Supervisors seek water and sewer services in east Carson

Carson City will begin trying to extend its water and sewer services to property owners along Highway 50, east of Deer Run Road to the Lyon County line.

The supervisors on Thursday allowed staff to begin determining whether land owners want to finance the estimated $30 million in improvements. Up to $4 million more could be necessary to start and finance a long-term bond for the project, which will be paid for by property owners in the area through an improvement district.

If the owners who control 51 percent of the area's assessed value don't agree, the plan won't go forward.

"We want to improve that eastern portal to the city because right now it's basically bare ground," said Larry Werner, city engineer. "We want to get in quality development, particularly retail, but right now we can't do anything."

The city will notify property owners in the area about the plan, hold a public workshop about the work and determine whether there is enough interest to form an improvement district that will cover construction costs and allow it to be financed over time.

The rest of the community, financially, "can't take this on," said Mayor Marv Teixeira.

The land, roughly 430 acres, is owned by a variety of private people and groups. But the water and sewer lines would have to travel through areas controlled by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and be placed below Highway 50, a state road.

There is some commercial and industrial activity in the area now, but the lack of water and sewer service limits what can go on there, Werner said.

It's an area where wells and septic systems serve basic needs now.

Plans to add such things as a depot for the V&T Railway tourist route and a Chinese Workers Museum within the next several years would require infrastructure. Commercial development can't occur unless the infrastructure is there, Werner said.

While the land owners will benefit by incurring a lower cost to obtain the services, the community will benefit because of future tax revenue any new commercial endeavors will generate, Teixeira said.

Property there "is selling for in excess of $1 million an acre," he said.

Cost to landowners, if they constructed service connections on their own, likely would be at least three or four times higher. Though property values vary within the area, cost translates roughly to $77,000 an acre for the infrastructure if construction is done cooperatively, Werner said.

"It's not a lot of money if the land isn't developable right now," Teixeira said.

• Contact reporter Terri Harber at tharber @nevadaappeal.com or 882-2111, ext. 215.

In other business, the supervisors:

• Disregarded the recommendation of planning commissioners and will allow a billboard to go up at 4440 Highway 50 East, provided that trees now obscuring a portion of the sign be properly trimmed, not topped, and that residents living near it be given help in lessening the impact.

• Unveiled their new fleet of snowplows/sander-dump trucks for use during this coming winter. The seven new machines cost the city about $118,000 each. Some of the city's existing plow fleet still will be in use. Most of these are at the end of their useful life, however, which is up to 10 years.

• Approved regulating parking along Musser Street between Carson and Division streets. People using most of the spaces - except for some next to the Secretary of State's Office - will be limited to three-hours. This is longer than the two hours originally proposed. A report that takes a more comprehensive look at parking downtown is expected before the end of the year.

• Authorized city staff to make an offer of $400,000 for 40 acres west of Carson owned by the Hutchinson family for open space and viewshed, and to appraise three sites totaling 60 acres near the Carson River for possible acquisition by the city.

• Rent a dozer for roughly $18,000 a month to help extinguish an underground fire at the Carson City Sanitary Landfill.