Council OKs permit for towing firm to build electric fence

Residential neighborhoods and commercial enterprises mix much like oil and water.

It's a lesson that residents of Valley View Estates and Clark Whitney, owner of Snap Towing, coming soon to 2201 N. Commerce St., are learning firsthand.

During its March 17 meeting, the North Las Vegas City Council approved a special-use permit application allowing Snap Towing to build an electric security fence.

During a previous council meeting, Whitney said the measure was needed to ensure that vehicles kept at the yard, which has been used as a storage lot for impounded vehicles by other towing companies for more than 30 years, are not vandalized or stolen.

"There have been real problems in the past," said Whitney, whose company plans to start occupying the property later in the spring.

The application originally was heard during a March 3 meeting, when council members voted to postpone consideration of the request until a meeting between Whitney and area residents could be held.

The vote came on the heels of a March 16 meeting between Whitney and residents of Valley View Estates, a neighborhood that borders the property his company will be renting. About a dozen people asked questions about the electric fence proposal and Snap Towing's efforts to repair an existing, shabbily maintained chain fence on the property.

Gwen Walker, who lives near the lot, spoke on behalf Sof residents during the March 17 council meeting.

Walker, who has been a Neighborhood Watch captain for nearly 27 years, said that she and other residents felt many of their safety concerns about the electric fence were addressed during their meeting with Whitney, but she added that concerns about beautification of the area still remain.

The safety issues that residents raised during the March 3 council meeting included fears that a child might somehow scale a barrier and get electrocuted on the electric fence, but Whitney allayed residents' fears by assuring them the fence would not use high enough voltage to cause serious injury to any person who came in contact with it.

"We want them to erect a block wall," Walker said during her March 17 council presentation that included photos of the Commerce Street property and other properties owned by Snap Towing in Henderson.

Council members expressed sympathy for the residents' concerns about an electric fence potentially being an eyesore, with Mayor Pro Tem William Robinson and Councilwoman Anita Wood asking Whitney if the company planned to build a block wall between the electric fence and the street.

"We would love to be able to do that, but the reality is that, right now, in this economy, we just don't have the money," Whitney said.

He said he was committed to doing what he could to improve the aesthetic quality of the property, including planting trees, but that drastic alterations were not within his control, as he is only a renter.

During the March 3 meeting, Mayor Shari Buck said the cost of building a block wall at such a business could exceed a quarter million dollars.

"Block walls can cost up to $300,000," she said.

A barbed wire fence already has been installed, but Whitney said he plans to remove it to improve the aesthetics of the area.

He said the electric fence he plans to build would be contained behind the existing 10-foot wire fence.

Wood said she intends to send the city's code enforcement officers to the site on a regular basis because the chain fence, in its current condition, does not appear to meet code requirements.

"You will continue to be cited until something is done about this," she said.

Contact North Las Vegas and Downtown View reporter Amanda Llewellyn at allewellyn@viewnews.com or 380-4535.