A mix of commercial, industrial and residential development is planned for a recently sold 20,000 acres of the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center.
A consortium of five investors formed NV-Reno Industrial LLC in Las Vegas and bought the land for $24 million from Roger Norman, says Scott Bleazard, manager of the company.
The 104,000-acre park is about 10 miles east of Sparks. Industrial tenants, including the Wal-Mart distribution center, have moved into the northwest portion of the park in Storey County, while the southeast section in Lyon County remains undeveloped.
NV-Reno Industrial hopes to submit its master plan to the county by the first of 2007 and is doing a market study, says Bleazard. In addition to an in-house study, it's also hired three outside firms, two in Las Vegas and one in the Bay Area.
While numbers as high as 37,000 new houses have been bandied about, nothing will be settled until the mix of residential, commercial and industrial development is settled.
General guidelines call for a 10 to 15 percent mix of commercial and industrial into the residential remainder, says Lyon County Manager Donna Kristaponis. She often notes that commercial and industrial developments pay more than their fair share of taxes, and that subsidizes services to residential areas.
Bleazard, who knew Kristaponis when they both worked in the Las Vegas valley, says she told him, "Don't think you're going to develop just homes on that 20,000 acres."
Besides, he adds, "We're a large landowner and want to be a good tenant in that county."
The land is currently zoned for one dwelling per 20 acres, says Lyon County Planning Director Robert Loveberg. Because the county is still in the preliminary discussions with the developer, water sources for the proposed development have not been determined.
And what about the increased traffic? Highway 50 is already being widened through Dayton and Stagecoach to handle a burgeoning traffic load. Lyon County is updating its master plan, and the plan due in 2008 will address transportation issues for the next 20 years, says Loveberg.
The planned development would be linked to the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center by the proposed USA Parkway, a 17-mile road that needs to be punched through rugged terrain between Highway 50 and Interstate 80.
"The connection of Lyon County with the job market is greatly enhanced by the continuation of the USA Parkway that runs through the industrial park and will connect to our property," says Bleazard.
But who will pay for the parkway?
The industrial park's policy has been to pave the road as its tenants build along it. About six miles of the four-lane expressway south of Interstate 80 has been built, says park spokesperson Miles Ottenheimer. However, he adds, if a huge housing development springs up, generating a workforce of commuters, funds might come from the state to finish the central portion.
Not so, says Kristaponis. "I've heard the state say over and over they had no money for the road."
Adds Loveberg, "It was my understanding that the road would be privately funded."
That leaves the developer. "We're trying to get NDOT to see things our way," says Bleazard. "We're taking a shotgun approach, tackling 20 possibilities for funding that road. " That includes hiring a lobbyist to make a pitch to state officials. And the company is talking with a developer of toll roads.
"We'll try to make things happen any way we can," he says.
Lyon County officials are watching the talks about the road with interest.
"If they complete the road, as they say, that will spearhead economic development in the central portion of the county," says Kristaponis.
Lyon County is widely viewed as the last bastion of affordable housing in the region.
"We hear loud and clear the call for affordable housing in northern Nevada, and we think this will be the place," says Bleazard.
However Kristaponis notes that the term affordable is relative. "Compared to what?" she asks. In neighboring Douglas County, the average house costs nearly half a million.
And just how many houses as opposed to industrial or commercial properties the new mixed-use development delivers remains nebulous.
"We're in the honeymoon phase. There's nothing happening yet," says Kristaponis. "I look forward to welcoming them into the county and look forward to what they propose."
