Carson City Board of Supervisors set mega-meeting to wind up 2015

A mega-meeting is in store Thursday for Carson City’s Board of Supervisors. It will include major development issues and a session that likely will reach into early evening.

On the agenda going into the board’s final 2015 regular session, which is in the Carson City Community Center’s Sierra Room at 851 E. William St., are matters dealing with next year’s planned downtown makeover project, a city cultural master plan, a presentation on industry retention and expansion, and a controversial apartment complex proposal. That final item is set just before the dinner hour, at 5:30 p.m., to wind up the lengthy meeting.

A special use permit for the planned unit development, multi-family apartment project approved in September by the city Planning Commission property at GS Richards Boulevard and Country Club Drive, which is near the Silver Oak Golf Course in north Carson City, was appealed by two nearby property owners.

“The Board of Supervisors may uphold, modify or reverse the Planning Commission’s decision,” according to a staff summary on the appeal of the project planned on property owned by Mark Turner and Sean Richards.

This meeting brings the culmination of the year’s design of the Carson Street makeover downtown, which also includes a West 3rd Street community plaza. Before the board is the 90 percent design for the first phase of the project, now expected to begin in February or March, the naming of a public-private plaza for the late Bob McFadden, a real estate man and downtown advocate, and formation of a downtown Neighborhood Improvement District.

The district would involve property owners in the Carson Street area from 5th Street on the south to William Street on the north. The initial phase of the downtown project involves that street being narrowed from four lanes to two, one northbound and one southbound, with a center turn lane, side bicycle lanes, wider sidewalks and some street parking. It also includes the plaza on a closed West 3rd Street between Carson and Curry streets.

In a later phase, Curry Street downtown also is targeted for upgrades. Eventually, in subsequent phases, improvements to business corridors on East William Street and both North and South Carson street areas are anticipated.

It’s part of a phased group of public projects financed by a one-eighth of a penny city sales tax hike adopted in 2014. That raised more than $1 million the first year. Among projects involved are the multi-purpose athletic center opening at the end of December, the animal shelter under construction, the downtown and other business corridor projects, and later upgrades to cultural options at the Community Center.

Also on the agenda is a draft Arts and Culture Master Plan, for which the city’s Cultural Commission is seeking board reaction prior to beginning next year the formal adoption process. In other words, the commission wants direction on any potential changes before submitting it to both the planning commission and the board for final review and adoption.

Earlier in the meeting’s morning session, there will be a quarterly report by the Northern Nevada Development Authority (NNDA) regarding retention and expansion of local business and industry in Carson City. Danny Campos of the NNDA staff is slated to explain progress against plan metrics, including performance on overall plan goals such as recruitment, retention and expansion targets.

The board meeting begins at 8:30 a,m., includes a lunch break about noon with resumption at 1:30 p.m., as well as the time-designated apartment complex appeal set to start a half hour before Thursday afternoon turns into evening.