Town board OKs fire station over protests

A proposed fire station generated a lot of heat at the Spring Valley Town Advisory Board meeting Tuesday night before being approved 3-1.

The Clark County Fire Department argues it needs the station to improve response times. The department will next ask the County Commission for a zoning change on July 22.

Several people who live close to the site at El Capitan Way and Saddle Avenue attended the meeting to voice objections.

They claim the $1.5 million station, to be built with money from a 1995 bond issue, will devalue their property, create a dangerous environment for children and disturb their neighborhood with sirens and noisy trucks.

The site is in a residential neighborhood, a short distance from Flamingo Road.

"I don't object to a fire station," said Kathryn Lyden-Hipp, who lives about 500 feet from the proposed location. "We need a fire station. My father was a fireman before he died. He was my hero. But I would like you to put it on hold."

She said she would like the board to look at the location being proposed, and to move it out of a residential neighborhood several hundred feet to Flamingo Road, a commercial area.

Hipp's words did not fall on deaf ears entirely as she pleaded her case.

Two of four board members voted against the issue initially, but then Mindy Unger-Wadkins -- one of those voted no -- offered an amended motion that put severe restrictions on noise making and changed her vote to a yes.

The sole dissenter on the second motion was Brett Skinner.

Had the initial tie vote been allowed to stand, the motion would have failed for lack of a majority.

After the meeting, Fire Capt. Larry Dau said he understands the concern of the neighbors. He said, however, that the site chosen by the department is the best location and that to change it now would create a major delay.

He said the area where the station will be located is experiencing tremendous growth and a station is desperately needed.

The location is on property owned by the Bureau of Land Management. Dau said it has taken as long as 2 1/2 years to get approval to use BLM land in some cases.

The vote by the council was not a guarantee the station will be built where the department wants.

Hipp and Dorothy Kidd, another area resident, vowed to band together with other neighbors and attend the County Commission meeting to voice their objections.

"It all comes down to money," said Hipp, expressing her opinion as to why the station is not going to be built on Flamingo Road. "Flamingo is prime commercial property."

Hipp said when she and her husband bought their home more than two years ago they did not realize they would be living next door to a fire station, otherwise they probably would have bought somewhere else.

She said with a station so close to the house, the number of potential buyers -- if and when she decides to sell -- will be reduced by 50 percent.

"We will have to lower the price to bring in more potential buyers," she said.

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