Overview:

The parcel is 80.12 acres presently zoned 70.12 Rural Residential and 10 zoned Rural.  Nine dwellings could be built on the site following existing zoning.  The applicant is requesting to change the zoning to 45.12 acres Low Density Suburban, 25 acres Medium Density Suburban, and lastly 10 acres Rural.  This would allow the construction of 50 dwellings.

There is no tentative map of this development yet.  The request for the Master Plan Amendment does not require that the developer show any detail about the development plan.

Principals:

Harry Fry; property owner, developer, and applicant

Derek Wilson; Rubicon Design Group

History:

11/7/18 The revised Master Plan amendment and zoning amendment were denied by the Washoe County Planning Commission.  This version proposed zoning to accept 50 homes.  The Planning Commission found that the project does not meet any of the required 5 Findings.

6/14/18 The proposed Master Plan amendment and zoning amendment were denied by the South Valleys Citizens Advisory Board for reasons of traffic and safety.  This version proposed zoning to accept 80 dwellings.  The request was to change the zoning to Low Density Suburban (LDS) for the entire property.  LDS permits 1 dwelling per acre.

Here’s some of the history of this area as related by a long time county activist.

According to the late Commissioner Ted Short, all purchasers of 40-acre parcels in the Virginia 40s were told, dating back into the 1970s, these lands would never be subdivided as there is no water and it is one home per 40 acres.  They were told only one well would be allowed per 40 acres.  There are no more water rights affixed to this land. In order to get to this property, you would have to run sewer and water through lands that have septic tanks, and perhaps some wells.  This is above the Bailey Creek lands that flood.  Mud and silt flow down and clog all the ditches and culverts, pipes under driveways, in the Toll Road area/Kivett Lane.  Ultimately Bailey Creek runs to Steamboat Creek.  When it hits the intersection of Toll Road and Geiger Grade, the silt/mud water mix backs up under Toll Road because the pipe cannot assimilate all this.  This intersection experienced flooding in 2018 and massively in 2017.  When the Bailey Creek Estates (56 homes along Geiger Grade just west of Nik ‘n Willy’s Pizzeria) was approved, County Commissioner Marsha Berkbigler opined that she hoped this was going to be an HOA.  We all know Bailey Creek roared for weeks at the brim in winter 2017 and all it would have taken was one more storm to flood this entire property.  Lemmon Valley’s problems are costing taxpayers well over a million dollars and the meter is running.  When I read today’s op-ed about North Valleys, it was very similar to what occurs here with mud and silt come down the canyons along with the water.  We all already have big flood and mud problems in these neighborhoods.  What part of this are our officials not understanding?

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Links

Master Plan Amendment Proposal 7/16/18

Master Plan Amendment Proposal 5/15/18

Washoe County Zoning Information