Washoe County Commissioner for District 2, Bob Lucey, has been in the news recently for his efforts toward passing the Washoe County Lands Bill (Washoe Federal Land Bill on Shaky Ground, RGJ September 13) and has spent time in Washington DC promoting this bill.   According to Lucey’s Washoe County webpage, he is involved with several Washoe and State governing groups and lists “public safety, water and regional parks & open space additional key issues”.   Arguably the most important group representing the populace that Lucey represents, the South Truckee Meadows/Washoe Valley Citizen Advisory Board (STMWV CAB), should be a priority for him, but it is not.   After he took office in January 2015, he attended the first 4 monthly meetings, then attended only 3 more meetings through January 2017.   He has not attended a STMWV CAB meeting since.

During the February 15, 2105 STMWV CAB meeting Lucey made the following statement, as excerpted from the meeting minutes: “The County Commissioners and the department heads met in a special meeting. County has a new direction with new commission. Our mentality is to be true stewards and rebrand the county as positive place to be part of. We will make more of an effort to be in attendance at meetings and public appearance with constituents and be true stewards for the constituents. We are making it a priority to do that and take your comments to heart.”

Interestingly, Lucey “missed” several contentious CAB agenda items including those considering Ascente development on Steamboat Hills, cannabis dispensary locations, Truckee Meadows Fire Department and fire safely, school overcrowding, traffic and flooding.   The last STMWV CAB meeting Lucey attended was in January 2017, with 14 meetings held since, and Lucey’s attendance record since taking office at 24%.

Bob Lucey’s membership and attendance records for the following County and State governing groups are:

• Nevada Association of Counties Board of Directors – 50% attendance
• Truckee Meadows Water Authority – 67%
• Truckee River Flood Management Authority – 37%
• Washoe County Debt Management Commission – 73%
• Washoe County School District Capital Funding Protection Committee – 40%
• Washoe County School District Oversight Panel – 40%
• Western Regional Water Commission – 65%

Lucey missed 29 meetings in 2017.   So far this year he has missed 18 out of 70 meetings for which attendance records are available.

What does this say about Lucey’s priorities?

We know Lucey has spent time out of Washoe County to promote the Washoe County Economic Development and Conservation Act, the “Lands Bill”, thereby neglecting to address his in-county responsibilities.   Now that this Bill is on shaky ground, the question for residents of District 2 is, where will Lucey devote his time for the remainder of his term?   Campaigning? Listening to District 2 residents? Attending community meetings and events to get feedback on salient issues facing District 2 residents?

Let’s look at Lucey’s community meeting and events attendance record for 2018.   County Commissioner Lucey seems to be disengaged from his constituents. He has missed community events that are important to residents in his district. He did not attend the “ACTIONN Last Resort Tour” (August 29) put on for community leaders. This tour highlighted the plight of those who struggle with housing. Nor, did he show support for the local volunteer firefighters by attending their pancake breakfast at the station in West Washoe (August 26). He was not seen at the Townhall Meeting to discuss the design of the new Arrowcreek School (August 9). He did not attend the neighborhood meeting regarding safety on Mount Rose Highway after a fatal collision (May 16). He expressed concern that the Planning Commission and South Truckee Meadows/Washoe Valley Citizen Advisory Board (STMWV CAB) were not aligned with the Board of County Commissioners (July 24 Board of County Commissioners meeting) yet did not attend the CAB meetings on July 5 and August 2, respectively. In fact, Lucey has not attended a single STMWV CAB meeting since January 25, 2017, nor has he attended any Washoe County Planning Commission meetings in 2017/18.   He can’t effectively represent District 2 if he does not attend local meetings and events where he can interact with the people who voted him into office.   His lack of meeting attendance points to only one thing – a distinct prioritization of his own agenda over that of District 2 residents.

Traffic Increase 2011-2017

If you regularly drive Mt. Rose Highway you have probably noticed that traffic has really increased in the last four years. It feels like accidents are a threat to your daily drive, it’s not your imagination!   The table provided in this link (https://www.nevadadot.com/Home/ShowDocument?id=14359) indicates the degree of traffic increase from 2014-17.

Road Safety Audit Summary

In response to public concerns regarding increasing accidents and near-misses, including a fatal accident on Mt. Rose Highway, NDOT Safety Engineering Division in coordination with NDOT Roadway Design, authorized a Road Safety Audit (RSA) to be conducted on Mount Rose Highway (SR 431) from milepost MP WA18.694 to MP WA 23.050 and SR 431 MP WA 0.00 TO MP WA 8.00. The RSA was conducted on July 17-18, 2018. Present for the audit included NDOT Engineering and Maintenance personnel, NHP, Deputy Washoe County Sheriff, Washoe County Traffic, Kimley-Horn Traffic Engineering Consultants, and two Callahan residents. A Traffic Control Evaluation Study is also underway for the Callahan-Mt. Rose Highway intersection.

