Every Thursday, City Attorney Chet Adams checks with the Nevada Supreme Court to see if they have reached a decision on a settlement suit against the proposed Lazy 8 casino in Spanish Springs. Thursday is also the day set aside twice a month for the Sparks Planning Commission to meet.
Today is going to be one of those important Thursdays.
While Adams said he does not know which Thursday the Supreme Court will issue its ruling on Lazy 8, the Planning Commission will be voting tonight on a Sparks Master Plan amendment for the casino.
The amendment would change the land use designation of more than 20 acres off Pyramid Highway, north of Lazy 5 Regional Park, from general commercial to tourist commercial, allowing a casino to be built on the land.
According to city officials, the amendment will likely be approved because of the terms of a lawsuit settlement agreement.
The city, John Ascuaga's Nugget and many residents initially put up a fight against the project, resulting in a web of litigation and finally a settlement agreement between the city and developer Harvey Whittemore of Red Hawk Land Co.
While the agreement settled a $1 million lawsuit, it also gave the Lazy 8 casino the green light to move forward.
The Lazy 8 handbook was approved on Aug. 27, 2007, by the Sparks City Council.
“This Master Plan amendment is intended to effectuate the terms of the 2006 Settlement Agreement between the city of Sparks and Red Hawk and is consistent with the 1994 Master Plan approval Red Hawk obtained from the Regional Planning Commission," Scott Whittemore, vice president of the Wingfield Nevada Group, said in a statement issued April 18. "The Master Plan amendment clarifies that there are no conflicts between the NSSOI (established sphere of influence zoning) maps and text as they relate to the approved Tierra Del Sol resort.
"While Red Hawk does not believe it appropriate to comment on pending litigation, Red Hawk firmly believes that all prior approvals it has received were appropriate and that it will prevail in the pending litigation,” the statement continued. “Red Hawk further believes that this project will create jobs and provide a much-needed economic engine for the area in these difficult times."
The lawsuits began when the City Council voted on Aug. 23, 2006, to deny the Lazy 8 project. Whittemore claimed that this denial was a breach of a 1994 agreement with the city and immediately filed suit. The city eventually settled in that case and approved the project's handbook.
Now, at the request of several residents and the Nugget, the Nevada Supreme Court is reviewing the settlement. The Nugget and 15 citizens sued to overturn the settlement agreement.
"We believe everyone should be following the same rules," Nugget marketing director Beth Cooney said of the casino's opposition. "If they were to go forward with this, which is to stop other casinos from coming in (to the Spanish Springs area)? It is precedent setting."
Nugget officials, including Nugget CFO Stephen Ascuaga, said that they have no opposition to another casino coming into Sparks, referring to the Legends Bay casino, spearheaded by Olymipa Gaming as the anchor to the Legends at Sparks Marina project.
Cooney and Ascuaga added that some of their opposition stemmed from the process that the casino went through for approval.
According to Adams, there is no pending litigation specifically on the Master Plan amendment. The only outstanding cases involve disputes against the settlement agreement.
"If the Nevada Supreme Court says this settlement agreement should have never been entered into, then we are back to square one," Adams said.
The last time the item saw the public light at the Supreme Court was on Jan. 7, when both sides gave oral arguments.
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