Crowell to seek advice on Nugget project at city design conference

Carson City Mayor Bob Crowell has been selected as one of eight Western mayors to attend a Mayor's Institute on City Design next month at Arizona State University.

Crowell said he will use the opportunity to present the city's proposed Nugget project.

"This will provide me with a chance to (get) third-party professional and critical feedback on the Nugget project and some of the suggestions I have heard from around (the) city," Crowell said.

"The mayors don't get a response in the form of a disapproval or approval, but rather a critical discussion of the proposals and things to consider as they go back to their communities," he said.

The institute is a partnership program of the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Architectural Foundation and the United States Conference of Mayors.

The two-and-a-half-day session is limited to fewer than 20 people, half mayors and the other half city design and development professionals. Each mayor presents a problem from his or her city for the other mayors and designers to discuss, and the session culminates with a two-hour critique for each mayor.

The resource team members range from architects and planners to public policy specialists, developers, preservationists, sociologists, lawyers and historians, according to the institute.

An organizer for the institute was in Carson City on Wednesday for a site visit, tour of the city and a meeting with the mayor and staff.

Other mayors who have confirmed attendance at the March 10-12 workshop are from Federal Way, Wash.; Olympia, Wash.; Newport Beach, Calif.; Avendale, Ariz.; Rio Rancho, N.M.; and Lakewood, Colo.