The open forum began with observations regarding increasing traffic safety issues, particularly at certain intersections and road segments; and concerns regarding the projected increase in traffic due to several new developments along Mt. Rose Highway from Timberline to I-580 Freeway. NDOT completed a traffic volume count and corridor crash analysis (January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2017) and presented the results to the group. Additional discussion and information sharing included weather-related traffic and maintenance issues and the types of traffic controls being evaluated for the intersections of concern.

The team conducted afternoon, evening and early morning observations at several intersections along Mt. Rose Highway from Incline to Wedge Parkway. Topics included:

• Current traffic operations, pedestrian and bicycle usage
• Maintenance Issues
• Safety Issues
• Possible traffic calming and highway upgrades

An audit close-out session was held to summarize findings, observations, road conditions, and possible traffic safety solutions for each intersection investigated.   Salient topics covered in the Mt. Rose RSA included:

• • Road alignment and cross section: visibility, design speed, drains, passing, shoulders
  • Auxilliary lanes: tapers, shoulders, signs and markings, and turning traffic
  • Intersections: location, visibility, signing, layout, pedestrians and bicyclists, lighting
  • Interchanges: visibility, sight distance, lanes, shoulders, pedestrians and bicyclists, lighting
  • Signs and lighting: general signs issues, sign legibility, sign supports
  • Marking and delineation: general issues, centerlines, edgelines, lane lines, guideposts, reflectors, curve warning and delineation
  • Barriers and clear zones: end treatments, crash cushions, pedestrian railing, visibility of barriers and fences.
  • Parking
  • Traffic signals
  • Bridges and culverts
  • Floodways and Causeways
  • Pedestrian and bicyclist safety and older drivers

 NDOT, NHP, Washoe County traffic engineers and the traffic consultants created a attached the summary matrix of the issues and recommendations for each segment and intersection of concern on Mt. Rose Highway. This document is too lengthy to include in this post; however the final RSA Report is anticipated to be complete in September and will be summarized in a subsequent post. Final recommendations and priorities for highway improvements will be considered by NDOT. Construction costs and schedules are outside the scope of this RSA and will be completed separately.

Guest post by Whitney Freeman, concerned Washoe Resident

Hello Neighbors!  Below is a link to suggested content for a “fill in the blanks” letter that you can copy and paste into an email to send to each of the Board of County Commissioners (contact information attached as photo). We need as many of these as possible sent to the County Commissioners prior to the meeting (which is still TBD) at which they will either approve or deny the appeal by D.R. Horton. If you would like a hard copy (which has bolded/highlighted content) and/or would like to obtain more for neighbors and friends to submit please direct message me with your email address. If you do not wish to email the County Commissioners directly you can scan and e-mail it back to me (obtained by direct message) or drop off your letter(s) at Mountain View Montessori and the school will send them to the County Commissioners. The first round of signed letters were sent last night. This week the school is open 9 am -3 pm M-Th. Next week we start our staff training and will be open 8am – 5pm. Thank you all very much for your interest and support in this critical matter! If you have been following my other posts on this issue you know this is important for our entire county, not just neighbors near the parcels. Best, Whitney

Request to Uphold

Please use the email addresses below.  You will have to “cut and paste” the addresses.  Telephone numbers are included in the table below.

Marsha Berkbigler:   mberkbigler@washoecounty.us

Bob Lucey:  blucey@washoecounty.us

Kitty Jung:   kjung@washoecounty.us

Vaugn Hartung:  vhartung@washoecounty.us

Jeanne Herman:   jherman@washoecounty.us

MONDAY JULY 30, 2018

SOUTH VALLEYS LIBRARY

5:30 PM

Please plan to attend! Learn more about how two proposed developments at the bottom of Zolezzi (Autumn Wood I & II) are inappropriate for our area and detrimental to the rural residential character of our neighborhood. This is the second attempt by D.R. Horton to circumvent the regulations set forth in the Thomas Creek SCMA in our Master Plan as well as building codes and regulations. In the fall of 2017 we had to fight their application to amend the master plan. They did withdraw that application, and have now submitted a tentative subdivision map for Autumn Wood Phase II and a special use permit application for two detention ponds. The Planning Commission denied both submissions and D.R. Horton has filed appeals for both items. We need to make sure that the Board of County Commissioners also rejects these ludicrous plans. We have an opportunity to fight the 12 years of extensions given to the tentative subdivision map for Autumn Wood Phase I. TBD: Date of Board of County Commissioners Meeting which will review the appeals. GOAL OF THIS MEETING: Get everyone up to speed and determine next steps.

