Loan store request approved despite ordinance

By Mike Trask (contact)

Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2006 | 7:19 a.m.

Earlier this year, Henderson officials, fearing a proliferation of payday loan stores, passed an ordinance requiring the businesses to be at least 1,000 feet from each other and 200 feet from residential neighborhoods.

"We don't want to have one on every street corner," Henderson Councilman Andy Hafen said at the time.

The first time that a new payday loan store wanted to set up shop, however, the City Council approved the site - across the street and less than 400 feet from Warm Springs Check Cashing.

"The first application that comes in they say no, they are not going to be governed by those rules," Warm Springs owner Charles Lipschitz complained.

City officials dispute that contention, saying their decision was dictated by the fact that Check City, a large chain of payday loan stores, had applied for a permit before the new ordinance was passed.

All he knows, Lipschitz says, is that he could end up having a competitor closer to him than he expected - and closer than the law says is legal.

Accusing the City Council of violating its own highly publicized ordinance, Lipschitz has sued the city.

City Council members hoped that the ordinance, adopted in March, would slow the expansion of the payday loan establishments, which critics argue prey on problem gamblers, drinkers and the poor.

North Las Vegas adopted a similar measure this year, drawing, as Henderson had, from Clark County ordinances passed in 2004.

Henderson and North Las Vegas each have about 30 payday loan businesses.

Lipschitz, who has owned the Henderson location for nearly six years and has operated check-cashing businesses at two other Clark County locations since the early 1990s, said he was shocked that the city gave a green light to Check City so shortly after passing the ordinance.

The Henderson Planning Commission approved a conditional use permit for the Check City site in May, despite city staff's recommendation to deny the request. In addition to the close proximity to an existing check-cashing business, the Check City store - which has not yet opened - is only about 120 feet from property zoned residential.

The new law allows waivers to be issued if applicants prove their business does not compromise the "public health, safety and general welfare of citizens of the city."

When Lipschitz appealed the Planning Commission decision to the City Council in July, his protest was rejected, although Councilwoman Amanda Cyphers voted against allowing the permit.

Councilman Jack Clark said at the time that he disliked check-cashing businesses, but felt it was only fair to allow Check City to build under the old law.

Check City had applied for the permit on Feb. 14, more than a month before the new ordinance was passed.

The city attorney's office has until Jan. 8 to respond to Lipschitz's suit.

In the meantime, Lipschitz - who estimates that the area near Green Valley High School already has at least eight check-cashing stores in a two-mile radius - feels he has been wronged.

Lipschitz said he simply wants to protect his business - and for the city to be fair.

"They brought in the rule," he said. "We didn't bring in the rule."