Monday, Jan. 28, 2013 | 6:10 p.m.
The Nevada Supreme Court has given a victory to a landowner next to McCarran International Airport in a multimillion-dollar height-restriction dispute.
Clark County enacted an ordinance limiting the height of buildings that can be constructed in aircraft approach zones near the airport.
70 Limited Partnership owns 71 acres and maintains the ordinance devalued its property with its height restriction.
The court reversed the decision of District Judge Elizabeth Gonzales, who granted a pretrial summary judgment in favor of Clark County and the airport.
The high court sent the case back to Judge Gonzales to conduct hearings on how much is owed 70 Limited Partnership because of the airspace restriction.
In its decision, the court cited a prior case in which Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak was awarded $6.5 million in taking his airspace on property near the airport.
In oral arguments before the court in July last year attorney Robert Eisenberg, lawyer for 70 LP's property, said that the height restriction by the county crippled development and that the county should pay.
He argued 70 LP could build a golf course and a player would violate the air space ordinance.
But Kirk Lenhard, attorney for the county, said there have been no damages shown and the landowner has not lost anything.
The landowner filed a petition in district court that the building height limitation in the ordinance resulted in a taking of its airspace. Clark County responded that the landowner failed to demonstrate any usable airspace had been impacted by the ordinance.
The property is near Las Vegas Boulevard and Warm Springs Road.
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