Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2004 | 11:16 a.m.
A group of Summerlin residents which opposes a hotel tower near the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is questioning Clark County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates' purchase of a vacant housing lot in July.
Atkinson Gates bought a lot in an upscale Summerlin development of the Howard Hughes Corp., and the group that opposes the hotel is planning to ask the Ethics Commission for an opinion as to whether the commissioner properly disclosed the purchase.
Atkinson Gates and her husband, District Judge Lee Gates, bought a half-acre lot in July in The Ridges, a new community in Summerlin planned by Howard Hughes Corp. Six months later, some Summerlin residents believe they smell a rat -- that Atkinson Gates paid a lot less than her neighbors.
Gabriel Lither, a Las Vegas attorney and a founder of Summerlin Residents for Responsible Growth, the group opposing Station Casinos Inc.'s plans for a 1,500-room, 300-foot-high resort in Summerlin, said casino opponents have raised the issue of Atkinson Gates' property purchase because of the relationship Station Casinos has with Howard Hughes Corp., which backs the project.
"I think we all have some concern about that," Lither said. While Atkinson Gates disclosed that she owned property in Summerlin during an abortive Dec. 7 zoning hearing on the casino issue, "She didn't go as far as she should have," he said.
Atkinson Gates should have disclosed the cost of the property, the seller and the relatively recent nature of the buy, Lither said.
Atkinson Gates called the accusation "asinine."
Atkinson Gates owns a half-acre lot on Quiet Moon Drive, which is a little more than two miles away from the casino site. Her undeveloped lot is one of about 20 on two small cul-de-sacs. Atkinson Gates bought her property for about $346,000, or about $670,000 an acre.
Most of the nearby lots -- a little bigger with better views -- sold for $527,000 to $830,000, beginning at about $880,000 an acre.
One 1.85-acre lot sold for a little more than $1 million, much more than the cost of Atkinson Gates' property but at $590,000 an acre, less per acre than Atkinson Gates' land.
The seeming discrepancy in prices is why critics say she got a deal that was too good.
Atkinson Gates, who disclosed during a Dec. 7 hearing on the project and the contentious issue of a requested 300-foot tower for the casino that she owned land in Summerlin, said she hasn't done anything improper.
The land, far across the valley from her North Las Vegas home, is vacant. She bought a small property without the views of neighboring lots, and she got in the game early, Atkinson Gates said. It may have been a good investment, but it wasn't improper.
To back her up, Atkinson Gates cites Robert Forbuss, a political and business consultant and former Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce president; Bobby Siller, a former FBI agent in charge of the local office and present member of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, in charge of regulating casinos; and the Howard Hughes Corp.
All of the above are consistent in the story: Atkinson Gates saw an investment opportunity, open to any member of the public, and purchased the land without any advantage granted by the corporation.
Atkinson Gates said she is not in Station Casinos and Howard Hughes Corp.'s corner, and expressed concerns about the tower height in a Dec. 7 meeting on the proposed Red Rock Station project. She said Monday that she believes the issue was raised in an effort to force her to vote against Station Casinos.
"The people out at Red Rock have just made up a flat-out lie," Atkinson Gates said Monday, responding to what she called a whisper campaign to impugn her integrity. "No one gave me a deal. That was the price for the land when I went out and looked at it and that was the price I paid. ... I paid the market price for the land."
Atkinson Gates looked at the property in April, and put a deposit on the property soon after. She ultimately concluded the $346,290 purchase July 23.
When Atkinson Gates toured the property sites and talked to a Howard Hughes Corp. salesman, Bobby Siller was at her side. Siller said the two met for lunch and decided, based on a mutual interest in land in the upscale community, to visit The Ridges, which is still mostly undeveloped.
He said for him, low interest rates and the attraction of moving to a better neighborhood prompted him to check out the property.
"That's how the conversation started," Siller said. "We got in the car and drove out there and she showed me a lot she was interested in."
They met the Summerlin salesman at the same time.
"He pulled out a sheet, and said, these are the prices today," Siller said.
They looked at three lots, one of which would ultimately belong to Atkinson Gates. The three all had similar prices -- in the $300,000 range, Siller said. The price for a vacant lot was too much for Siller, who said he couldn't afford the land and the cost of building a home too.
Nearby lots were selling for a lot more, Siller said.
"We looked at a list of prices," he said. "She selected a lot out of three that were in that price range. I thought it was a good deal for her.
"This was not a plan. This was very spontaneous. If I had had the money, I would have taken advantage of it myself."
Forbuss, the former chamber president, backs up Atkinson Gates' account from a different perspective. He said he also saw a good deal in the three cheaper lots for sale on Quiet Moon Drive in The Ridges.
Forbuss said he planned to purchase one of the lots after checking them out in April. But he left town for several weeks. When he returned in May, "the price had gone up," he said.
"My regret was that before I left I failed to put a deposit on the property," he said. "I think that Yvonne jumped on it. My regret is that I did not."
Tom Warden, Howard Hughes Corp. vice president, said Atkinson Gates had three factors working to keep the price of her lot down: Location, size and timing.
"The lot that she purchased was the smallest lot in there," he said. "It is not on the golf course, which creates huge value. It does not have a city view.
"And it was an early release as opposed to a later release. The late releases reflected skyrocketing prices. These prices were rising so fast. People would just hesitate and, well, you'd end up with the higher price.
"We'd like to think that everyone who buys in Summerlin gets a good deal, but in terms of this particular sale, it was completely appropriate."
The issue comes at a sensitive time on the ethical front for any county commissioner. Former Clark County Commission Chairman, and still Commissioner, Mary Kincaid-Chauncey has been indicted on federal corruption charges in association with a federal investigation of alleged vote-buying by a Las Vegas strip-club owner.
Two former commissioners have promised to fight similar charges. Another, former commissioner Erin Kenny, has agreed to plead guilty to accepting bribes and cooperate with the federal prosecutors.
Atkinson Gates has felt the sting of ethical charges in the past. In 1998, the Nevada Ethics Commission found that Atkinson Gates violated state law by aiding two friends in their attempt to receive concessions contracts at the county-run McCarran International Airport.
Mary Miller, the commission's legal counsel and deputy district attorney, said she was aware that Atkinson Gates had purchased the land. She said Atkinson Gates had no responsibility to disclose the terms of the purchase.
"If they gave her a discount because of her position, she would have to disclose that," Miller said. "She would have to disclose a gift, but if she made a shrewd business deal, she would not have to disclose."
The issue goes to the heart of the criticism from some Summerlin activists, who point out that on Quiet Moon and
But Atkinson Gates said they are getting the story wrong.
"This whole thing is so asinine," she said. "I'm not going to let them destroy my name.
"I've been really neutral. I've tried to be fair," Atkinson Gates said.
Atkinson Gates promised that the complaints would not change her vote on the casino issue.
"I'm going to do what I think is right," she said. "I'll be danged if I'm going to let them hurt me or my family because we were fortunate enough to buy a piece of property for the future."
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