Gardnerville OKs mixed use zoning

GARDNERVILLE — A shortage of multi-family dwellings has resulted in a request for apartments in Gardnerville.

A mixed use project south of town is proposing adding apartments behind a commercial structure.

Mixed use commercial zoning combines business and residential uses on the same lot. It is the preferred development in Gardnerville under its plan for prosperity.

Gardnerville Town Board members approved changing the zoning on a parcel from neighborhood commercial to mixed use commercial.

The building on the front part of the property along Highway 395 is the Guns & Ammo store. The back of the lot would have 20 apartments with the potential for 44 more on 5.56 acres, should an access agreement with the Carson Valley Fair shopping center next door be obtained.

“The multi-family housing within the town of Gardnerville is full at this time,” Town Manager Tom Dallaire said in a report. “There are waiting lists to move in. There are other vacant parcels that are currently zoned multi-family, but this is a smaller lot of the others that may be available.”

Dallaire pointed out that the site is near services,including shopping, restaurants and gas stations.

The apartments would be split into three structures and each unit would have about 780-square feet of living space, according to the applicant.

The commercial building on the front of the property along Highway 395 will remain as-is, with the exception of the rock face on the front and some work on the facade and the parking lot.

R.O. Anderson Engineering Associate Planner Tammy Kinsley pointed out that there is limited land zoned for high-density residential in Douglas County.

As of 2010, there were only 124 acres zoned for multi-family residential with 100 in Minden and Gardnerville.

The commercial property was built in the late 1970s by Robert Oswald for his horse racing photo finishing service. The structure is now home to a gun store.