Wednesday, March 4, 1998 | 9:27 a.m.
PROPERTY owners near McCarran International Airport who are being forced to sell their land under eminent domain proceedings are getting a raw deal from the Clark County Department of Aviation.
Two years ago, Clark County seized about 30 acres of land through eminent domain to make way for a glide path for a new runway at McCarran. There were two seniors-only mobile home parks on the land, which is located on the north side of Tropicana Avenue near Paradise Road. The Department of Aviation says the Federal Aviation Administration requirements won't allow the land to be used for mobile homes because of noise and safety concerns.
There's nothing wrong with seizing property through eminent domain that serves a public purpose, including when airport expansion results in airplanes flying directly over homes. And when the right of eminent domain was used, the property owners -- including Richard Worthen, former Nevada GOP Chairwoman Marilyn Gubler, Joseph and Margaret Loveless and the heirs of Las Vegas business pioneer Maxwell Kelch -- agreed to sell. The attorneys for the landowners say they didn't raise much fuss because they thought it served a public purpose.
So imagine the look on the property owners' faces then when they read newspaper stories about a Feb. 3 County Commission hearing. In that hearing, commissioners gave the director of aviation approval to deal with J.A. Tiberti Co., which wants to build a hotel and golf course on the same land that the Department of Aviation has found to be unfit.
The land that the Department of Aviation felt should be condemned apparently wasn't so bad after all. Tito Tiberti's project, which is estimated at $90 million, would include a golf course, a 750-room time-share condominium and convention center and a 300-room hotel. FAA guidelines apparently allow a golf course as an acceptable land use. In fact, a driving range is on an adjacent piece of land that was condemned a number of years ago.
The problem is that the Department of Aviation never gave the original landowners the same opportunity to develop the land for a different use that it is now willing to give to a new owner. "What was once a fairly typical eminent domain case has now effectively become a redevelopment plan that benefits a private party," attorney Terry Coffing, who represents some of the landowners, told SUN reporter Bill Gang.
Aviation Director Randy Walker defends the deal, asserting that the county was only trying to recover some of the money it was spending to relocate the mobile home park residents. "We want to control the use, consistent with FAA guidelines ... we don't want the property," Clark County Deputy District Attorney Dale Haley adds.
Walker also says all but 10 of the 30 acres will have to be grass because of the runway, but notes that 10 acres on the northern and western boundaries of the land could have other uses, including condominiums. Attorney Vaughn Gourley, who represents Worthen, notes that his client's five acres were within the 10 acres Walker acknowledges were suitable for permanent structures. "His five acres didn't have to be condemned," Gourley said.
On Monday, District Court Judge Sally Loehrer denied a motion by the landowners that sought to reject the county's right to condemn the property. But she did rule that the property owners have the same right as anyone else to bid on the property for purposes of development. That's the least that can be done for the property owners. The fact is, however, this case never should have gone as far as District Court.
The Department of Aviation should have given the original landowners a chance to develop the land in the first place. If they couldn't have found an appropriate use consistent with FAA guidelines, then the county could have moved forward with eminent domain proceedings. Eminent domain should be used as a last resort, especially if there are other uses for the land that can be reasonably accommodated.
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