More details here: LINK

One of the primary tasks undertaken in the process of opposition research is to determine the source and amounts of the opponent’s campaign donations. This is done primarily to understand not only the business interests of the donors, but the monetary “influence” pressed upon the candidate upon accepting those donations. The larger the donation, the greater the expectation of both influence and political sway by the candidate to favor said business once he/she has taken office.

I recently undertook a review of Bob Lucey’s campaign contributions as listed on the Nevada Secretary of State Website (http://nvsos.gov/).   Lucey has received over $110,000 in campaign donations since his 2014 win, including “small” donations (under $100). I was interested in finding the business trends in his donor pool, so I collated information on all the donors/donations above $150 for 2017/18.   This donation pool totalled $97,750.   While collating these larger donations, I noted that most came from businesses and people associated with them, rather than private donors.     I researched each business and organized them into the following groups, based on business interest and specialty: developers, general business, casinos, builders and building supplies, cannabis, lobbyists, lawyers, local government entities, real estate and utilities.   The table below lists these donor groups and their total donations and percentage of Lucey’s campaign funding they’ve contributed:

Here are a few salient facts regarding some of these donors:

It’s no surprise that most of Lucey’s donations come from developers. He and the county commissioners have responded in kind by approving a record number of housing and business developments in Washoe County from 2015-18.   The developer donors include but are not limited to: Symbio LLC (Ascente), Paul Tenguay (Sybio and Ascente) and Mike Barnes (Symbio, NNV1 Partners), Bristol Land Company of CA,Toll Brothers , Lifestyle Homes TND LLC, NNV1 Partners LLC (see Mike Barnes), Park Lane Associates, Reno Land Inc., and Reno Quality Homes.

Builders and building supplies and services companies donating to Lucey include: AVK Company, Builders Association of Nevada, ERGS Inc., Granite Construction Company, Green Solutions Recycling, NV Builders LLC, NV Recycling and Salvage, Inc. and Rubbish Runners, Inc.

The cannabis industry has Lucey’s interest. Benjamin Koppel, a Chicago resident, gave Lucey $5,000 in 2017 after his second (publicly disputed) marijuana dispensary was approved by the County.  Good Chemistry NV, LLC and Washoe Dispensary also donated $1,000 each in the name of cannabis business.

Lobbyists have donated to Lucey: Capitol Partners, LLC and Olivia Sandford, a lobbyist based in D.C. Ms. Sandford is the “legislative director” (i.e. lobbyist) for Marcus G Faust, a “lobbying firm that focuses almost exclusively on counties, cities, water authorities and utility companies in Nevada and Utah” according to the Las Vegas Sun. The Las Vegas Sun also states “Faust prefers to remain behind the scenes, but his fingerprints are on landmark legislation that created the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, a national monument at Tule Springs and a payments-in-lieu of taxes program for rural Nevada counties with federal land. His customers are satisfied: A recent study on lobbyists put Faust at the top of the list for most retained clients in Washington.” On her linkedIn page, Ms Sandford claims a specialty in public lands. Hmmm? Lands Bill, anyone?

Another interesting tidbit: Lucey has received $1,500 from the Whittemore Group, Inc and Chase Whittemore. Chase is Harvey’s son, and is a lobbyist for Argentum Partners in Reno (who work for Newport Land Development, Ryder Homes, and Academica – the shady Florida charter company who also donated $1,000 to Lucey recently, as detailed further below). Harvey is listed as the current Executive Chairman of Whittemore Group. If you don’t recognize former lobbyist Harvey Whittemore: in 2014 he was sent to prison after being convicted of two counts of using employees and family to get around finance limits to contribute to U.S. Sen. Harry Reid’s re-election bid in 2007. He was also found guilty of causing Reid’s campaign to file a false Federal Election Commission report. At the time, he was developing a master planned community in LV through his business Wingfield Nevada Group.

The two men that own Academica NV LLC, Fernando and Ignacio Zuleta donated $1,000 to Lucey’s campaign in April. These men were caught several years back making very handsome donations to lawmakers in Florida in exchange for greasing the wheels for their business.  (By the way, they have given $27,500 to political campaigns since 2015.)  Academica cultivates links to lawmakers .9 Investigates lawmakers’ connections with charter schools

Academica was also under federal investigation in 2014.  Academica Under Federal Investigation – Cashing in on Kids

In 2017, the State of NV approved the issuance of $31,190,000 in bonds (taxpayer money) to finance the acquisition of facilities and land improvements on behalf of Academica.  http://www.nevadatreasurer.gov/uploadedFiles/nevadatreasurergov/content/Finances/Board/2017/2017-08-08_BoF_Materials.pdf   This is money that should be going to our public schools, but will it? Academica has so far made over $150 million in annual revenue.

