MARK WAITE / PVT A Pahrump Valley Disposal dump truck pulls into the county landfill on East Mesquite Avenue. The proposed recycling facility would be farther away, on the left side of the street. Advertisement

A metal scrap and recycling facility will be allowed to go into a lot kitty-corner from the Pahrump landfill on East Mesquite Avenue.

Charles Bailey, the applicant representing S.A. Recycling, won approval from Nye County commissioners last week to rezone 2.39 acres from general commercial to heavy industrial.

Commissioner Roberta "Midge" Carver said the business made sense in that location by the landfill, overruling recommendations from Nye County planners that it would be spot zoning.

"That would be something that would go hand in hand with this. I don't see a lot of residential up there. If you look farther up you see the cement plant, you see gravel pits. It has evolved into something I don't see as residential," Carver said.

Commissioner Peter Liakopoulos said he doesn't feel Hogle Ireland consultants properly zoned the street in drawing up the Pahrump comprehensive zoning map approved last June.

County officials have been struggling with the industrial-residential conflicts in the neighborhood east of Highway 160 and north of Highway 372. Commissioners rejected a request last October by Car Mine Ltd. Partnership to rezone 10 acres at 2770 E. Commerce St. for an impound storage lot after objections from residents in the neighborhood.

Bailey told Liakopoulos there would be 14 jobs paying wages of $16 to $20 per hour. That sold Liakopoulos on the project.

Resident Robert Rylie, 1650 Moon St., complained Nye County is ignoring the roads in the area east of Highway 160. He charged two junk yards have been violating county code.

"We spent millions of dollars on the master plan, thousands of hours researching, and now all of a sudden we're going to spot zone this," Rylie said. "I don't know anybody in our area that's been contacted on this."

A residential neighborhood is growing up on Avenue of the Stars, Rylie said. He envisioned that neighborhood could bloom into a high-priced area, like the neighborhood around Sunset Mountain on the east end of Las Vegas.

Bailey said he represents a company that operates 46 recycling centers in the U.S. He sought to reassure Rylie's concerns over oil runoff and other hazards.

"We meet all the environmental laws. We have a five-acre facility in Las Vegas which I also run, and the property is all concreted, we drain all the oil into tote bins. The automobiles -- environmentally we are signed off 100 percent through the state of Nevada, with the health district of Clark County. Our machinery is not noisy, it's no noisier than a truck going down the highway," Bailey said.

Commissioner Joni Eastley voted for the approval but said she still has a problem with the spot zoning, though it seems a good place for the recycling center. She added more recycling could extend the life of the county landfill, projected to reach capacity in 10 years.

Bailey said his company will recycle aluminum, copper, brass and different types of plastics. He said his company bailed up 600 tons of recyclable material during a trip to Pahrump last summer and paid $10 per ton to the county.

"There's a lot of junk in this area. They don't want to haul it to the landfill free, but if they knew they had an incentive, they were going to get money for their materials, I'm sure this town would get cleaned up real quick," Bailey said.