‘A happy mountain’ once again

Monday, Feb. 27, 2006 | 7:37 a.m.

Those six single-family homes at Mount Charleston will be for single families after all.

Apparently ending a dispute that divided the tiny mountain village, a developer has agreed to modify the six buildings into one-family homes, as Clark County and the Mount Charleston Town Advisory Board had approved in 2003.

Barbara Orcutt, owner of the Mt. Charleston Lodge and a well-known resident of the mountain, ran afoul of the county and neighborhood sensibilities last year when the first two structures under construction began to look more like a series of condominium units.

Clark County objected as the two buildings were being completed, and the units were offered for sale.

County planners said the expanded projects would set a bad precedent.

County government liaison Chris Munhall and Deputy District Attorney Rob Warhola said they have commitments from Orcutt and her attorney that the two buildings will be retrofitted, and plans for the other four will be changed before construction begins.

Orcutt said she is confident that both the Town Board and the County Commission, which are scheduled to look at the revised floor plans next month, will approve the changes.

"The architects are already making the modifications," she said.

Residents on the mountain had said the condominiums would further stress an area already hit by heavy winter traffic, water and sewer issues and other alpine development headaches.

"We have more issues on the mountain than most communities do because of the extreme weather," said Becky Grismanauskas, chairwoman of the town advisory board. Like her neighbors and other Town Board members, Grismanauskas became concerned when she saw advertisements for condominiums.

"When the Town Board approved this several years ago, the agreement was six single-family dwellings," she said. The floor plans for the buildings under construction showed six apartment-like dwellings in each structure.

Orcutt said four generations of her family intend to move into one of the nearly completed homes. She said she believes that any bad feelings engendered by the construction work can be put aside.

"We were dealing on a professional level," she said. "We're entitled to differences of opinions, but there's nothing permanent. It's a happy mountain."

Launce Rake can be reached at 259-4127 or at lrake@lasvegassun.com.

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