Carson City supervisors change zoning map, OK property tax rate

The Board of Supervisors made changes to the zoning map and passed a resolution officially setting the annual property tax rate.

The board, absent Supervisor Brad Bonkowski, met on Wednesday because its regular meeting day fell on the July 4 holiday.

The meeting agenda was brief and also included presentations on the Carson City Airport master plan and on noxious weeds, which the board did not take action on.

The biggest item — an agreement between Carson City, Carson City Library and Northern Nevada Development Authority for the library to pay NNDA $60,000 annually to operate a business retention and expansion program at the Adams Hub for Innovation — was pulled from the agenda to be heard at a later date.

The zoning map changes were as follows: to convert five parcels on Dean Court and one on Northgate Lane from single family one acre to single family 12,000; to change 20 acres on the north side of Highway 50 west purchased by the city for open space to Public Regional; to change 206 acres south of Timberline, also bought for open space, to Public Community; and to convert nine properties on Retail Drive,

Hot Springs Road, Market Street, and College Parkway from Limited Industrial to General Commercial.

The resolution for the tax rate, set earlier this year at $3.57 per $100 of assessed value, is done every year after the rate is certified by the Nevada Tax Commission.

Ken Moen, the airport manager, updated the board on the airport’s master plan, which will now incorporate a project to add nighttime instrument landing and takeoff.

The Airport Authority commissioned a feasibility study and found that nighttime operations could be added through a series of light arrays starting east of the airport.

“The good news is we can mitigate and now the question is how do we put it in the plan and get it funded,” said Moen.

Moen said nighttime operations could significantly expand the airport’s business.

The airport’s five-year capital improvements programs lists a dozen projects — including plans to replace the perimeter fence and access gates, purchase 22 acres, and repave runways — totaling $13.5 million. The bulk of it, or $12.7 million, is paid for through federal funding.

Sean Gephart, noxious weed coordinator, Nevada Department of Agriculture, and Lyndsey Boyer, senior natural resource specialist, Parks, Recreation and Open Space, gave a presentation on noxious weeds.

Carson City struggles with about 13 noxious weeds and the most prevalent, accounting for more than 65 percent, is perennial pepperweed.

But the biggest problem, said Gephart, is yellow starthistle, which grows to three feet, is densely packed and has been seen along Highway 395 and in Carson City.

“It is our number one priority,” said Gephart.

Also worrisome is Eurasian watermilfoil, found in the Mexican ditch in Carson City, and at Lake Tahoe and in the Truckee River.

“The problem is it grows thick and starts to clog up the ditch,” said Boyer.

Efforts to remove the weed here by hand didn’t work, said Gephart, and Boyer said the region is struggling with how to control it.