The Washoe Board of County Commissioners voted to accept the appeal by the WCSD to approve their grading permit for the property at the corner of Arrowcreek and Thomas Creek. The vote was 4-0: Commissioner Herman was not present. Many parents and residents attended and many spoke.
Principal Takeaways
- The plan is unchanged from the plan reviewed at the townhall meeting.
- The WCSD does not have possession of the property now. This will be required before grading begins.
- No one from the WCSD met with neighbors to address their concerns as directed by the County Commission on August 28.
- Commissioner Lucey did not meet with neighbors as requested in 12 letters to him. He said he walked the property.
- No public speaker opposed the new school. One suggested they reconsider an alternate site that had been considered.
- Several residents argued that having a new school would raise property values in the area.
- Only two public speakers impugned the motives of the residents expressing concern regarding the safety issues.
- Commissioner Lucey indicated that widening Arrowcreek Parkway so that it is all 4 lanes is in RTC’s plans for the 2022-2026 time frame.
- Commissioner Lucey asserted that the seismology and hydrology investigations could not be done until the grading permit was approved.
Fundamental Issue: Trust
- Attendees who believe that the county engineering and WCSD contract engineering will adequately address the issues of flooding, earthquake hazard, and traffic want to see the development move forward without delay.
- Attendees who are skeptical of the assurances of the county engineering and contract engineering want to see further study of these critical issues before the construction work proceeds.
Statement of the Day
Bruce Glassman proposed that Commissioner Lucey insist that the Arrowcreek Parkway be widened by 2022 and that the WCSD buy flood insurance for the downhill neighbors.
Links
Washoe Residents for Appropriate Planning 
Steve does a good job with his public presentations like this one and has hit hard on the people who have been effected by development. What I don’t like about Steve is he a Democrat from Berkley California. I do not want to have any California Democrat represent me or my family. I moved here to get away from them and their non gender ideology.
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Can I ask you what “non-gender ideology” is?
And what does it have to do with Washoe County?
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I last lived in Berkeley in 1974. My father was working at the national laboratory.
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Steve has gained all his support for being anti developer and we all support his efforts. In continuing in the same effort, we need to reject Sisolak for governor as he is very well funded by developers. If you support Wolgast because of his anti developer stance, you need to reject sisolak for governor for his pro development stance and all the support and contributions made to him by developers, casinos, lobbyists, etc. here is a list of who is donating to sisolak.
https://www.nvsos.gov/SOSCandidateServices/AnonymousAccess/ViewCCEReport.aspx?syn=AgGXs6FsMQzF%252bVVHyULAzQ%253d%253d
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Regarding Lucey’s comment in Item 9 – TOTALLY untrue! In fact, just the opposite, a grading permit should not be given at this site, or anywhere, until the site geomorphology and hydrology are investigated to a level that informs the best and safest grading/construction/land use for the parcel. Grading without first knowing where the faults are, and whether they are Holocene (considered seismically-active), and where surface water/stormwater drainages exist on the property is not acceptable land development protocol. His statement is just one example not only of his ignorance of acceptable and safe land development, County and State codes, but also an overt attempt to manipulate the public’s perceptions of appropriate land use and development. Grading a property before analyzing the site topography, precipitation events, including 100-year storm events, stormwater loading and drainage (as should be done in the Tentative Plan), can create further problems for downgradient properties and residents. Lucey’s statement is just plain wrong!
Yes, grading a property can expose any faults on the property – IF a trained and experienced geologist is there to map the exposed lithology, AND if these faults are further characterized (using trenching and logging methods) to determine whether they are seismically active. Will the WCSD’s geotechnical consultant do this? And what if the faults are active? Will the County Planners and Commissioners do the right thing and require the school buildings to be relocated away from these faults, as per County Codes? Yes I will cost more money, but it’s the lawful way to proceed with this project.
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