Chad Lundquist/Nevada Appeal Carson City Treasurer Alvin Kramer, who serves on the board of directors of Citizens for Affordable Homes Inc., stands in front of City Hall. He said the group will be moving from Pine Cone Lane in Dayton after failing in its bid to change zoning to allow the office.
Citizens for Affordable Homes Inc. will be moving its offices from 100 Pine Cone Road in Dayton. The group's request for a zone change was denied by the Lyon County Commission. The nonprofit has housed its offices in a model home built in the Gold Country Estates.
Home board member Al Kramer said the nonprofit made mistakes and was given bad information in its attempt to keep the office near the development, but are still happy to do business in Lyon County.
Why did the commissioners turn down your request for a zone change?
I think they listened to the people in the audience. There was an activist group there that didn't want to see their neighborhood change.
Do you feel they had sufficient reason to object?
That's hard to say; neighborhoods change routinely. It's not realistic to say the view will be there forever. They also didn't think we followed the proper procedure.
What were you asking for, specifically?
To change the zoning from single-family residential with a mobile home overlay to multi-family, which allows for professional offices. That's what we are and that's what the master plan calls for.
When did you move your offices into the building on Pine Cone?
I'd say a year ago.
Why didn't you request the zone change before you moved your offices to the Pine Cone building?
When we did this, we were informed that because we were building houses in the neighborhood, we could act just as a building contractor would, with our office in the home. Later, after we were in there, we were told by planning that we needed a zone change. If we had built a model home just like the homes we're building and not had anyone work there, but a real estate agent, it would be OK. We relied on something that we'd been told, and there's been some personnel changes since then, and we got caught in the bind. We tried for commercial zoning and even though there is a lot of commercial around there, it was denied. Then planning suggested we go for multi-family because that is what the master plan called for, and that was denied on a 3-2 vote. I guess getting two votes shows we weren't completely out of sight on it.
Is it necessary for you to keep your offices there, and if so, why?
We have to have an office. Having it there reduces our travel time. It will just cost more now. The difference is all our money comes form grants, so it's residents paying for us anyway. We'll move somewhere else. We'll move 10 or 11 jobs into Carson City and we'll keep on going. It's funny, we were told they loved our work, they really liked what we are doing, they just don't want us in their neighborhood.
What options, if any, exist for you to stay where you are? What is the next step?
We're not going to pursue this further, we'll just move. People have a right to get together to petition the board and our mistake is not recruiting enough people for our side and in not in getting things in writing first.
Describe your organization.
We're a nonprofit that helps people with low incomes achieve their dreams of home ownership, where they can build their own home and their sweat equity is their down payment. We have a long-standing relationship with Lyon County, and it's going to go on into the future. I see this as a bump in the road; we'll get along, we've learned something from it and we'll do business in the future.