GINA B. GOOD / PVTBeing with the dogs at West Star Ranch is owner Terry Dougherty?s favorite activity. His car wash business, which has been closed since May, supports the cost of caring for the dogs at the 501(c)(3) rescue. Advertisement

At the Recommendation of Pahrump's Regional Planning Commission (RPC), the Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday voted to amend the District Zoning Ordinance by expanding the uses permitted under the General Commercial classification. Among uses now permitted are Auto Carwash and Auto Detail businesses.

In plain language, that means Terry Dougherty, owner of Car Studio could be back in business washing and detailing cars in the parking lot of the Pahrump Nugget in 30 days or so, after the text changes to the ordinance are published.

Dougherty is relieved, but anxious for the day when he and his five employees can go back to work. "Summer is our busy season," he said. "We can earn up to $300 a day in the summer. Being closed down and letting my employees go has really hurt."

Car Studio was closed in May for zoning violations, after Dougherty moved his business a few hundred feet to the Nugget from Smith's Food and Drug parking lot, where he'd been washing cars since 2005. Dougherty said he had no idea zoning laws had changed, making the move a violation.

Dougherty moved from Denver, Colo., to Pahrump in 1990, before there were building permits or much talk about zoning. In fact, when he bought his property, people told him he wouldn't like living all alone, way out on the end of Manse Road without other homes around.

"I've always loved the peacefulness out here," he said. There are now neighboring homes in the area.

"My first visit to Pahrump was during the winter and it was warm," he said. "I never knew there were places where it didn't snow. My parents came to visit me from Nebraska a year later and they never went home."

Buying, repairing and selling older homes was how Dougherty made a living before he began his mobile Pahrump Valley Car Wash service in 1993. That's about the same time he founded West Star Ranch Dog Rescue, which is now a 501(c)(3) charity housing 60 cats and 54 dogs in a fenced, outside area with large dog runs and shade trees.

"Each dog has a tree," said Dougherty, who added his happiest moments are spent caring for his dogs, 14 of which are retired and live permanently at West Star. The remaining 40 dogs are up for adoption. In fact, someone adopted a dog on Tuesday.

"It was a match made in heaven," he said. "The dog is three years old and looks like a black Irish setter."

Dougherty's car washing business is largely what supports the dog rescue, along with donations and funds taken in from the on-site thrift store. Without income from Car Studio, he's worried.

West Star is named for the West Star satellite, one of 36 GPS satellites circling the globe. "You can always see the satellite, but it looks like a big, bright star in the night sky," he said.

West Star was also a gift for Dougherty's mother, Elsie. "My mother always used to say if she won the lottery she would buy a big ranch and put a big fence around it and have all the dogs she wanted and they would all run free.

"She never won, but she did get her dream. Some parents go to a rest home, but my parents got to enjoy their dream life for their last years. We had 15 wonderful years here together before they passed."

Dougherty's property has two A-frame homes. He gave his parents the bigger home and he lived next door. The dogs at West Star are shaded by dozens of mature trees. Each of the large individual enclosures has a dog house and most dogs have a companion with them. Some of the dogs run free within the enclosed area. There are also benches for people to sit and visit the dogs.

West Star Ranch is looking for usable items to sell in the thrift store as well as monetary donations and dog food. The ranch is located at the end of Manse Road, west of Pahrump Valley Boulevard.