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Tuesday, July 28, 1998
THE NEED TO SECEDE
Neighbors sue the city of North Las Vegas, alleging that their property was illegally annexed from unincorporated Clark County.
By Lori Roniger
Review-Journal
Jerry Lutz and some of his neighbors are trying to preserve their right to be left alone.
Lutz's neighborhood, previously an unincorporated area in Clark County, was annexed in June by the city of North Las Vegas against the will of some residents. Lutz and two other owners of annexed land, Joseph Huntsman and Lin Wright, have filed a complaint in District Court protesting the city's move and asking that the land be returned to its previous status.
"If (the annexation) was to our benefit, I would say fine," Lutz said. But, "there's not a single point that's to our benefit."
Lutz, 47, is a Teamster who works conventions and claims membership in Mensa, the organization for people with high IQs. He has lived on a plot of land just over an acre in size for five years and worries that his rural, independent lifestyle will be jeopardized.
Like many of his neighbors, Lutz resides in a mobile home and keeps old cars and other variegated items in his yard. He is an avid collector and restorer who describes himself as "a poor man's Lonnie Hammargren," a reference to the neurosurgeon and lieutenant governor whose property is a museum of Nevada kitsch.
Lutz's yard houses a 1922 Franklin automobile, a 1948 Lincoln, equipment and knickknacks. Some neighbors keep horses and other animals on their properties.
The annexed area, known as Annexation 99, is bounded on the south by Lone Mountain Road, Commerce Street on the west, Washburn Road on the north and Donna Street on the east. The island of land, surrounded by the boundaries of North Las Vegas, is somewhat an anachronism. Many of the streets are unpaved, yet just blocks away are new, densely built housing developments, construction sites for future developments and a new school under construction.
Property taxes for owners of annexed land will increase about 30 percent, according to Randy Cagle, North Las Vegas property manager.
Another annexation -- Annexation 100 -- also recently approved by the North Las Vegas City Council, met with some resistance from some landowners. However, the July 17 deadline for filing a formal protest, which state law sets at 30 days after the annexation approval, has passed without any action, Cagle said.
Property owners must pay their own legal bills to fight an annexation. Annexation 99 found a benefactor in Huntsman, a retiree who lives in Montana most of the year.
Huntsman is paying the fees for attorney Stanley Parry, whom the trio has hired.
If an annexation is overturned, a city can attempt to annex the land again after one year.
"They can keep coming after us," Wright said. "There is no penalty written into the law for an illegal annexation."
According to Nevada law, to block an annexation homeowners must have support representing more than 50 percent of both the land's acreage and its dollar value. Despite significant opposition, Annexation 99 proceeded after the city disqualified signatures it claimed were invalid, including Huntsman's.
Huntsman owns 6.78 acres of annexed land valued at $65,000, according to documents filed in District Court. If Huntsman's signature had been counted, it would have pushed the opposition to Annexation 99 to more than 50 percent of the area's acreage and land value. The complaint alleges that his signature was improperly discounted.
Huntsman's property is owned through a trust, jointly created in 1983 with his wife, Dale, who died in 1990. That left Huntsman as sole trustee.
Cagle said Huntsman did not submit proper evidence by the deadline to show he was the only trustee. The complaint, filed July 2, includes documentation of the death of Huntsman's wife and his sole assumption of the trust.
The city property manager acknowledges the validity of the documents but said it is too late for the information to be counted.
Annexation 99 is now officially part of North Las Vegas and is receiving fire and police services though the city. The Metropolitan Police Department had previously handled services for the area.
Despite concerns by residents that they may be assessed for unwanted services, Cagle said North Las Vegas has cleaned up roads and debris but has not planned additional changes for the neighborhood. Residents can be assessed for services if a majority of residents in an area support them.
Lutz said he is perfectly willing to provide his own services. He spent $10,000 for a well, $7,000 for a septic system and more than $8,000 for installation of power lines when he moved onto his land.
"The basic idea out here is live and let live," Lutz said of the attitudes of Clark County, which he described as "mellow," and his neighbors.
He said North Las Vegas is grabbing land so it can collect more taxes.
Although Lutz said he may build a house on his land during the next five years, he also talks of moving to Pahrump despite similar development he sees taking place there.
"I went to bed in America," he said. "I woke up in North Las Vegas."
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Jerry Lutz, sitting astride an old tractor, says he likes collecting old cars, which he restores behind his recently annexed home in North Las Vegas. His yard houses vintage cars, equipment and knickknacks.
Jerry Lutz moves a mattress from in front of one of his old cars parked behind his mobile home on land North Las Vegas has annexed.
Photos by Mike Salsbury.
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