Henderson council holds off decision on casino

A casino whose theme will be beaches and sailboats encountered shoals and still air when it came up for approval Monday night.

Although more than 100 people showed up at the Henderson City Council meeting to learn the fate of the Sunset Beach Resort, council members decided to let this issue kick back catch rays for another two weeks.

The council will take up the issue again at its Sept. 1 meeting.

The 16,000 square-foot hotel-casino is proposed by Robert McMackin, who also owns the Roadhouse Casino on Sunset Road. The new hotel-casino would be on nine acres at 750 W. Sunset Road, on the corner of Sunset and Middlegate roads, near Gibson Road.

Tuesday night, Sunset Beach Resort was scheduled for an architectural review, a decision on a use permit and a zoning change.

The Henderson Planning Commission recommended denial of the project at its July 16 meeting, citing the resort's failure to meet the requirements of a then-pending city ordinance, which has since been passed.

The ordinance, passed on July 22, eliminates the clause that allowed the City Council to make exceptions for certain projects in development that do not conform to the city's master plan.

The main requirement that the resort failed to meet under the new ordinance was that such a project have at least 25 acres.

The resort as proposed also fails to fulfill the requirement that such a project must have a 30-seat bar, a restaurant, room service and an on-site entertainment facility.

The passage of last month's ordinance was designed to limit the large number of neighborhood casino proposals that have been springing up recently in Henderson.

archive