MVTAB Requires Paving To Gymnastics Facility

The future of a successful gymnastics facility in Logandale was thrown into question on Wednesday, April 15, when the Moapa Valley Town Advisory Board (MVTAB) voted to deny a request to waive paving requirements. The request was brought by Robert Evans of Logandale.

For the past year, Evans and his wife has operated a youth gymnastics training facility in a building behind their home on Liston Street, currently a gravel road. The use permit that allows this gymnastics operation normally would require “paved legal access” to the facility. But last year when the couple was seeking approval for the facility, the Evans were granted waivers to the paving requirement in order to help get the training center up and running. This was subject to a one year review, however. This is what brought Evans back again last week seeking approval.

“Originally, I think we were a little naive going into this,” Evans told the board. “We didn’t understand fully what paved access really meant and no one really explained it to us.”

Evans said that he had spent $10,000 paving his driveway from the street to the gym building thinking that this would satisfy the requirement. Then he was told that it would not. In fact, to meet the requirement Evans would have to pave the 400 feet of Liston from the corner of Heyer to his driveway with a 25 foot wide street.

But the cost of doing that would be out of the question, Evans said. “We are not making a lot of money there,” Evans said. “We started into this thing mainly to offer a service to local kids; a service that was needed.”

Evans stated that he had invested a good deal of money in equipment for the facility. “If we stay in business at all, we will have to be in business five years at this point just to break even on what we have spent,” Evans said. “If we have to pave the whole road it would take 25 years to break even. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

Evans told the board that the gym conducts about five classes of ten kids each weekday. MVTAB member Judy Metz felt that this was a lot of traffic being brought to the area. “I’ve received several phone calls all from people in the area upset with the dust and the cars and the traffic in the area,” Metz said. “You’ve been a definite benefit to the community but we have to look at the whole surrounding area and what is best for everyone.”

MVTAB member Guy Doty asked if Evans had considered moving the classes to an existing facility such as the Old Overton Gym. But Evans explained that a training gym, to be safe, needs a pit built into the floor. Inside the pit is a trampoline which is then covered with large foam blocks. “That way when the girls are practicing on uneven bars they can go all out and not worry about falling and getting hurt,” Evans said. “They can’t do that in the Old Gym.”

“I’d love to see the dust down and the road paved,” stated MVTAB Chairman Gene Houston. “But I’d also hate to see that program go away too. It seems like that is what will happen if he is required to pave the road.”

“We’ve been able to stay afloat thus far,” replied Evans. “But we have had to incur a lot of expenses in starting up. To add to that the cost for paving, we just couldn’t stay open. I don’t know where we would come up with it.”

MVTAB member Billy Mildice made a motion to deny the request for a waiver of paving requirements. Doty, Greco, Mildice and Metz voted in favor of the motion. Houston was opposed.

The issue will be heard before the County Commission on Wednesday, April 22.