Agreement with medical center would provide trail section

Carson City is seeking land from Carson Tahoe Regional Health Care to create a recreational path for bicyclists and pedestrians that runs from the medical center to the old V&T Trail.

Supervisors will decide whether to accept the Carson Tahoe property during their board meeting Thursday.

"This is a critical link," in the plan for the city's paths system on the west side, said Vern Krahn, park planner.

Sought from the medical center for the path is roughly two acres that's nearly one-quarter mile long. The site begins on the south side of the hospital's new cancer center, runs along the creek and ends close to the old V&T trail, at the edge of the Eagle Valley Children's Home property.

The hospital providing the easement is part of its agreement with the city to develop the medical center property.

A path in that area eventually would serve users at and near the medical center, Western Nevada Community College and other parts of the northwest section of the city.

Cost of the path, and whether it eventually will be paved, hasn't been determined. When residents were helping the Parks and Recreation Department develop long-term plans for trails, however, it was decided this was a site that should be paved, Krahn said.

Long-term goals for paths and trails throughout the city were adopted earlier this year by the supervisors. Ultimately, the idea is to link the hospital to paths or trails that run west, and from north to south, according to the city's Unified Pathways Plan.

Control or ownership of other sites will be necessary to attain this goal, said Juan Guzman, the city's open space manager.

If money to pave this path - once it's complete - isn't readily available, one short-term solution might be to lay gravel, he said.

The land will revert back to the hospital if it isn't used for this purpose, according to the agreement.

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

If you go

What: Carson City Board of Supervisors meeting

When: 8:30 a.m. today

Where: Sierra Room, Carson City Community Center, 851 E. William St.

Also on the agenda

• Whether to grant an appeal about a Planning Commission decision denying a special-use permit for placing a billboard at 4440 Highway 50 East.

• Approve recommendations by Parks and Recreation Commissioners about using Residential Construction Tax money.

• Consider time limits for parking along Musser Street between Carson and Division streets during weekday business hours.