An attorney for a landowner next to McCarran International Airport has asked the Nevada Supreme Court for a chance to prove the property was devalued by millions of dollars when height restrictions were imposed.
Robert Eisenberg, lawyer for 70 LP's properties, says that this height restriction crippled development on the Las Vegas Strip and that Clark County should pay for the taking of this airspace.
But county attorney Kirk Lenhard told the court there has "been no damage shown. The landholder has not lost anything." He urged the court to uphold the pre-trial summary judgment by District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez.
Clark County adopted two ordinances imposing height limitation on buildings that could be constructed in an aircraft approach zone near the airport.
At issue are seven parcels covering about 91 acres near Las Vegas Boulevard and Warm Springs Road. Judge Gonzalez ruled 70 LP's properties failed to seek a variance to the height restriction and ruled in favor of Clark County.
Eisenberg argued there was no requirement the landowner had to apply for an exemption to the height ordinance. "All we want is our constitutional right to fair compensation," he told the court.
Briefs filed with the court said 70 LP could have obtained a variance to build up to 112 feet and as high as 252 feet depending on the parcel. There was verbal agreement that a high-rise hotel-casino could not be built on the property.
Lenhard said Judge Gonzales not only considered the variance issue but "she looked at what was happening in the neighborhood." He said the property was 6,000 feet south of the north-south runway and 70 LP could have applied for a height variance.
There were other commercial ventures between the 70 LP properties and the runway, the court was told.
Eisenberg suggested that the landowner could build a golf course on the property and the player standing on the first tee would be violating the height restriction.
Lenhard said his client, Clark County, has settled hundreds of millions of dollars of these cases. He told the court there was a stark difference between this case and the one involving Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak, who was awarded $6.5 million in the taking of his airspace on property near the airport.
In his case, Lenhard said there was a failure of 70 LP to show their property had been taken or the damages, if any. 70 LP's property was near that of Sisolak, who ended up with about $16 million when interest and fees were added in.
The court took the arguments under submission and will rule later.