Land donation to link two parks along Carson River

A local water company has donated 39 acres of land along the Carson River which will allow the city to connect two of its trails on prime open space property.

"It will be magnificent. It makes the city manager tremble with happiness," said Open Space Manager Juan Guzman during the Thursday meeting of the board of supervisors.

"This is the last piece of the puzzle linking Carson River Park with Empire Ranch," he said.

The deed for the land owned by parent company Pico Holdings was presented to Mayor Bob Crowell by Dorothy Timian-Palmer, president of Vidler Water Company and a former water manager for the city.

"The Mexican Ditch is on that property, so you can irrigate the land," she said.

Guzman told the board that the acreage will be compatible with the surrounding open space land along the Carson River. It will be used as a nature park. California quail, a great heron and other bird species have been observed in the area, as well as wild horses, deer and other wildlife.

"Trails have already been built," Guzman said after the meeting. "The only part missing is a bridge over Eagle Valley Creek."

Guzman said the Nevada chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers - which includes Carson City engineers Resource Concepts Inc., and Lumos & Associates - have agreed to put together a preliminary design for the bridge so that the city can move ahead with putting together a grant proposal.

With a possible 50 percent match, the city expects to have the bridge built in less than two years.

Supervisor Robin Williamson pointed out that Carson City is unique among government entities in that it has more public access to the Carson River.

"We've protected that access to the river," she said.

Guzman explained that there will be a loss of $3,900 in taxes that the city formerly collected from the land, and there will be some associated costs to the Open Space office.

"We've budgeted for a position to manage all of our open space property of $25,000," he said.

Other associated costs will include about $1,500 a year in fuels management and the cost of chemicals to treat noxious weeds, which is about $3,000.

Supervisor Molly Walt wondered if there had been enough trails added to the city system in the past two years to warrant a revised Carson City trails map, which is produced by Muscle Powered.