Sunrise Manor advisory board approves storage-yard waivers for Schmidt and Cook LLC with conditions on pallets, landscaping and security

The Sunrise Manor Town Advisory Board approved a holdover use permit, UC250118 (Schmidt and Cook LLC), at its April 10 meeting, allowing ongoing outside storage and display at a property north of Las Vegas Boulevard northeast of Lamont Street with multiple waivers of development standards.

The permit grants several waivers staff had recommended while adding conditions requested by the commissioner and the board. The applicant agreed to withdraw the request to retain barbed wire atop fencing; the board conditioned alternative street landscaping in place of required street trees, required pallets to be stored below the fence line, required prompt removal of graffiti and broken fence slats, prohibited parking along Las Vegas Boulevard, and required a drive aisle sufficient for emergency vehicles to enter, turn around and exit.

Nathan Taylor, representing the applicant, told the board the site has three tenants — a trailer business, a pallet business and a trailer-repair business — and said longstanding uses predate recent code changes. Taylor said he would delete waiver request number 7 (barbed wire) and that the applicant had agreed to keep pallet stacks below the fence line. Taylor also said gates are to be closed and locked at night and that the property will coordinate with planning staff on alternative landscaping to replace required street trees.

Resident Al Rojas said he had visited the site and urged additional trash receptacles and better on-site waste management, citing fires and frequent visits by fire and police related to pallet stacks and encampments. "I'm recommending that they have 2 trash cans," Rojas said, adding that visible fires near pallets were costing county resources.

Board members and planning staff pressed the applicant on setback and gate configurations and on emergency access. Planning staff and the applicant said fire-department inspections take place regularly because pallets are flammable, and the applicant confirmed he would instruct the pallet business to store pallets below the fence line to reduce theft and visual impacts. A board member suggested cameras as a deterrent to trespass and theft; the applicant said locking gates and better stacking were the current security approach.

After a motion to approve with the stated conditions, the board voted in favor; no members recorded opposition on the floor. The application will move forward to the county planning commission with the approved conditions, and code enforcement was left as the mechanism if the conditions are not met.

The board's action covered waivers for modified residential adjacency standards, reduced street landscaping (to be replaced with alternative landscaping such as decorative rock and desert-appropriate species), elimination of parking-lot landscaping, reduced parking, elimination of access gate setbacks (setback waiver remained part of the approval as requested by the applicant), and reduced security wire height (the request to retain barbed wire was withdrawn).