Bridge has shaky future

Monday, May 8, 2006 | 7:23 a.m.

Clark County commissioners' showdown with a concrete company could jeopardize the $234 million Hoover Dam bypass bridge.

By a rare 4-3 party-line vote, the commissioners last week denied a permit to Casino Ready Mix, a subcontractor supplying concrete for the bridge project.

That vote - which came after county zoning officials learned that the company had been operating its concrete batch plant without a permit near Eldorado Valley - endangers the bridge project, the company's executives warned.

"Basically, it would shut the project down," Kyle Goerlitz, vice president of Casino Ready Mix, said of the federal bridge project, which would remove most traffic from the Colorado River crossing atop Hoover Dam and redirect it to the new bridge.

The commission's vote could create snags for the project because the company's concrete materials and mix are the only ones in town approved by the federal government.

Casino Ready Mix is working on the project as a subcontractor for Obayashi Corp., one of two companies that won the $114 million contract to construct the Colorado River Bridge portion of the bypass, scheduled to be completed in June 2008.

Mike Motil, project manager for Obayashi, said his firm already has looked into the possibility of using other concrete plants, but none would work because the mixes' components do not meet the project's requirements, he said.

"Their aggregates don't meet the specifications," Motil said. "We are in a no-win situation. I ask for mercy so this project can go on."

County staff and the Planning Commission recommended that commissioners grant the company a use permit - at least temporarily - so that construction on the bridge could continue.

But the commission's majority Democrats rejected the use permit at a meeting Wednesday attended heavily by union representatives.

Unions, especially the International Operating Engineers Union, contacted commissioners prior to the meeting in an attempt to convince them to shut down Casino Ready Mix. Workers at the plant are not unionized, although Obayashi is a union operation.

Kristen Martin, an attorney for the union, said Casino Ready Mix had been operating without a permit for years. In fact, county officials had cited another plant operated by Casino Ready Mix for operating without a permit in 2001.

"This applicant cannot be trusted," she said.

But Goerlitz said the company thought the owner of the land where its current plant is located already had secured a use permit.

Democrats on the board sided with the union stance, saying they did not believe Casino Ready Mix's and Obayashi's claims that the bridge project would be threatened if commissioners shut down the plant.

"I thought it was clear he was being disingenuous," Commissioner Tom Collins said of the contractor. "They were breaking the law and we did the right thing. When people lie to you, they get what they deserve."

Commissioner Myrna Williams agreed.

"I don't think it will stop work on the bridge," she said. "It's hard to believe that's the only, sole source (for concrete). I just think you have to take a stand sometimes."

But the Federal Highway Administration, which is overseeing the project, has concerns about the commissioners' decision.

Dave Zanetell, FHA project manager, said while it is up to the contractor to find a solution, the commissioners' decision potentially could delay the project.

"We definitely know concrete materials - the timing and delivery of those - are essential to the completion of the project," Zanetell said. "There are a number of material sources in the area that do not meet the specifications, so there is definitely a significant concern related to the process it takes to find, secure and develop a concrete mix for this specific use."

Concrete from a new source would have to undergo an analysis process that "can be quite lengthy," Zanetell said. Four months is typical, he said.

"There is the potential for significant impact," he said of the loss of Casino Ready Mix's plant.

Republican commissioners expressed outrage at the decision, charging that union politics are threatening one of the largest public works project in the country.

"I just can't believe we are going to let that project shut down out there," Commissioner Chip Maxfield said.

"What I'm hearing is that we would be seriously jeopardizing one of the most significant public works projects in the United States," added Commissioner Bruce Woodbury.

His Democratic colleagues' motivations were skewed, Woodbury said.

"It became a kind of union versus nonunion issue, which it shouldn't be," he said. "Those issues have no business in our land-use decisions."

Under the commissioners' zoning meeting procedures, the commissioner in whose district the issue falls generally leads the discussion and initiates a vote. In this case, that's Woodbury.

He proposed a temporary use permit that would allow the bridge project to move forward and allow commissioners to deal with Casino Ready Mix afterward.

Democrats, though, rejected that plan and instead voted in favor of a proposal by Williams to deny the use permit.

A 4-3 vote has not occurred on the commission for a long time, Woodbury said.

"We don't get many party-line votes," he said.

John Braggs, Clark County's assistant planning manager, also described the commissioners' actions as unusual.

They reject Planning Commission recommendations perhaps only 10 percent of the time, he said.

"But to have it split 4-3 along party lines - that doesn't happen usually," he said. "I was kind of surprised. You're amazed sometimes at what they do."