Letter: Life-threatening issues face Mount Charleston development

Amidst all the rhetoric about growth on Mount Charleston, one fact seems to have been overlooked. The developers have already been granted approval for three convenience stores, a gas station, two new hotels and restaurants, an Alpine Village (with shops, banquet facilities, food service and arcades), 72 condos with 11,000 square feet of commercial space, the golf course club house and putting green, miniature golf course, fitness center, ice skating rink and sledding. The residents are asking that no more commercial zoning be allowed until such time as these already-approved projects are completed and their impact on the mountain can be evaluated.

More than just "good arguments against overdevelopment," there are life threatening issues to be addressed here. The limited police, fire and paramedic services available on the mountain, together with the lack of any 911 service, should be of prime concern to the entire county. The road to Mount Charleston is already a death trap, add to that increased traffic coupled with cement mixers and construction trucks in the summer, and ice and snow conditions in the winter, and you have a perfect recipe for disaster.

Will people have to be killed or maimed before somebody steps back and says, "Gee, maybe we should have studied these issues in advance?"

I urge all of your readers to contact their county commissioner and request that no more commercial development be allowed on Mount Charleston without further study.

Marva Raines

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