Overview:

This is a development of 206 homes on 125 acres bordered by Lemmon Valley Drive and Deodara.  Of the property, 90 acres is open space mainly due to hill slope.  The overall density is 1.6 units/acre, but if you consider that only 35 acres will be built, it is 2.3 homes per acre on the buildable property.  But, many of the homes will be on 6500 sqft lots (7.4 homes/acre).  An indication of the high density is the request by the developer for a 5′ minimum setback side-to-side as opposed to the standard 8′.  the developer claims that runoff will actually be reduced with the development as opposed to the natural state.  The developer claims that the current runoff is 23 acre-feet of water while the development would reduce runoff to 14 acre-feet due to a retention basin.  Developer hydrology studies can be quite unrealistic in ways favoring the developer.  The new development would be in the county at the boundary of the Reno City jurisdiction.

Developer:

JDS LLC, Reno

Manhard Consulting LLC

Concerns:

• The plan appears to have Patrician Drive dead end in the new development whereas it presently goes through to Estates Road.
• The 5′ setbacks between homes seems out of place in a rural area.
• There is a utility access alley that residents have maintained as a place to store trailers and RV’s.  This alley will be blocked on the tentative map by the home on lot #86.  Could the map be adjusted to continue to allow residents access to this alley?
• Area schools don’t have capacity for the students from this development.
• The development plans to connect to a sewage plant that is presently submerged.
• Local flooding has required the use of Hesco barriers.  These encroach on the shoulder reducing the speed limit from 45 mph to 25 mph.

History:

Washoe County Planning Commission review 3/6/18

The county finished the staff report recommending approval 3/1/18

The North Valley CAB approved this project on 2/12/18.

Links:

Lemmon Valley Heights tentative map

Lemmon Valley Heights staff report

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