Clark County official changes course on gas station planned for southwest Las Vegas valley

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Construction of a Las Vegas gas station appears to be shifting gears following urging from a Clark County commissioner who previously approved the project.

Residents in the Trail Ridge neighborhood near Blue Diamond Road and Durango Drive shared a letter they received from Commissioner Justin Jones’ office which appears to indicate resistance to the approved project.

“Commissioner Jones has spoken with the developer of the project,” staff for the commissioner’s office wrote. “[Jones] encouraged the developer to consider an alternative compatible use.”

The statement continued by citing concerns from residents regarding their proximity to the gas station as the reason Jones is urging for an alternative.

Residents had previously hoped the gas station would not be approved following a unanimous decision by the Enterprise Township Advisory Board to deny the project.

Following the advisory board vote, the Clark County Commission unanimously approved on May 8 the gas station project, whose applicant requested their third extension as part of a planned shopping center.

Jones previously told residents he would support the project in part due to the lack of complaints submitted when the project was initially proposed in 2020.

“It is unfortunate that there was no opposition at the time,” Jones said.

However, letters obtained by 8 News Now show that 11 residents did submit letters of opposition in response to official notices of public hearings on the project in 2020, which conflicts with a part of Jones’ initial reasoning.

The approval was recently called into question by residents due to its conflict with a county ordinance passed in February of this year which prohibits gas stations from being built within 200 feet of single-family dwellings—some of the Trail Ridge homes would be 40 feet from the project.

Although the project has been approved, Trail Ridge residents did not give up and instead held a protest in their neighborhood to voice opposition to the project which developers said would start within a month of approval in May.

Mike DiCamillo, a Las Vegas resident, spoke with 8 News Now from his backyard behind the gas station project, which has not broken ground.

“We are very pleased that [Jones] is finally listing to our concerns,” he said. “Our major concerns were all the toxic chemicals in the ground and in the air that we would be breathing and the chemicals that we couldn’t even see.”

DiCamillo’s concerns are echoed by the county ordinance which conflicts with the gas station; citing concerns from proximity to “transient commercial” properties next to “residential developments.”

“We’re just hoping that the gas station does not get built,” DiCamillo said. “But we will believe it when we see it.”

8 News Now reached out to Justin Jones’s office for a direct statement regarding his position but his office did not provide a new statement by the time of publication.

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