One vote makes a difference

One vote on any elected board can make a huge difference when the rest of the panel is divided.

We’ve seen that a couple of times on the school board over the past two years, and whichever way November’s election goes, it still could very well be the difference.

This week we report that District Judge Tod Young upheld the Douglas County commissioners 3-2 decision to ban vacation home rentals north of Cave Rock.

On Sunday, organizers seeking to place a vacation home rental ban in residential neighborhoods on the ballot acknowledged that wasn’t going to happen in November, but they said they’re not ready to give up the cause.

Commissioners voted 3-2 to uphold the insufficiency of that petition.

While taking different routes for what were essentially opposite goals, both sets of appellants ran up against the rocks of legislative action.

Overturning a vote by a legislative body is a big deal, or at least it should be.

As Judge Young observed during the hearing on the VHR ban, county commissioners are a legislative body and no matter how you feel about the tactics used to influence the rest of the board, those come under the heading of politics.

Young cited the Nevada Supreme Court which has ruled time and time again that if a legislative body hears testimony and conducts debate, that’s sufficient to prevent a decision from being considered arbitrary and capricious.

So, you might ask, why the hesitation over approving an ordinance that bans trucks using Johnson Lane to transport gravel from the Painted Rock Mine?

Well, for one thing any lawsuit in that case is likely to be filed in federal, not state court. As we saw when the county first approved the VHR ordinance back in July 2021, federal cases tend to be a little more fraught for local governments.

Next year, the Nevada Legislature is in session, and as the vacation home rental petitioners noted, vacation home rentals are not an issue limited to Lake Tahoe.

The Legislature has already passed laws covering vacation home rentals in Clark County. It’s not a huge step to imagine that at some point the Legislature could expand that legislation, which would render much of the debate moot.