Plans progress for joint-use rec center

If plans for a joint-use recreation center between Carson City and Western Nevada Community College stay on track, local officials should start signing off on it at the end of the year.

Members of the Carson City Parks and Recreation Commission on Tuesday were presented with a tentative timeline for taking the project to state legislators, who should begin hearing persuasive arguments for the project in February.

Legislators should decide whether the project is worthy of state funds when they meet in July 2007.

The state's university system Board of Regents included the joint-use recreation center plan on its funding list last month. Its ranking as 16th among 30 projects is not so high that it's assured to win approval, but is within the $280 million spending ceiling, said Helaine Jesse, WNCC's vice president of institutional advancement.

Valentine Crane Architects, based in Salt Lake City, is the company being asked to help design the center, though the Board of Supervisors still must approve the choice.

The first significant meeting with any state officials is set for late August with the State Public Works Board, and will require project exhibits to be ready for viewing. A special public information meeting is slated for late September, though residents' comments must be recorded during any public hearings.

"We want to make sure citizens are heard," said John McKenna, the school board's representative to the commission, because "not everyone wants it there."

Carson City already plans to spend $8 million on the project, which would be north of Combs Canyon Road on the WNCC campus. Any money from the state would be matching funds and would bring the budget up to $16 million.

If the joint-use plan falls through, the alternative site is JohnD Winters Centennial Park. Some aspects of the plan created for the joint-use site will be reused for a wholly city-controlled facility.

Spending on a joint-use plan that might fall through "is a gamble, but a good investment if it does succeed," said Roger Moellendorf, the city's parks and recreation director. "It's a necessary expense. And it would be more of a gamble to do two (plans) for two separate sites."

The city has planned for a new center to include a 10,600-square-foot multipurpose gymnasium, indoor walking track, leisure pool and splash pads.

In other commission business:

A proposed landscape maintenance district ordinance was discussed. State law allows parties who want to divide land for transfer or development to ask the city to assume maintenance of common-interest areas, such as parks and trails. This is only if the areas are open to the public, and would be formed in place of a private maintenance association.

The proposal is going back for changes and will next before the Planning Commission. Officials want to have a plan in place before someone makes this type of request, Moellendorf said.

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