Rural, urban ways clash over animals in the city

In most well-established cities, there is a clear dividing line between where the city ends and the farms begin.

That's not true in the Las Vegas Valley.

The metropolitan area has grown so fast that it's not uncommon to see roosters crowing in the middle of developed county neighborhoods.

Folks not used to pitfalls associated with country living complain about smelly piles of horse manure, braying donkeys and screaming peacocks.

"If the animal can verbalize itself in any way, believe me, we have received a complaint about it," said Joe Boteilho, animal-control manager for Clark County.

"Peacocks are the worst animal for noise. They scream -- several times louder than the loudest child you have ever heard," he said. "We have problems with them flying up on roofs and nesting on air-conditioning units."

The county can issue tickets to people who have excessively noisy animals or fail to keep animals on their property, Boteilho said.

But if animals are well cared for, not excessively noisy and kept on their property, there is little the county can do about complaints.

"In designated rural areas, you can have just about any kind of food-producing animal -- except hogs," said Charles Pulsipher, a senior management analyst for the Clark County Comprehensive Planning Department.

Potbellied pigs, unlike their American porcine relatives, are allowed in rural estate areas.

But there is one area where hogs are allowed -- in North Las Vegas, where a 6,000-head hog farm now rests in an island of unincorporated Clark County. And that is one of the greatest points of conflict between development and rural roots in the county.

"They were raising hogs there before there was even a zoning code in Clark County," Pulsipher said. "So even though the rules don't allow hogs now, they were grandfathered in."

It's a perplexing state of affairs for Bob Combs, owner of R.C. Farms.

"We came out here in 1963 and built before there was any water, electricity or phones. This literally was the middle of nowhere," he said. "But the city is growing so fast that now we are becoming surrounded."

In 1997, Mojave High School was built just a quarter-mile from the farm. Students have taken to calling it Pig-Sty High.

"Let's face it, pigs smell," North Las Vegas Mayor Mike Montandon said. "The Combs family is really nice, but they can't smell it. Some days I'll go out there and they'll say, 'It doesn't smell at all today.' And I'll be gagging."

The Combs farm rests on an island of county land within North Las Vegas that the city would like to annex. But Montandon said that even if the land becomes part of the city, the hog farm will be allowed to continue. After all, Montandon said, the property is valuable and time is on the city's side.

"That hog farm has made a two-mile area in the middle of the city virtually undevelopable. How long can that continue?" he said.

Montandon said economics, not governmental action, probably will be the eventual demise of the farm.

"Pork prices are horrible right now. You can't make money raising pigs," he said. "But the land that the farm is sitting on is becoming more and more valuable. Pretty soon, some developer is going to come in and make them an offer they can't refuse."

Combs says he has no plans on moving his farm. When developers approach him about buying his land, he asks them to find a place in Clark County for his farm to relocate. He's had no takers.

Montandon said he can sympathize with the plight of the hog farmers.

"It's not like the farm is encroaching upon the city. The city is encroaching on it. But let's face it. That land is so valuable that there is no way he would even think of building a farm there today."

Combs said he and his family are doing their best to get along with the neighbors.

"We are working hard to control the odors," Combs said. "But let's face it, hogs smell. I get along pretty well with my neighbors. I've always found that if you get along with your neighbors, they don't complain about the smell."

As part of his efforts to be a good neighbor, he said he routinely hosts tours from area schools so that city children can experience farm life.

"My problem isn't with my neighbors. It's with developers. They come in here and want to build near the farm. But they have a problem with me being here," Combs said. "They say hog farms are bad for the area's image."

While this neighborhood's stink has been one of the more noticeable in recent years, it certainly isn't an isolated incident in the Las Vegas Valley, Las Vegas City Councilman Larry Brown said.

In the area he represents, the northwest part of the city, there are frequently conflicts between horse owners and newer residents.

"We have to work to maintain the area's rural lifestyle," Brown said. "Let's face it, Las Vegas is quickly becoming one of the nation's leading metropolitan areas. But our rural lifestyle makes us unique from other major cities."

Beverly Blaskey found herself leading the fight to protect her tiny northwest neighborhood from urban encroachment last year.

"We are just a little neighborhood with 12 houses. I have two Arabian horses here, and my neighbors have horses, too. When we built out here we were in the middle of nowhere. But the city has found us."

In June she learned that a developer wanted to build a subdivision encircling her tiny enclave.

"There was only going to be a half-acre between my home and all of the other houses," Blaskey said. "That just didn't make sense. A lot of people object to horses. They don't like the flies and the dust. Building homes that close was just asking for problems."

Blaskey said she talked to the developer during a five-month period and he agreed to create a larger buffer between the home and the new development.

Within the cities of Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas, horses are the only farm animals allowed. They are restricted to certain neighborhoods with half-acre lots or larger.

Lori Macejka, a Las Vegas animal-control officer, said there are few livestock problems within city jurisdiction.

"We don't allow poultry within the city," she said. "Every once in a while we will get a call. Usually the problems are cultural. Often it is immigrant families who have chosen to have chickens in the city. We usually just tell them that they live in the city now and they can't have chickens."

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