MARK WAITE / PVT A construction worker rides on a lift to do some ceiling work on the former Pahrump Theater on Calvada Boulevard, which is being remodeled as an auto parts store. Advertisement

St. Martin's Episcopal Church won't have to pass the collection plate for $4,224 in impact fees, after Nye County Commissioners, in what could be a precedent-setting case, decided last week the church would be eligible for an exemption.

The builder remodeling the old Pahrump theater on Calvada Boulevard also will be receiving an impact fee refund, after confusion over the zoning.

Fred Slaughter, St. Martin's Episcopal Church senior warden, noted the county commissioners waived the application fee for the zoning change and site plan for the church last April. However, Interim Nye County Manager Ron Williams said the church didn't receive the building permit for the 2,400-square-foot steel building until after the new impact fee ordinance took effect June 16.

Slaughter argued the impact fee was a tax and St. Martin's in the Desert is a tax-exempt organization recognized by the state and the Internal Revenue Service. The church also doesn't pay property tax on its location at 631 W. Irene St.

But Mark White, the attorney who prepared the Nye County impact fee ordinance, said the impact fee is not a tax and even tax-exempt organizations have to pay up. Nye County Chief Civil Deputy District Attorney Ron Kent concurred.

However, Nye County Commissioner Candice Trummell, herself the daughter of a Baptist preacher, suggested as a matter of policy that churches ought to be exempt from paying the impact fees. She said the commission may want to provide encouragement to such community organizations.

"Obviously the legal analysis is sound and there's no requirement for us to do this. But as a matter of policy, should we? I lean toward yes," Trummell said.

The motion to allow the exemption was based on the policy that "this type of organization benefits the health, safety and general welfare of the citizenry."

A letter from the Episcopal Diocese of Nevada noted St. Martin's in the Desert Episcopal Church contributes to various activities in the community and programs like No to Abuse, the Family Resource Center and Families in Need.

Commissioner Joni Eastley suggested revising the impact fee ordinance to identify organizations that should be exempt.

On Calvada Boulevard, Ivan Cannon, an 82-year-old World War II veteran renovating the old Pahrump Theater as the location for the new Charleston Auto Parts Store, also got a reprieve.

Williams said the impact fee doesn't just apply to construction of a new building, it can be levied whenever a property owner changes the land use to one that will have more impact on the community. An auto parts store generates a lot of business, he said.

The original understanding was that the theater fit into the category of "office institutional," like an educational movie theater at a university, and was being upgraded to commercial. But attorneys for Cannon pointed to the Tischler Bise land use study on infrastructure needs, which referred to the property as commercial.

Williams said if impact fees were imposed, Cannon would have had to pay $27,000.

"I don't want to start a controversy. I just thought it was wrong," Cannon said. "I feel like when we get to the bottom of the pile, we're going to have a fair resolution of the impact fees."

Cannon said he figured the movie theater would have been listed as commercial use. But he said the building permit listed it as residential property.

Cannon said he's been in business in Las Vegas since 1958. He owns five auto parts stores in Las Vegas and Pahrump.