Joe McKendrick is afraid the Willow Creek hotel, casino and clubhouse project will turn into a white elephant, a big building that sits empty, similar to one on Highway 160 that is awaiting a casino operator.

But despite almost 350 pages of documentation McKendrick submitted about the Willow Creek golf course owners, Nye County Commissioners voted 4-0 to deny McKendrick's appeal of a conditional use permit for the project on a recently rezoned nine-acre plot.

Commissioner Gary Hollis stood away from the podium while the vote took place.

McKendrick included everything from minutes of Pahrump Regional Planning Commission meetings to a lawsuit against Cennedig LLC to an account of a golf outing at Willow Creek by the Sin City Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with the Chicken Ranch brothel.

"The casino they want to build is the size of the Pahrump Nugget in a residential neighborhood," McKendrick said.

Plans call for a three-story hotel measuring 33,580 square feet, a 19,800-square-foot casino and a new clubhouse totaling 19,950 square feet.

Commissioner Joni Eastley looked for a legal rationale to deny the permit.

"As Maxwell Smart says, 'Well now here's the tricky part,'" she said, quoting from the 1960s television spy spoof "Get Smart."

Nye County Chief Civil Deputy District Attorney Ron Kent said the state will decide whether to approve the gaming license. Tony Caiati, director of operations for AMI, owners of Willow Creek golf course, said the state will require developers to have the proper zoning before approving the gaming license.

McKendrick charged AMI lied to the county when they denied back taxes were owed. Caiati said he's "pretty sure" the back taxes belong to property separated from Willow Creek golf course that is planned for a townhouse development.

The Cennedig story involved a scandal over allegations of embezzlement with the Southwest Exchange in Henderson. Cennedig bought the course for $4.5 million in October 2004, with present owner Aram Maissian listed as a partner.

A lawsuit claims Cennedig never repaid the Southwest Exchange $5 million.

Caiati said he has proof Willow Creek is no longer part of a RICO indictment since Maissian paid $6.5 million to buy out other partners. If not, the government would have seized the golf course two years ago, he said.

McKendrick raised the possibility the company may lose the property when the Southwest Exchange case goes to court Sept. 9.

Caiati said he needs to sell 1,000 rounds of golf per month -- 33 rounds per day -- at $30 per round just to cover interest payments. He said it costs $70,000 per month just to meet payroll, buy fertilizer, meet lease payments, equipment costs and other expenses.

"Every day I come here, it puts financing on hold," Caiati said.

The casino will provided revenue to keep the course open, he said.

McKendrick charged Maissian was in trouble with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which he believes could make it difficult for AMI to get a gaming license.

"As far as the gaming license goes, we're landlords. We have no intention of operating the casino ourselves," Caiati said.

Caiati admitted the whole complex, totaling 73,300 square feet, was as big as a shopping center.

"Nobody else in Nevada is coming into Pahrump to do such things," Caiati said. "Companies such as MGM and Wynn are not coming here to expand the growth."

Eastley asked about a request by Commissioner Butch Borasky for an extension of the deed restriction requiring the property be kept as a golf course another 30 years, until 2043.

Kent said AMI submitted a proposed amendment to the covenants, conditions and restrictions for the Calvada subdivision that meets Borasky's request.

"It has to be totally binding on any successive purchaser should they go belly up and they sell the property," Kent said.

McKendrick said extending the deed restriction doesn't preclude AMI from reducing Willow Creek to an executive course and selling off some residential lots.

Caiati repeated the threat the company would close the golf course when the deed restriction expires in 2013 and sell lots if the development isn't allowed to proceed.

Commissioner Peter Liakpoulos made the motion to deny the appeal. Eastley was the only commissioner to make any comments.