Tuesday, April 25, 2006 | 7:05 a.m.
Lee Canyon is generally considered the sleepy side of Mount Charleston.
Despite the presence of the Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort, Lee Canyon doesn't get the throngs of visitors that the Mount Charleston Lodge and other amenities bring to the Kyle Canyon side of the mountain. A new development, however, threatens to change that, and the residents of Lee Canyon are not happy about it.
John Bailey, an attorney, hopes to build 60 rooms, with a spa, restaurant and possibly a bar, near the intersection of Deer Creek Road and Lee Canyon Road, also known as State Route 156. Bailey said he plans a high-end spa and resort.
"It's a resort where people can go, that has spa facilities as well as normal amenities," he said. With a six-acre site, more rooms could eventually join the first 60 planned for the resort.
Bailey said the resort could have gaming, but it would not be the focus of the multimillion-dollar project. He said he wants a development that is compatible with Mount Charleston's tree-lined slopes.
"Lee Canyon is a special area," he said. "There is nothing like that in the general vicinity ... We're trying to be as environmentally sensitive as one could be in developing the project."
Trees and shrubbery on the mountain would be left in place whenever possible, he said. The property itself is on a relatively flat area adjacent to the road, so would not contribute heavily to erosion issues, he said.
The resort could serve as a staging area for firefighters or other emergency responders and would help draw senior citizens and others who might not now use the U.S. Forest Service trails on the mountain, he said.
The mountain was hard-pressed to respond to a deadly avalanche in the winter of 2005, he noted.
Opponents, however, do not believe the resort is appropriate for the area, which has a few dozen cabins and about 70 residents. The Kyle Canyon side, about 20 minutes away via Deer Creek Road, has about 300 residents, a fire station, a lodge, a hotel and a couple of bar-restaurants.
Stephanie Myers, who lives right across Lee Canyon Road from the proposed resort, said the developer seems to be using a loophole in Clark County's zoning rules. The master plan for the area precludes commercial development - except for a spa.
"Our most pressing complaint is that this is obviously a commercial development and they have just found a devious way around the law," said Myers, who runs a trial-jury-consulting service.
"They are using a deception to get up here. They are not going to be good neighbors ... He's calling it a spa-retreat just to get a special-use permit."
Lucy Stewart, a land-use consultant working with Bailey, said at least four of the seven county commissioners would have to agree to the project. She said the developer has not yet filed an application with the county.
County planning staff rejected an earlier attempt to file for the land-use permit for what Stewart called technical reasons.
County officials, including Commissioner Chip Maxfield, who represents the area, weren't immediately available for comment.
Michelle French, who has lived with her husband, Greg, in Lee Canyon for three years, said she hopes the county will reject the special-use permit. She noted that the Bailey proposal comes about a year after a Utah company proposed to build another resort on the Lee Canyon side. That proposal - which has not been pursued with a formal application to the county - also annoyed neighbors.
"I do not want any commercial property up here at all," said French, who would be a neighbor to Bailey's project. "We're in a box canyon. There's only one way in and one way out."
She said staging firefighters at the site wouldn't help in an emergency, although building a new fire or police station would help. French said other concerns would be the impact of the project on the mountain's water supplies, on sewage issues and on other utilities.
The project would probably need many lights, French said, and that would disturb the nighttime ambiance of the canyon.
Marcel Barel, who has lived at Mount Charleston since 1966, agreed.
"It is a box canyon," Barel said. "There's no escape, no getting out of it in an emergency."
He said another potential problem would be flooding in the wash that runs through the Bailey property.
Bailey, however, said the issues can be overcome. The attorney said he welcomes discussion with neighbors.
"We're certainly not looking for opposition," he said. "We're looking for something that's compatible with the area. It is our intent to make friends of everyone.
"We will do as much as we can to accommodate any legitimate concerns that they might have."
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