Academica: Florida’s richest charter school management firm  2012 article states, ” And despite recent cuts in state funding for public and charter schools, Academica’s schools have prospered financially: One of its chains of nonprofit schools has assets of more than $36 million.”

Last but not least – Casinos. The casino industry in Nevada have their collective fingers in so many business pies, they need their own blog post!   We know that Hugh Hempel, a Harrahs Casino heir, is part of the Ascente development deal. Casinos donating to Lucey include Atlantis, Peppermill, Aruz Gaming America, Inc. and EE Gaming Technologies, Inc.

Do any of these businesses support us existing Washoe Residents to the degree that they support Lucey’s campaign?   In other words, will we profit as much from land development, construction, lobbyists, casinos and cannabis as these business entities will if he’s elected?   What price will we residents pay for ongoing uncontrolled land development if Lucey is elected?   Do these businesses “count” more than we, Washoe Residents who Lucey was elected to represent?   Do YOU feel adequately represented by our current County Commissioners?

Phase2PublicHearing

Post by guest writer Whitney Freeman, concerned Washoe resident

Incompetence or Corruption?

Either way, the residents of Washoe County pay the price. WRAP continues to give voice to concerned citizens. in the many cases in Washoe County where elected officials and paid Washoe County staff do not adequately consider existing Master Plans and existing residents safety when reviewing development applications. Yet again, another development seems to be receiving “special consideration.”

Major development in already congested area at the bottom of Zolezzi and in direct conflict with the Thomas Creek Southwest Character Management Plan:

Autumn Wood, Phase 1 – originally approved in 2006 on land zoned LDU b/c what existed on the parcel previously was a very rural mobile home park. Fast forward to 2010, the Master Plan is adopted and Low Density Urban (LDU) isn’t even an allowed regulatory zone, yet somehow the development plan receives another 8 years of extensions requested by the owner of the parcel. How is it possible that a Washoe County Planner reviews the request and finds that “the development plan is consistent with the Master Plan”? How can 47 dwelling units be consistent with a neighborhood composed entirely of single family detached homes and rural farm lands? How can LDU zoning exist when it isn’t allowed in our master plan? How can the vision and character management of the area be completely ignored? Incompetence or corruption….

Autumn Wood, Phase 2 – D.R. Horton, while in the process of purchasing the Phase 1 parcel, submits an application to amend the Master Plan so that they can develop the second parcel at an increased density, again, in conflict with the Medium Density Suburban (MDS)regulatory zone placed on the parcel. Over 200 neighbors, and Mountain View Montessori (MVM, the school adjacent to the property) oppose this application and D.R. Horton pulls the application. Despite stating that it wouldn’t make financial sense for his company to purchase the land if they cannot build at the increased density, Tom Warley proceeds with the purchase of the land. We suspect the purchase was made for two reasons: 1) they realized that one side of the TMWA water easement they would need for their development existed on that land 2) they also realized that they had to redirect the water from the ditch that would run along the front of Phase 1. Which brings me to another question: how did the Phase 1 development get approved in the first place if the ditch is being redirected to the separate/back lot – owned by a separate entity – The Catholic Bishop?

The parcel that they want to build Phase 2 on is zoned Medium Density Suburban and is limited to 3 dwelling units, single family detached, per acre in the Master Plan. I read that to mean – 3 houses allowed on each acre. What D.R. Horton is trying to push through (under our noses!) is actually 16 houses on only approx. 1.94 acres; they are using two thirds of the 5.83 acre parcel for the detention ponds (remember they have to send the water from the ditch that was on the first lot somewhere). They couldn’t get the application to amend the master plan through, so how are they getting this approved? They are requesting to reduce the required side yard setback from 8 feet to 0 feet so that the houses can share a common wall – thus creating ATTACHED townhomes! How is it possible that Washoe County Planner, Roger Pelham (interestingly – on vacation until July 2), thinks this application is in compliance with the Master Plan? Incompetence or corruption……

There are many other issues with this proposed development, but these are the major and obvious concerns that should be handled by 1) the PAID Washoe County staff and, 2) the ELECTED county commissioners – this is Bob Lucey’s District.  This is yet another example of poor planning and corrupt land development practices.

WHO TO CONTACT: We recommend that you put your concerns in writing….and request a face to face meeting if possible!

