Storey County officials, developer spar in court over Cordevista plan rejection

VIRGINIA CITY " The plaintiffs and the defendants in the lawsuit over the proposed Cordevista subdivision agreed on only one thing " it all comes down to the Storey County master plan.

But their interpretation of that master plan, written by county officials in 1994, and the law surrounding it, differed greatly. Oral arguments in the lawsuit filed by Virginia Highlands LLC, who wish to develop the Cordevista subdivision in the center of Storey County over the county commission's denial of a master-plan amendment, took place Monday at the Storey County Courthouse in Virginia City.

Blake Smith, then-managing partner for Virginia Highlands LLC, sued the county on Sept. 11, 2007, for rejecting his request for a master-plan amendment and zone change from industrial to mixed use, residential and commercial that would allow the development of more than 10,000 homes and commercial projects on 11,000 acres the company owns in central Storey County.

The commission rejected the developers request on Aug. 21, 2007, in a meeting where the lawyers for Virginia Highlands LLC decided that even though they applied for a master-plan amendment, that amendment should not have been required.

The attorney for the developer, Stephen Mollath, told Judge Miriam Shearing the first issue was whether or not the master-plan amendment should have been required in the first place; that if the master plan was viewed as a whole, rather than line-by-line, Virginia Highlands LLC's planned-unit development was completely in compliance.

In addition, he said, the master plan bylaw must be formed as a result of a rational planning process.

Yet the section of the master plan that impacted his client's property, the area that was master-planned for special industrial, previously owned by High Shear, Aerojet and TRW, was done so by litigation, not a rational planning process, Mollath said.

Mollath indicated Virginia Highlands LLC had applied for the master-plan process at the request of Storey County officials.

He was the attorney for High Shear in 1989 when the county tried to revoke a special use permit from the company it had issued in 1986 after a 1988 explosion on the property where rocket fuel was produced. The company won a suit against the the county to keep its permit.

"We're not arguing the master plan is defective, only that the PUD is a consistent use with the master plan as a whole, so we don't have to have a master plan amendment," he said.

Mollath said that the special industrial designation came as a result of that lawsuit, and was included when the master plan was written in 1995.

"We say use placed on that property was not done as a rational planning process, but was placed as a result of litigation, which we have the right to abandon if we so desire," he said. "Is this the only use that could be consistent? Is this rocket fuel plant the only kind allowed?"

The second thing Mollath said the judge needed to look at was the zone change request, which the county didn't consider, since the master-plan amendment was rejected.

He said a zone-change denial requires "substantial evidence that is competent, probative and capable of supporting the decision of the board." He said he offered reports from technical experts and consultants on the viability of the Cordevista development and all the county offered was testimony from residents in opposition, who were concerned about water, roads and other issues.

Mollath indicated those issues were important, but could only be considered at the time of the issuance of a PUD handbook or tentative map application, with a recommendation by staff, as is done in other counties such as Clark or Washoe.

He gave as an example of the county's 2006 approval of a development at Painted Rock, which would culminate in 3,500 homes and with which Storey County Commissioner Greg "Bum" Hess is involved.

Mark Gunderson, representing Storey County, agreed that the master-plan amendment was at the heart of the matter, but said zoning was not before the court because county commissioners never heard a zone change request, since the master-plan amendment was rejected.

He pointed out that Storey County was a very small county with 4,700 residents spread out over the vast area of the county, and that Cordevista was the most significant project in scope, size and impact county officials had seen.

He said it would mean 8,600 aces, providing 80,000 residents over a 20- or 30-year period, and county officials had to look at whether or not that was the direction residents wanted to go in for their county.

"The issue is, does this county and its government have the discretion to decide its future," he said.

He added that Painted Rock had no opposition from residents, was on the Interstate 80 corridor in an area designated by the master plan for residential growth and was consistent with the master plan.

He also noted that developers of Painted Rock did a master-plan amendment and zone change request.