Las Vegas growth leaves pig farmer feeling penned in

NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. — When Bob Combs began farming pigs here 43 years ago, his was the only house light for miles, and he could safely shoot his rifle in any direction at the stray dogs that came to attack his livestock.

Now, houses bump up against his 150 acres of farm land on all sides. The city around him, North Las Vegas, is the second fastest-growing in the United States.

"They keep moving in towards me all the time," said Combs, a lanky 67-year-old with a slow drawl.

Neither odor complaints nor the multimillion-dollar offers from developers have gotten him to move. Combs says his R.C. Farms has a higher mission than just producing pork.

Thousands of his pigs eat food scraps from the biggest casino resorts on the Las Vegas Strip, recycling tons of material that would have gone to waste, and his mission statement claims: "Through recycling we are assisting in one aspect of God's greatest creation ... life."

"I want to be recognized as a community asset and not a public nuisance," he said.

But many nearby residents and the mayor of North Las Vegas portray Combs' farm as a smelly relic.

Rose Glisch and her husband, Norman, 70, moved into a three-bedroom home in the residential community that popped up across the road from the northern border of the farm two years ago.

"It stinks," Rose Glisch said. The smell doesn't keep them inside, but conversations with neighbors tend to revolve around the same topic: When will the farm shut up shop?

Combs' modest single-story home is less than a hundred paces from rows of fly-covered pens and a towering vat used to process food scraps into pig feed. His roughly 3,500 pigs gobble up a slurry stew made by boiling organic garbage from 22 casino-hotels

Mayor Mike Montandon said he was in the room when a developer offered Combs $75 million for the land, a figure Combs won't confirm but doesn't dispute. The offer would have been a reasonable amount, given that the land could hold 900 homes, enough space for about 2,000 people in a city that saw its population grow 11.4 percent last year to 176,000 residents. It is now home to more than 200,000.

A road that splits Combs' land in half is being planned for a major transportation corridor to support a university campus, a hospital and mixed-use neighborhoods.

"The vision doesn't necessarily include a pig farm in the middle of the city," Montandon said.