Saturday, Aug. 19, 2000 | 4:13 a.m.
Jerry and Dorothy Parker's home sits on blocks amid overgrown sage. It's gutted, sawed in half and ready to be hauled 8 miles west where the couple hope to live in peace.
Tom and Caly McManus abandoned their house across Regena Avenue two months ago, opting to build a new home. Now Doug and Cindy Catsman are the lone residents in the eerily desolate neighborhood.
About four years ago, the decade-old development near Centennial Parkway and Tenaya Way was essentially condemned when Clark County announced the Las Vegas Beltway would soon run right over it.
Now wind whistles through the cluster of eight deserted homes; the street is a virtual ghost town. There are no children playing. There are no neighborhood barbecues.
And much to the residents' bewilderment, there is no Las Vegas Beltway.
Cindy Catsman wonders if there ever will be a beltway. She wonders if her neighbors are victims of a scam to take property that rose significantly in value when it became part of Town Center, a district largely zoned for commercial use.
And residents seriously question whether Clark County had a valid reason to use its eminent domain powers to buy their property and force them out.
What they do know is the county's purchasing and relocation process is sketchy. Even more frustrating is that there is nowhere for homeowners to register their complaints.
"This has been a nightmare," Tom McManus said. "There is no oversight. There is no independent agency or ombudsman. The county is its own oversight."
County officials' behavior during the last two years has only elevated residents' suspicions.
The first hint of fishy activity came in December 1996 when the 2,000-acre Town Center was approved and that same month county assessors inexplicably reduced the assessed value of residents' property.
The public works land acquisition division visited the homeowners six months later and informed them their property would be condemned to make way for the northern segment of the beltway.
Though homeowners successfully fought to have their original assessments reinstated, they are convinced the values were dropped to give the county a bargain deal on their land.
McManus said even though his home sits in the middle of the commercially dominated Town Center, his land was priced at a residential rate. Now, he suspects, the county will sell the land at the much higher commercial price.
"If they change our property to commercial, each one of us got screwed to the tune of a quarter-million dollars," McManus said.
County assessor Mark Schofield flatly denies his division had anything to do with a land grab. The reworked assessments and the timing of the county's interest in the property was pure coincidence, he said.
"One event had nothing to do with the other," Schofield said. "The land value was reduced because sales indicated we had the land appraised too high. The county came right in behind us and started to condemn the property."
Schofield said when property is condemned, the values are calculated by an independent appraiser, not by his department.
Denis Cederburg, manager of the county's Public Works design engineering division, said the property owners will be extended the right of first refusal on any surplus land not needed for the beltway. But surplus has yet to be identified.
However, McManus said he was never told of those first refusal rights. The first he heard of excess land was from commercial developer Frank Nielsen, who knocked on his door and offered to buy the rights.
Nielsen wouldn't comment, noting he wasn't aware of all the circumstances of the sale.
Two of the eight households have completed their deals with the county. The other six households in the neighborhood have yet to receive all of their promised $10,000 in relocation fees. The permit process to move a house is lengthy and expensive and the county has not helped with either burden, the Parkers said.
The county can't distribute the $10,000 until the homeowners have moved, but some can't move without the money. Others turned in receipts only to learn the county will only pay a portion of the cost, according to attorney Jack Juan who represents the Cats-mans.
"Rather than getting payments, they're getting rejection letters," said Juan, who estimates the county owes the six families a total of about $142,000. "Now there's a fight."
And even though the county encouraged homeowners to sell their property two years ago, saying the northern section of the beltway was imminent under the accelerated scheduled, there are no signs of construction.
"The tenor of those meetings was urgent," Cindy Catsman said. "They said they need the land and we must get off. We had to get off."
The Catsmans, who plan to stay in their home until they see evidence of a beltway, question whether the roadway will actually run over their cul-de-sac. Catsman said the beltway has shifted on county maps.
A 1992 map shows the beltway on the then-undeveloped Centennial Parkway, a two-lane road that runs parallel to the Catsman's property.
When the county approached neighbors about selling their property, a different map was shown. This time, Cats-man said, the thick line representing the beltway crossed over her home.
Once the property was sold, another map showed the highway back on Centennial.
Holding the most recent map that shows the beltway running over the neighborhood, Cederburg said Centennial was always going to be an interim solution. But the plan has always been to dip down into the cul-de-sac.
He said meetings have been held, and residents were aware that because of a major beltway interchange on U.S. 95, a wider alignment is needed for a sweeping curve.
"They advised us they would like to be acquired so they could get on with their lives," Cederburg said. "We bought and paid for their property. Now we're telling them it's time to vacate."
The northern section is the last portion of the $1.5 billion Las Vegas Beltway. According to public works records, the county has taken 86 properties in the process of building the highway.
Clark County Commissioner Mary Kincaid said she has attended a dozen meetings in the last two years with the residents. She has explained the county must abide by and is limited to state condemnation laws.
Kincaid said she has tried to resolve personality conflicts between residents and county staff. And she felt her efforts had been successful until she was told of a lawsuit filed by the Catsmans earlier this month.
"It's been difficult because it's an emotional issue," Kincaid said. "I don't feel they're being unreasonable, I feel they're being emotional about it and I would too."
Kincaid said the plan is to complete the northern section of the beltway by the end of next year. The residents and homes have to be gone before bids can be issued for the project.
But residents have heard from county officials that the beltway will initially be two lanes and the full four-lane highway won't open for another decade. Juan said if the county isn't going to use the property right away, it shouldn't have taken it.
"You can't condemn or purchase that land if it's not going to be used," Juan said. "That's called land banking, and it's illegal."
The Catsmans have been given until Sept. 1 to move. And Catsman is aware that the district attorney's office might escort her off her property before the court has an opportunity to review her case.
She said she has already been told that is exactly what the county is threatening to do.
"I have lived in seven states, and this is the first time in my life that I don't feel like I live in America," she said.
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