LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — There's a new development in an ongoing feud over a proposed development near Blue Diamond.
Jim Rhodes, owner of mining company Gypsum Resources Materials and a longtime Las Vegas Valley housing developer, wants to build new luxury homes, over 400 of them, on Blue Diamond Hill. However, Rhodes has long-held that Clark County officials went out of their way to block the proposed development, which would have views of the Las Vegas skyline on one side and of Red Rock Canyon on the other.
A civil trial is slated to take place later this year and on Wednesday, a Las Vegas judge said that future jurors can be advised that county officials willfully deleted text messages that would have been useful in earlier court proceedings.
Among those officials is Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones. Jones declined comment when Channel 13 reached out to him Thursday. However, a Clark County spokesperson released a statement that read in part, "the county will continue to vigorously defend the allegations being raised as this case moves forward through the court process."
Years in the planning stages, the development on Blue Diamond Hill would be a short drive from the small community of Blue Diamond, a quiet outpost among the other bustling and growing Southern Nevada landscape.
On Thursday, Channel 13 visited the town to find out what residents think of the proposed development.
"Do we want visual pollution to interrupt our unique geological feature," resident Diane Lunsford said. "No. We don't want that. Not for a minute."
Of about half a dozen people we talked to, not a single one was supportive of the development.
"We're all against it," resident Patsy Leavitt said.
While Eighth Judicial District Court Judge Joanna Kishner said there was no excuse for the perceived destroying of the text messages in question, she stopped short saying there should be sanctions.
Her ruling came after four days of sometimes heated court proceedings, which featured Jones, along with Clark County Commissioners Marilyn Kirkpatrick and Jim Gibson.
A jury trial could start as soon as this summer.
