By VERNON ROBISON
The Progress
The Moapa Valley Town Advisory Board heard a difficult matter during a meeting held Wednesday, Jan. 12, which involved two Logandale neighbors at odds over a shade structure that had been constructed out of compliance with County building codes.
The item came before the board in the form of a request for a waiver of standards by Logandale residents Bob Mahon and Wendy Skinner who reside on Anasazi Avenue.
In speaking to the board, Mahon said that he had spoken in advance to his next door neighbor, Ed Rusk, about constructing a large industrial shade structure for an RV on his property. According to the plans, the legs of the open structure would be placed right on the property line, up against the block wall between the two neighbors. Mahon added that, after having several discussions with Rusk regarding the details of his plans, he had received a verbal approval from Rusk on the project to go forward.
Mahon also said that he had consulted with other local residents who had built similar structures who had told him that no permit would be needed to build the structure.
So the structure was built on December 19, 2020 without filing for any building permits with Clark County.
All of this was out of compliannce with code. According to County staff documents on the matter, the building encroaches into the side yard setback where at least five feet are required. In addition, the building was constructed without the necessary permitting.
Mahon added that, on the same day the structure was built, Rusk had approached him unhappy with the new building.
“He felt it was an obstruction,” Mahon added.
In a public comment before the MVTAB, Rusk said that his understanding of what Mahon was planning had been that it would be a smaller patio cover extending from a metal building that exists on the property just a few feet to the west of the new structure.
“I was surprised and shocked when this massive structure was built, immediately adjacent to the block wall,” Rusk said. “It extends along the entire usable boundary of my property and has the visual effect of a 20 foot solid wall all right on our property line.”
Rusk said he requested Mahon to remove the structure. After a number of weeks, when the structure remained, he reported the unpermitted structure to Clark County Code Enforcement.
Mahon said that he had immediately tried to contact Clark County staff to seek for a resolution. But with backlogs due to the pandemic, there were long delays in the responses.
The request before the Board was to simply waive the setback requirements for the structure and allow it to stand as is.
During board comment, MVTAB member Brian Burris acknowledged that this was a difficult matter.
“The problem is that we see it constantly in the community,” Burris said. “People make plans based on ‘someone told me this’ or ‘someone told me that’. And the general attitude regarding pulling building permits is to just do it now and ask for forgiveness later. But that is what leads to situations like this where neighbors are fighting against neighbors.”
“At some point, we need to take a stand on this board and require that the process is followed,” Burris concluded.
Burris pointed out that the county staff had recommended denial on the item. He made a motion to deny the request. The board voted to adopt the motion with a unanimous vote.
