Casino project draws critics

The next battle over a plan for a neighborhood casino is on the horizon.

A developer of 1,712 acres in northwest Las Vegas wants to build a casino at the entrance to Kyle Canyon to go along with as many as 16,000 new houses, condominiums and apartments.

The proposal is reviving debate over whether casinos should be in or near residential neighborhoods.

Representatives of Focus Property Group, the development company, and the city councilman who represents the area say the people who already live out near the site of the proposed casino wouldn't be bothered by it because they are far enough away from the site.

The closest existing homes are at least 3,000 feet away from the casino site, and most are at least 5,000 feet away, said Mark Fiorentino, senior vice president of government affairs for the company. Additionally, he said, the project would be bordered on the east by U.S. Highway 95.

Las Vegas Councilman Steve Ross, whose Ward 6 includes the "Kyle Canyon project," agrees with Focus Property Group.

In his 2005 campaign, he promised to fight neighborhood casinos and casinos that would change the character of neighborhoods. Focus Property Group's proposed casino, however, "is out in the middle of nowhere. It's not in a neighborhood. This is a good location for a casino," Ross said.

But some residents, many of whom have sent protests to Ross, say they don't want to see a casino built in the far northwest part of the Las Vegas Valley.

"Just because gaming is legal in Nevada doesn't mean it has to be in every neighborhood," said Lisa Mayo-DeRiso, a community activist and resident of the northwest who has been organizing opposition to the Kyle Canyon project and the casino.

The northwest, she said, still has horses, an equestrian trail and open space and most of its commercial development is clustered away from neighborhoods.

"I don't think we all need to live within a few miles of casinos," she said, pointing out that Santa Fe Station already serves the northwest.

A community meeting is set for 6 p.m. tonight at Mountain Crest Community Center, 4701 N. Durango Drive. The meeting is required by state law, and representatives of Focus Property Group are to be there to present more details about the company's proposal. Fiorentino said the current plan is for a 75,000-square-foot casino.

Under a development agreement passed by the Las Vegas City Council in May, the casino could be no taller than 160 feet.

If Ross stays on board, the casino's fate could come down to whether Fiorentino and his fellow lobbyists can pass the muster of a 1997 state law.

Assembly Bill 208 earmarked specific areas in the Las Vegas Valley for casino resorts. If developers want to build a casino in any other areas, they have to show that it won't have a negative impact on its neighbors.

Fiorentino said "the bar has to be set very high."

"I'm confident that the way we located the casino and the way we designed the project, it doesn't have any negative impact on surrounding neighborhoods," he said.

"Look at all of the successful, large-scale master plans. They all incorporate well-thought out, well-planned casino projects," Fiorentino said. He pointed to Green Valley Ranch, Summerlin and Inspirada, a Henderson project that Focus is developing.

With as many as 16,000 homes planned for the Kyle Canyon area, those who would live closest to the proposed casino would do so by choice, Fiorentino said.

"If you think (a casino) will negatively impact you, you won't buy a house there," he said.

Mayo-DeRiso said the 160-foot-tall potential height of the Kyle Canyon casino would be an issue for residents far and wide.

"You have this beautiful land, and this 160-foot finger or thing sticking up out where everything else is flat," she said. "Somehow this community has to get out of the mind-set that every neighborhood, every master-planned community, has to have a casino."

In the residential portions of the project, construction on sewers, roads and other infrastructure should start later this year, Fiorentino said. The first homes could be built in spring 2009.

Construction of the casino would not come until later, possibly not until about 2012, Fiorentino said.