CORRECTION: Because of a reporting error, the parent company of Bally's was incorrect in this story. Hilton Hotels Corp. owns the Strip property.

Air space vote set for today

      Clark County commissioners are scheduled to vote today on whether to force Caesars Palace to relinquish air space that may later be used for a Mirage Resorts Inc. monorail.
      Caesars e xecutives have said they are willing to "compromise" by agreeing to give the county land behind their property to make way for a frontage road. That agreement, they say, won't mention ceding control of air space above that land, as the county had original ly required as a condition for permitting a new 708-room Caesars Palace tower and underground valet garage.
      If Mirage Resorts executives want air rights to build a monorail, Caesars officials say, they'll have to deal w ith them, not the county.
      "What we're trying to do is take the issue out of the county's hands and leave it where it should be -- between us and our neighbor," said Marc Rubinstein, an attorney for Caesars. "We've expre ssed a willingness from day one to discuss the issue with Mirage."
      Still, Commissioner Bruce Woodbury -- chairman of the Regional Transportation Commission -- said Monday he is not inclined to let Caesars Palace expand without giving up land and air rights above it.
      "I just think we need to be consistent in what we ask of developers, which in the past has always been unconditional right-of-way without any exceptions," he said.

60;     In March, the commission voted to reject Caesars' development agreement after the resort refused to cede control of air space above the frontage road.
      Caesars executives didn't want the cou nty to hand over air rights for use by a Mirage Resorts people-mover that wouldn't serve their property; they would relinquish control, they said, only if the tram stopped at their casino or at Caesars Forum Shops.
      Caesars officials believe that Mirage Resorts has pressured the county to secure air rights before it donates land to widen Harmon Avenue.
      Mirage Resorts' attorney Mark Russell has said, "The Harmon agreement is part of what we perceive to be a complete traffic solution. We want everything resolved, all the pieces to fall into place at the same time."
      Rubinstein said Monday that "for the Mirage to imply that the private monorail is a key element of a public transportation solution for the Strip is totally disingenuous."
      Mirage Resorts' spokesman Alan Feldman countered that his company's tram would be "an importa nt element in the overall comprehensive traffic program."
      "It would help ease traffic, and that's the point," he said.
      Feldman noted his company will donate land and airspace for Harm on Avenue regardless of how commissioners vote.
      "If we decide to put a monorail over Harmon, we'll go to the commission and ask for it like everyone else," he said.
      Feldman accused Ca esars executives of holding road improvements "hostage to an anti-competitive threat."
      "They're saying 'you do this and we'll do that'," he said. "Well, we just don't play those games."
      ; Should commissioners reject Caesars' offer, Rubinstein said his company will sidestep the quicker "development agreement" process and seek zoning through individual permits.
      "It may take a little longer, but that's t he plan," he said.
      Furthermore, he noted, both Caesars Palace and Bally's Las Vegas -- whose parent company ITT is trying to buy Caesars Palace -- have indicated they won't pay their share of a pedestrian tunnel at Flam ingo Road and the Strip without county approval for Caesars' development agreement.
      Both resorts have pledged their share of the $23 million project should commissioners ratify the contract.