Supervisors hear latest reports on flood damage

Vicee Canyon got the worst damage of the New Year's weekend floods - or at least the most costly: $1 million.

Removal of debris and repairs to Vicee Basin will cost $500,000, while the recharge basins there require another $500,000 to cleanup, according to a report delivered Thursday by Andrew Burnham, the city's development services director.

The rest of the work is more widespread through the city - cleaning out roadside ditches, repairing roads and pipelines - and will costs an additional $2 million, bringing the total tab for flood-related cleanup and repairs to $3 million.

Vicee Basin alone was filled with 80,000 yards of mud, Burnham told city supervisors.

"That big hole in the ground saved us" from worse damage, said Mayor Marv Teixeira.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency declared Carson City and surrounding communities as disaster areas on Feb. 3. The declaration allows Carson and the other communities to receive federal money to conduct cleaning and repairs related to flood damage that occurred from Dec. 31 to Jan. 4.

The city will have six months, beginning Feb. 28, to complete the highest-priority projects and receive FEMA money to pay for them. This might cause work on other projects to be slowed, Burnham warned.

Homeowners who cannot pay for repairs of flood damage can attend a meeting next week offered by the state's Division of Emergency Management's Homeowner Disaster Assistance Program. Through the program the state will help determine whether home owners are eligible for aid. The meeting is at 9 a.m. Tuesday, at the emergency division's office at 2525 S. Carson St. Call 687-4240 for details.

Some residents and business owners who sustained flood damage might be eligible for funds through the Small Business Administration. Visit the Web site at www.sba.gov.

Other business conducted by the Board of Supervisors includes:

-- Approval of a proposed development plan for Corte Reale, a proposed housing development in North Carson City that could bring 77 acres of open space, including 700 linear feet of the historic V&T Railroad right-of-way.

The Corte Reale Planned Development Unit, 12 homes at 4000 Murphy Drive, would be built on a three-acre site north of Western Nevada Community College, adjacent to the Silver Oak Golf Course.

The area had been zoned as a conservation reserve. Construction will be constrained to the northeast corner of the nearly square-shaped site.

-- David Friedrich, owner of Hampton Inn and Suites, was named to the Convention and Visitors Bureau as its representative for hotel/motel business issues. He replaces Sean Sever, who now works as public information officer of West Nevada Community College. The term ends July 2007.

-- The fiscal-year budget was amended to include bond issues for such projects as the Virginia & Truckee Railroad, the new Sheriff's Department building and for redevelopment authority uses. The total exceeds $70 million.

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