Editorial: Bill’s add-ons slap residents

Friday, June 3, 2005 | 9 a.m.

Assembly Bill 485 was introduced with the intention of limiting casinos in Washoe County by restricting the use of old gaming licenses. After passing unanimously in the Assembly on April 21, the bill went to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where it caught the eye of lobbyists for Station Casinos, Boyd Gaming and Focus Property Group.

After being heavily lobbied by this threesome, the committee in mid-May added unrelated amendments about neighborhood casinos. Ostensibly, the amendments were offered to end the type of controversy that erupted last year when Station Casinos announced plans for building a 300-foot neighborhood casino at Charleston Boulevard and Interstate 215, near scenic Red Rock Canyon. Neighbors were caught unaware by the height, which was scaled back to 198 feet after a contentious fight. AB 485, as amended, would limit neighborhood casinos to master-planned communities (which is the specialty of Focus Property Group) and require that the dimensions of a planned casino be decided during multiple public hearings.

Limiting neighborhood casinos to master-planned communities eliminates competition from smaller companies, which cannot operate on that scale. An additional concern is that the bill would gut the current appeals process now available to residents. Public hearings are no guarantee of gaining the approval of a majority of residents. They could be sparsely attended, or they could be held before the master-planned community is even built. Yet the purpose of the bill is to provide developers with near guarantees of the scope of their projects following the public hearings.

Currently, residents can appeal local-government approvals of neighborhood casinos to the Gaming Policy Committee, which is composed of citizens and state gaming regulators. The committee is empowered to overturn approvals for any reason, such as agreeing with the residents that the project would be intrusive. Twice residents have appealed to this committee, and twice the committee has sided with them. AB 485 would replace the committee with an arbitrator, who could overturn an approval only if there were technical reasons, such as a citizen being denied the right to speak at a public hearing.

The Assembly on Tuesday refused to accept the Senate's amendments. We agree with its decision. The amendments would give power to large neighborhood casino developers, and take power away from the public.