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March 28, 2024 1:45 pm
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MTAB Approves Plans For Glendale Terrible Herbst

By VERNON ROBISON

Moapa Valley Progress

The Moapa Town Advisory Board (MTAB), in a meeting held Tuesday, November 13, approved plans for a large convenience store/fuel station to be built in the Glendale area. But board members stopped short of granting a requested waiver to street improvements for the project which may need to be built in the future.

Proposed was a new Terrible Herbst location to be built on the east side of Lewis Ranch Road, just south of the Interstate 15 Moapa exit.

Les Eisinger, who was representing Terrible Herbst at the meeting, explained that a 15,000 sq ft convenience/grocery store was planned on the nine acre site. In addition, eight 2-sided fuel pumps would be provided to service standard automobiles and three similar diesel fueling pumps would serve semi trucks and RVs.

Only about half of the nine acre parcel would be developed with this project, Eisinger said. The other 4.5 acres would be held for possible future development.

With that in mind, the developer was requesting a waiver of the requirement to provide full off-site road improvements around the unused portion of the property. This would delay the added expense of putting in paving, sidewalks, curbs and gutters on the south part of Lewis Ranch Road and along the Rhine Ave. alignment, which is now only an unimproved right of way along the south border of the nine acre parcel.

But MTAB members were hesitant to grant an outright waiver of the requirement, fearing that it may open the door for future improvements to not be required when needed.
“You’re right in that you probably don’t want to grant a waiver in this case,” said Janice Ridondo, staffer for County Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick. “But you are at the risk of putting them out of business if they have to actually put offsites right now on a road like Rhine that doesn’t even exist.”

MTAB members finally decided it best to deny the request for the waiver, but to allow the improvements to be postponed until such time as the southern 4.5 acres should come up for development.

Eisinger explained that, if all went to schedule, the project would be completed within 18 months.
When asked how many the business would employ, Eisinger said that Terrible Herbst stores usually employ a staff of about 20 people. But in the proposed location, that number may be higher because the Glendale store would be larger than most. Typical Terrible Herbst locations are only 3500-4000 sq ft, Eisinger said.

Employees are generally started at minimum wage, Eisinger said.
The store would be open 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, Eisinger added.
Several concerns about the facility’s design were raised by MTAB members and the public during the discussion.

MTAB member Ryan Udall raised the issue of flood control in the area. He pointed out that the area had been underwater in the huge 2014 flood. Eisinger said that a drainage and flood study would be required. He said that engineers had already looked into it and brought some initial proposals.

“As you know at the northen end of the property there is a natural wash,” Eisinger said. “So we are initially proposing an eight-foot concrete culvert, passing east and west, under Lewis Ranch Road.”

Moapa resident Shari Lyman asked about lighting on the project. “We live out here because we want to be able to see the stars,” Lyman said. “We’d like to keep it that way.”

Eisinger said that the developer would be required to use lighting for the project, but that plans included only downward facing street lighting to reduce the glare into the sky.

A major concern among residents involved traffic patterns in and out of the area. Several people mentioned that the northern Moapa exit, where the project is proposed, is confusing for people visiting the area.

In addition, some mentioned that the property is located essentially at the bottom of a hole with extended highway climbs on either side of it. This might cause traffic problems on the interstate if semi trucks are exiting and entering frequently, they said.

It was suggested that a redesign to the Moapa interchange was needed as well as an expansion to the interstate itself.

But Ridondo pointed out that these things were not in the realm of this one developer to complete. “All of this is a discussion for NDOT (Nevada Dept. of Transportation),” Ridondo said. “The applicant can’t, nor should they be expected to, redo the freeway or the interchange.”

Lyman asked if there were plans for a fast food restaurant to be built as part of the project. Eisinger responded that the current proposal does not include a restaurant. But, he said, the southern 4.5 acres of the parcel is being reserved for that possibility in the future.

The Design Review was approved by the MTAB with a unanimous vote. The matter will be given a final hearing before the Board of County Commissioners on December 5.

In a separate agenda item, the MTAB was informed that Bureau of Land Management crews would be performing another prescribed burn along the Muddy River this winter. This is being planned, once again, in the Warm Springs area southwest of the Saltbrush Rd neighborhood.

BLM representative Allen Johnson explained that a total of about 17 acres in four separate parcels have been cleared of vegetation. The BLM will be looking for an opportunity to burn the cut vegetation which has been put into piles in those locations.

Johnson explained that the process would wait until immediately after the area has received some precipitation and there are calm conditions. That means that crews would be mobilized at relatively short notice when conditions are good to perform the burn.

The prescribed burn is expected to take place in early 2019 and must be completed before February 15 when nesting birds start to enter the area, Johnson said.

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