Resort plans conflict with National Guard

It's like building houses at the end of a runway.

That's how one Nevada Army National Guard official characterized a developer's plan to build two hotels with casinos on 73 acres adjacent to military training grounds in North Las Vegas.

The National Guard is fighting the plan, saying the placement of hotels so close to military personnel who may be shooting, driving tanks and performing training drills at any hour of the day or night presents obvious practical and safety concerns.

"We could have our Bradley (Fighting) Vehicles out there driving around, firing off blanks," said Mag. Gen. Cynthia Kirkland, who has been Nevada's adjutant general since 2005. "The activity would just not be compatible with a resort-type environment ... where people are going to be partying and celebrating."

Milrose Company Inc. wants to eventually construct two, eight-story hotels next to the National Guard training ground near the intersection of Interstate 15 and the northern Las Vegas Beltway. Representatives for the company did not return calls seeking comment.

The Miller Hotel and Casino project's first hotel would be 759,000 square feet and include a 16-screen movie theater, bowling alley, two nightclubs and several restaurants.

The second would be a 640,000-square-foot hotel. Each would include a casino and 500 guest rooms. The site would have 7,915 parking spaces.

Kirkland said the proposed 90-foot height for the two hotels near the National Guard's Floyd Edsall Training Center would allow people staying there to observe Guard training. She's especially concerned with protecting the security of the Guard's anti-terrorism force.

"Every one of those (hotel) windows presents a security threat to our complex and our soldiers," she said.

The National Guard also is worried about the increased traffic that would come with a hotel-casino project and the impact of the project's lights on night training for guardsmen.

The hotel site "notches up into the middle" of more than 1,200 acres of the National Guard's training land, Kirkland said.

"We have a combat engineer course on one side of where they want to put the hotel," she said. "The actual training range is on another."

The North Las Vegas Planning Commission in May approved a special use permit to allow the hotels and casinos on land zoned for general commercial use.

The commission also approved the establishment of a gaming enterprise district on the land and a special use permit for the 90-foot hotel height in an area where 60 feet is the maximum height allowed.

A public hearing on the establishment of the gaming enterprise district is scheduled for tonight before the North Las Vegas City Council.

The National Guard is appealing the approval of the special use permits. A public hearing on that matter also is scheduled for tonight's council meeting.

The Milrose Company provided the city with an "economic benefits study" that claimed the hotel project "will expand, enhance and stabilize the local economy in the North Las Vegas area," bringing "employment wages and tax revenue to an otherwise underutilized area."

The project will create 5,720 new jobs, according to the study.

The Floyd Edsall Training Center opened in 1994. At the time, surrounding property was zoned for light industrial use, which was more compatible with the National Guard's training center, Maj. Clayton Chappell said.

"When we originally moved into that property, we realized North Las Vegas would expand," Chappell said. "But it was originally zoned for light industrial. Industrial-type complexes don't have the same level of security and safety issues."

Now, directly behind the training center, signs have been posted: "This property is intended for and zoned for a hotel/casino site."

Kirkland said she understands that a new hotel project would bring economic benefits to North Las Vegas.

But "that particular location makes it very challenging to us," she said.

"It's important for us to have it on the record that there are safety and security issues that come with putting a resort in the middle of a military training site," she said.

Contact reporter Lynnette Curtis at lcurtis @reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285.