Carson City Planning Commission recommends growth ordinance

The Planning Commission Wednesday agreed on its annual growth management recommendation for the Board of Supervisors to approve.

The recommendation calls for a maximum of 640 residential building permits in 2017, with 275 allocated to general property owners who individually can obtain up to 30 permits, and 365 permits available to developers building 32 or more units.

So far in 2016 the city has issued 46 permits with the bulk at the moment for a 39-unit apartment, which is a highest rate in the last five or six years, said Lee Plemel, community development director, who expects the year to end with the most permits since 2006.

The goal of the growth management ordinance is to ensure Carson City doesn’t build beyond what its water and sewer capacity can support.

The resolution also calls for a cap on commercial and industrial water use of 15,000 gallons per day. Any business requiring more has to come before the commission for approval.

The city projects it will use 11,552 acre feet of water in 2017. It owns 18,272 acre feet of water rights and has allocated 1,333 acre feet for already approved development, leaving a balance of 5,417 acre feet, said Danny Rotter, engineering manager.

The commission also approved a variance and recommended to the board a tentative map for the Arbor Villas, a development of 147 single-family attached homes on 10.53 acres in Little Lane.

The items had come up on the commission’s meeting in April, but were continued to May after the developer’s representative agreed to meet with nearby homeowners to address their concerns about the design.

Chris Baker, planning manager with Manhard Consulting, said he contacted about 20 residents and met with 11 of them on May 19.

As a result, several changes were made to the plan. The units at the north end of the development, where existing residents were concerned about privacy, were redesigned as three-unit clusters and Baker agreed to limit the number of units available with balconies.

The building setbacks were increased to a 25-foot minimum and landscaping was added to create a screen between the development and the backyards of the adjacent homes.

The variances allowing 7.5-feet driveways and 1,005 square foot parcels was approved and the tentative map was recommended for the supervisors approval.

The vote was 4-2 with Commissioner Paul Esswein absent and Commissioners John Owens and Daniel Salerno voting no.

“As I see it these streets serve the people on the interior of project and the city already has too many streets to maintain,” said Salerno. “I can not support this unless the interior streets are determined to be private.”

The commission also recommend to the board an ordinance to notify more residents of a planned development depending on the size of the project.

Currently, residents within a 300-foot radius, or about 256 property owners, of any proposed development are notified.

The recommended ordinance would change so a 300-foot radius would be used for projects with a parcel area of one acre or less; a 600-foot radius, or about 456 property owners, would be notified for projects in a parcel of at least one acre but less than 40 acres; and a radius of 900 feet, or about 690 property owners, would be noticed for projects larger than 40 acres.

The recommendation passed unanimously.

After early public comment in opposition to the proposed Vintage at Kings Canyon on Andersen Ranch development, Plemel said the developer is revising the plan and submitting it to the city for a second conceptual review and has promised to make the plan publicly available then.

The commission also approved special use for permits a medical marijuana cultivation and production operation on Deer Run Road and a dispensary at 135 Clearview Dr.

The commission last year approved SUPs for the same business, but the business recently was sold so Anthony Georgiadis, the new owner, had to reapply for the SUPs.

The requests were approved with Salerno and Owens voting no on the cultivation and production and Salerno the lone no vote on the dispensary.

The commission also approved SUPs for a medical marijuana cultivation and production facility on Morgan Mill Road operated by BioNeva Innovations.

Both Owens and Salerno voted no on the marijuana issues.