A commercial development project on Hafen Ranch Road near the Artesia subdivision was turned down by the Pahrump Regional Planning Commission last week.

The RPC also deadlocked 3-3 on a 32-acre commercial rezoning request on the west side of town, at 600 S. Leslie St.

ACE Development Associates Inc. wanted to rezone 1.7 acres at 6531 S. Hafen Ranch Road near Bridger Street from medium-density residential to general commercial for a shopping center and convenience store fronting on Hafen Ranch Road.

ACE also wanted to rezone 8.3 acres behind it from medium-density residential to multi-family residential for a 168-unit, multi-family housing development back to Evans Road.

Planner Steve Osborne said it would constitute spot zoning and spot planning in a neighborhood with single-family residences on 1.5-acre and five-acre lots. The property also lies in an undetermined flood zone. The RPC recently disapproved of a 120-acre subdivision in that same flood zone farther north on East Thousandaire Boulevard.

Consultant Dave Richards, of CivilWise Services, argued the project would be more in line with growing development in the area. He said engineering studies could resolve any drainage issues or mitigation in the flood zone, pointing to the Artesia project which developers were able to remove from Federal Emergency Management Agency flood zone maps.

"To be fair, this just feels like we're sticking something out in the middle of nowhere because somebody wants it. Somebody would have to convince me of the rationale of the sense to have this long series of narrow stores out on Hafen Ranch Road," RPC Chairman Mark Kimball said.

Artesia resident Carole McDonald said congestion has been increasing for the last 10 years. She said Hafen Ranch Road would look just like Highway 160 with the commercial development.

"This gentleman's reason for building, it sounds pretty damn lame to me," said Sally Siford, who lives in the Cottonwood subdivision. "It is absurd to have some commercial property just for the sake of doing it."

Mary Giaccani said another project in that area could ruin flood control measures.

Property owner Che Keav Taing originally wanted to develop a hotel/casino project on 55 acres on Leslie Street near Happy Lane. Commissioners approved rezoning the eastern 23 acres of it general commercial in 2006. The remainder was rezoned to residential with the adoption of the zoning map June 20.

Richards said the owner wanted to rezone the remaining 32 acres on the west side of the large parcel from low-density residential to general commercial for a shopping center. Developers scrapped plans for the casino, he said.

Richards said other developers have talked about extending Wilson Road west past Leslie Road. That will change Wilson Road into a commercial thoroughfare, he said.

Nye County Planning Director Jack Lohman said he'd like to see concrete plans on extending Wilson Road first.

Kimball said a number of residents were concerned about having a "massive commercial project" when the owners first came up to rezone the entire 55 acres last year. RPC member Norma Jean Opatik said the approval would "give carte blanche" to a commercial development abutting residences.

"We are absolutely against living next to a commercial enterprise. We bought this property 11 years ago," said Leroy Pilkenton, 761 Happy Lane. "This is a residential neighborhood. There is enough traffic on this street the way it is."

Richards said owners envision retail businesses like barber shops and shoe stores going into the commercial buildings, with possibly even a supermarket as the anchor tenant.

RPC member Nevada Tolladay was skeptical about whether any tenants had been lined up yet. He noted the plan calls for 12 buildings with a half million square feet of space. Richards said tenants were ready to move in before the previous rezoning split the parcel in half.

RPC member Jacob Skinner was ready to approve the project if construction would begin within three years. The motion included provisions for landscaped buffers and the extension of Wilson Road.

Commissioners deadlocked 3-3 on a vote to approve the project.

John Bunton and Anna Fanning were granted a conditional use permit for one year and a waiver from site requirements, to open Outlaw Johnnie's Tattoo Shop in an existing building at 1230 S. Loop Road.

Lohman said the county should require owners to upgrade shopping centers with paving parking lots when renters repeatedly change hands. Kimball questioned whether it constituted an overriding issue about public safety.

Fanning said she leases the building from the Floyd family, which has plans to raze the building and build a plaza.

"I did have landscaping and every one of my plants we put in pots out there was stolen. I refuse to do landscaping again," Fanning said.