people who want a taste of clear, cool mountain air have to head to Mount Charleston. If this hotel was to be built, it would provide an alternative to Mount Charleston, Bustos said.

The motel would be next door to the venerable bar at Mountain Springs, a watering hole near Mount Potosi for more than 50 years.

Bustos said one more reason the motel would be useful is that it would serve to house the workers he expects to be employed building his Mount Potosi Canyon Ranch, a health spa and resort with 112 rooms and 104 cabins. He said construction on the $170 million project, about four miles from the site of the proposed motel, should begin in 18 months.

The arguments haven't swayed opponents.

"There are so many ways it is a mistake," said Jim Hrudicka, a resident of the small community at Mountain Springs for more than four decades. "It flies in the face of the character of Mountain Springs."

Hrudicka and some of his neighbors suspect that if commercial zoning is approved for the site, other uses will come after the 20-room motel that have an even greater impact.

The proposal is one of several that have popped up recently and affect the Spring Mountains, the wooded heights to the west of the Las Vegas Valley that include both Mount Charleston and Mount Potosi.

A Utah company has proposed a 100-room resort with additional cabins in Lee Canyon on Mount Charleston.

Developers also have proposed a city of 150,000 on the west side of the Spring Mountains, but across the state line in California, to be called Charleston View.

Hrudicka said he understands the appeal of the mountains. It is, after all, what attracted him to the lifestyle. He said the opponents to Bustos' plan could be accused of "raising the drawbridge" in an effort to keep others away from what the mountain residents already have.

"Las Vegas is getting pretty densely populated and there's pressure to provide relief," he said. "There's so little recreational land."

But preserving the mountains is good for both the existing residents and those who live in the urban valley, Hrudicka said.

"To use any of this privately held land detracts from the reason people want to come up here," he said. "Homeowners are less of a nuisance than a hotel... If you look at the interests of the Clark County residents, our interests are better for them."

Phyllis Murray, site director for a Methodist Church-affiliated camp on Mount Potosi, said her main concern is the zoning.

"A lot of people have invested a lot of money up here based on the master plan that is in place," Murray said. "We're just interested in preserving the integrity of the master plan and our community."

Those who also oppose the project include the Mountain Springs Citizens Advisory Council, which unanimously urged the County Commission to deny the project, and the county's planning staff, which noted that the requested zoning does not conform to the land use guide and the proposed use is not compatible with existing or proposed land uses in the area.

Bustos said the opposition should be expected; nobody likes change in the mountain areas. Still, he's collected 280 signatures in support of the motel construction from patrons of the Mountain Springs bar, which Bustos owns.

The motel, he said, is "just a convenience." The bar is and will remain profitable with or without the motel. He said the site is a good half-way point for travelers, for firefighters, for people who want to enjoy the mountains.

"To me it's long overdue," Bustos said.