Developer seeks delay on shopping center decision

Wednesday, June 14, 2006 | 7:11 a.m.

1991: A large area of Henderson was evacuated after a broken pipe released 40 to 70 tons of chlorine, forming a toxic cloud that sickened people. In 1996, Timet agreed to pay more than $125,000 in fines for numerous safety violations, including one that contributed to a worker's death in 1995.

1997: State and county officials investigated multiple accidents, including an explosion that injured two workers.

1998: A spill of 1,000 pounds of molten magnesium triggered an explosion that caused a chemical fire that forced workers to evacuate.

A developer has requested a six-month delay in Henderson's decision on whether to approve a shopping center next to industrial plants that store hazardous chemicals and that have been the scene of numerous accidents over the years.

The Henderson City Council was scheduled to vote June 20 on J&F Land Co.'s request for a 725,000-square-foot center with retail stores, restaurants and offices on 73 acres at the northwest corner of East Lake Mead Parkway and Water Street. The property is on the edge of the Basic Management Inc. site where four industrial plants operate.

The developer, a subsidiary of Juliet Properties, asked the city for the delay to give it more time to study site plans and building designs.

A six-month delay would push back the City Council's decision to December, after this fall's gubernatorial election.

That seems more than coincidental to state Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, who faces Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson in the Aug. 15 Democratic primary for governor. She also noted that J&F Land Co. is co-owned by former Clark County Commissioner Jay Bingham, whose household donated $15,000 to Gibson's gubernatorial campaign.

"It looks like an election-year decision," Titus said. "Mr. Bingham is very close to the mayor, and he may not want to put him in an awkward position to vote on it."

Titus has called on the developer to withdraw the plan, saying it was inappropriate to place thousands of shoppers next to the plants, given their history of toxic releases and concerns over terrorism. She said the state should consider legislation requiring a buffer zone between the plants and developments like a shopping center.

Gibson could not be reached for comment Tuesday. His campaign declined to comment, calling it a city rather than a campaign issue.

Bingham did not return a phone call from the Sun.

But Juliet Properties Vice President John Stewart insisted that politics had nothing to do with the decision to seek a delay. While six months is the maximum delay needed, he said, the developer could bring back the project within weeks once the study is completed.

Bingham was chairman of the Clark County Commission in 1993 when he voted with other commissioners to restrict development on and around the BMI complex to light manufacturing and industrial uses. The property was annexed into Henderson last year.

Henderson City Attorney Shauna Hughes said the delay will give a city-hired consultant, Environ, more time to complete a study evaluating the risks of having a shopping center on the same property as four chemical plants. The council will not vote without seeing the study, which may need updating if the developer alters its site plans, Hughes said.

The current plan places the shopping center buildings as close as 700 feet from the chemical plants, city officials said. Some of the plants produce chlorine and titanium tetrachloride, which when inhaled in large concentrations can be fatal.

Stewart said the delay had nothing to do with recommendations from Mike Cyphers, the city's emergency management coordinator, who suggested recently that the City Council require the developer to install sensors that detect dangerous chemicals as part of an elaborate warning system to protect shoppers. Citing the potential dangers, Cyphers has opposed the project.

"We have not considered that," Stewart said of the sensors proposal. "Until the final report comes out, a lot of it is conjecture."