Warehouse zone change denied
“I’m offended. I’m offended by this proposal, because it’s no proposal,” Nye County Commissioner Bruce Jabbour declared as the commission addressed applications regarding a warehouse project in the Pahrump Valley.
The applications were filed by 4DT Ventures, Inc. on two parcels totaling one acre on Pink Way, located northeast of the intersection of Highway 160 and Basin Avenue, just west of the Ian Deutch Government Complex. The property owner was aiming to construct a large warehouse on the lots and was requesting a zone change from Light Industrial to Heavy Industrial, as well as a minor master plan amendment, to support the project.
Nye County Principal Planner Qiana Medici explained that the Pahrump Regional Planning Commission (RPC) had taken up the matter in June and had voted unanimously to recommend rejection of the applications. “The reason why we recommended denial was because the applicant couldn’t provide what they wanted to do and within Heavy Industrial, there are a lot of uses that may or may not work in that area,” she detailed.
In the weeks since that June meeting, Medici said the agent for the applicant, Bryce Dahlin of Hillwig-Goodrow Land Surveying, had contacted the county to let officials know two possible uses were under consideration.
“The main option is a storage and distribution center for renewable energy components, like solar panels, the structural systems for the solar panels, wind turbine components, batteries,” Dahlin told commissioners on July 15. “There would not be any manufacturing here, it’s purely going to be for storage and distribution.”
A term that has become something of a taboo in Pahrump, as soon as “solar” was mentioned, the reaction from the commission was immediate, with sighs and shaking heads clearly signaling the board’s dislike for such a project. The board members weren’t the only ones to express frustration over the “solar” aspect either, with several public speakers voicing concern too.
Commissioner Debra Strickland then jumped in to say she was confused as to why the applications were before the board in the first place, as the two proposed warehouse uses are already allowable under the Light Industrial zoning.
“As the liaison to the RPC, first of all, whenever I see Heavy Industrial, my hackles get up, because I want to know what they are going to be doing. I have the same worries that everybody out there does… Heavy Industrial is dangerous… That being said, to do what he wants to do, it doesn’t have to be rezoned,” commissioner John Koenig concurred.
Koenig made the motion to deny both applications, with a second from Jabbour.
“We were just informed that the group has come up with a plan and it could possibly go back to planning but that’s not what was before [the RPC] originally and what we’re reviewing in the backup [today],” Jabbour said before the vote was called. “It’s very vague and unclear… and very dangerous for us to approve going to a Heavy Industrial type zoning without anything in writing before us.”
Commissioner Ian Bayne chimed in to note that the board may not always concur with one another but in cases such as this, there was unity. “The one thing I do find up here is, there is agreement on stopping dangerous conditions in the community,” he stated.
The motion to deny passed with all in favor.
Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com