ELECTED COUNTY COMMISSIONER FOR THE AREA – up for re-election I might add:

Bob Lucey: 775-328-2012     blucey@washoecounty.us

PLANNING COMMISSION ROSTER: https://www.washoecounty.us/csd/planning_and_development/board_commission/planning_commission/2018/Files/PC_Roster_070118.pdf

WASHOE COUNTY STAFF PLANNER:

Roger Pelham, MPA, Senior Planner

775.328.3622   rpelham@washoecounty.us

**While he is conveniently out of office until July 2 (date of public hearing) emails are still encouraged

Roger’s Planning Commission Staff Report: https://www.washoecounty.us/csd/planning_and_development/board_commission/planning_commission/2018/Files/2018-07-03/WTM18-005%20Autumn%20Wood%20Phase%202%20and%20WSUP18-0005%20Jeppson%20Lane%20Storm%20Water%20Detention%20Basin%20Staff%20Report.pdf

Thursday night, the Reno Planning Commission approved another high-density housing development in Lemmon Valley called Silver Dollar Estates. The plan is for 624 dwelling units on 92 acres of mixed detached homes, duplexes, and townhomes. Unbelievable! Commissioner Marshall’s voice of reason was drowned out by the others in a 5-1 vote despite his carefully reasoned arguments and probing questions. He also asked a key question “How do we get an aggregate number for the impact of these projects on the schools?”

He explained clearly how the new development would increase flooding around Swan Lake since waste water (sewage) effluent will flow to Swan Lake after treatment at the Reno-Stead plant. This was the reason for his “no” vote. The second contributor to flooding, rainwater runoff, will be captured in a catch basin as part of the development. Water captured in the basin may be there all year since there is little percolation through the granite layer below the surface. By the second year, the catch basin will likely overflow contributing more water for flooding. Commissioner Marshall let a couple of issues go which demonstrated the sloppy or misleading nature of the application. The Washoe County School representative could not explain why the O’Brien Middle School utilization was unchanged at 99% with the new development. He guessed it might increase to 104% and the Commission accepted his guess. Shouldn’t the Planning Commission work with credible facts? The Reno Civil Engineer couldn’t confirm that the traffic would not increase on I-395 beyond acceptable levels. Her machinations brought a scornful laugh from the attendees. Neither the school capacity nor the traffic increase issues were enough to disqualify the project. The supporters on the commission were optimistic that the flooding hazard would be addressed before the new development was built. It looks like gambling trumps engineering in city hall.

You may have noticed some activity on Mt. Rose Corridor including traffic counters strung across the highway and increased surveillance by Nevada Highway Patrol (NHP). As of today there are surface mounted traffic counting appliances (hoses) installed at:

1. Mt. Rose Hwy – between Wedge Parkway and Edmonton (east and west)
2. Mt. Rose Hwy – between Fawn Lane and Callahan (east and west)
3. Mt. Rose Hwy — between Callahan and Coyote Lane (east and west)
4. Callahan Road north of Mt. Rose Hwy – (south bound only)
5. Callahan Road south of Mt. Rose Hwy — (northbound only

I talked to Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) today to get some specifics on the studies commencing in the Mt. Rose Corridor. In addition to traffic counters, NDOT will install more hoses capable of measuring speed (two-looped hoses). These hoses will collect data from the roads managed by NDOT, including Mt. Rose Highway, S. Virginia and Geiger Grade Roads.   Washoe County is planning to collect traffic and speed counts from the side roads including (but not limited to) Thomas Creek, Timberline, Edmonton, and Wedge Parkway.

There are three studies in progress:   the speed study, signal warrant study (both focused on individual intersections and specific road segments) and the update of the Mt. Rose Corridor Safety Study (which will include input from NHP).   These studies will incorporate the entire Mt. Rose Corridor from the Galena County Park down to intersection with Geiger Grade Road (approximately 5 miles).

NDOT is updating the Mt. Rose Corridor Road Safety Audit (RSA).  The last RSA was completed in 2012.   The RSA is large overview report , including consultant reports, matrix of studies, problems, issues, and a menu of options for traffic safety remediation. NDOT has begun their safety information update including spot analysis on all intersections, (including non-signalized ones).   There is a Workshop component to the RSA which will include: NHP, County, Fire Dept. Maintenance, community members, ambulance services.   The Workshop has not yet been scheduled.

NHP has begun an increased traffic control campaign.   Since May 18, numerous tickets have been levied for speeding, DUI, cell phone use, no seat belts, distracted driving, etc.   Unfortunately, NHP has limited funding and personnel to maintain this campaign but plans to have increased surveillance along the Mt. Rose Corridor throughout the summer months.

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