Let nose of buyer beware

J. Craig Anderson

Sunday, Dec. 4, 2005 | 6:46 a.m.

Is it government's job to save us from the odors we create?

Not according to Clark County officials, who say if developers want to build homes next to sewage treatment plants, then it should be up to consumers to decide whether they want to live in them.

County Planning Manager Chuck Pulsipher said his staff is recommending that the County Commission approve residential zoning on developer Bill Walters' 161-acre Royal Links Golf Club property, which abuts Las Vegas' sewage treatment plant in unincorporated Clark County.

"Historically, it has been our position that it does not make sense" to put neighborhoods too close to treatment plants, Pulsipher said. Advances in odor-reducing technology, however, have reduced -- though not eliminated -- those concerns, he added.

The commission is scheduled to vote Wednesday on the rezoning, but the vote probably will be postponed because of a lingering deed restriction on the property, formerly owned by Las Vegas but sold to Walters in 1999 on the condition that it remain a golf course.

The Las Vegas City Council voted Nov. 2 to lift the deed restriction, which would have allowed homes north and west of the city sewage treatment plant. Two weeks later, however, the council reversed its decision after two weeks of intense media scrutiny and the announcement of an attorney general's investigation.

While officials await the results of that investigation, a related issue getting attention deals with the advisability of permitting residential development near facilities such as sewage treatment plants.

The county has a long history of allowing residential development to encroach upon a 50-year-old Clark County Wastewater Reclamation District plant just one mile south of the city-run plant.

County officials voted to allow homes just south of the reclamation district plant in 1995, Pulsipher said. Residential development not much farther away began in the mid-1980s.

Pulsipher said he is not aware of any odor studies being conducted prior to the rezoning approvals, adding that the county's primary concern has been protecting itself from litigation.

In order to build homes within a mile radius of the county plant, developers must sign a waiver indemnifying the county and the reclamation district against any odor-related lawsuits.

Prospective homebuyers in the area surrounding the plant, known as the "odor easement," also must sign similar documents to protect the developer.

In other words, it's caveat emptor odor.

In most cases, Pulsipher said, the county has required homebuilders to leave a buffer between neighborhoods and treatment plants, but the size of that buffer has steadily decreased over the years.

In October 2003, the County Commission approved rezoning for another Walters property, about 424 acres of golf course land adjacent to the Stallion Mountain Estates community and directly south of the city's plant.

The county received more than 400 cards and letters in opposition to the rezoning, but critics focused on the conversion of golf courses to homes, not on the impact of building near a sewage plant.

In the case of Royal Links, Pulsipher said Las Vegas officials are the ones who have favored removing a golf course originally touted as a way to separate residents from foul smells.

"If the city lifts the deed restriction, then that communicates to Clark County that they must not think that buffer is all that necessary," he said.

County Commissioner Tom Collins said that with modern technology the smell of living next to a sewage plant is nothing compared to what he experienced as a child growing up in the community of Pittman, now part of Henderson.

"It had raw sewage running through it in the '50s," Collins said. "Pittman stunk every morning and every night."

Collins said other nearby communities have approved residential development in much more potentially pungent areas.

"Look at North Las Vegas," he said. "They allowed homes next to a pig farm with 4,000 pigs."

Marty Flynn, spokesman for the county reclamation district, said odor-reduction measures have become a part of everyday operations, and the number of resident complaints has decreased dramatically.

"I get more calls from prospective homebuyers than I get actual complaint calls," he said.

But even the best equipment cannot prevent the occasional waft of sour smells beyond the sewage treatment plant's boundaries.

"You can't have a plant ... on an odor-free basis," Flynn said.

Still, Collins said, government should focus on making sure there are enough homes and public services to accommodate the area's growth.

As long as prospective homebuyers know what they're getting into, they should have the right to live where they want, he said.

"If they choose to buy a home next to a pig farm or a sewage plant, then that's what they choose to do," he said.

J. Craig Anderson can be reached at 259-2320 or at craig@lasvegassun.com.