In Business Las Vegas, August 3rd, 2007
A little-used state oversight committee empowered with the ability to overturn decisions reached by city councils and county commissions on the appropriateness of casinos in neighborhoods ended up agreeing with the Las Vegas City Council's approval of a $9.5 billion project near downtown.
Opponents of an 85-acre project known as Project Pulse, proposed by
Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
-based REI Neon, failed to convince the Review Panel of the Gaming Policy Committee to overturn the council's June 20 approval of the project.
The proposal includes a 22,000-seat sports arena, three casinos, 6,000 hotel rooms, 785,000 square feet of retail, nearly 4 million square feet of convention space 500,000 square feet of office space, 1,500 condominiums and 1,600 timeshare units. The review panel's primary concern was with the gaming elements.
The July 25 meeting of the review panel was only the third time it has convened since being formed by state legislation approved in 1998. In the other two meetings, the panel struck down casino district approvals by the Clark County Commission and the North Las Vegas City Council.
But panel members decided that the REI Neon project wasn't anything like the previous two matters in which casino project proposals would have encroached on neighborhoods.
The aggrieved party in the appeal of the REI Neon decision,
Charles
Weiner
, lives on the west side of Interstate 15. The REI site — bordered by Charleston Boulevard on the north, Main Street on the east, Wyoming Avenue on the south and the Union Pacific railroad tracks to the west — is on the east side of I-15.
Critics of the REI project say there is no commitment to improve streets and other infrastructure in the area along with the gaming district.
Several representatives of the
Las Vegas
arts community also were present at the meeting, but they didn't address the panel. Several galleries are located within the area being acquired by REI and many are upset with the plan, even though the Arts District Neighborhood Association has endorsed the project.
REI agreed to alter the design of the proposed arena so that it sits back away from the corner of Charleston and Main at the request of the association. It also agreed to compensate the arts district for Special Improvement District funds lost as a result of the project's encroachment on the art district.
The lawyer representing
Weiner
,
Charles
Gardner
, argued that because no gaming operator has been identified for the casinos that the project is purely speculative.
"All they want to do,"
Gardner
said, "is raise the property values and then flip it."
Gardner
said he couldn't think of a worse place to build a casino because of the traffic it would generate on the area's inadequate streets.
Lawyers for REI and the City of
Las Vegas
countered that several business operators support the project and that establishing the gaming district was just one component of a larger plan.
"This is a carpe diem moment — seize the day," said
Richard
Bryan, the former U.S. senator and Nevada governor
, who represented REI. "We're looking to transform an area that has been a blight."
Ultimately, the four members of the five-member review panel who attended the hearing concurred that gaming district within the REI site would not harm the existing neighborhood, which is categorized as a blighted area.
Two gaming industry regulators on the review panel agreed with two business representatives that the gaming district is appropriate for the area.
"If this project goes as it has been outlined, it's going to be a great project," said
businessman
Stan
Wilmoth
before casting his vote to affirm the City Council decision. "This is far from being a neighborhood casino."
"This is a great opportunity to rectify what has been a problem area," added
businessman
Bill
Brady
.
Nevada Gaming Commission Chairman
Peter
Bernhard
and state Gaming Control Board Chairman
Dennis
Neilander
, who also voted to affirm the council vote, said they were not passing judgment on the feasibility of the project, but only concurring with the council that the gaming areas would be appropriate for the location.
"This is unusual for a body of appointed people to look over the shoulders of elected officials,"
Bernhard
said. "We take that responsibility very seriously."
