Supervisors hear affordable housing recommendation

After the Fourth of July holiday, the Carson City Board of Supervisors will consider affordable housing in the context of growth management during their Thursday meeting, which begins at 8:30 a.m. in the community center.

In May, Carson City planning commissioners convened as the Growth Management Commission and made a recommendation to designate some of the yearly residential building permit allocations for affordable housing. In a unanimous vote, they recommended the Board of Supervisors use a 3 percent growth rate for allocations, with 2 percent for market-rate housing starts and 1 percent for affordable housing starts targeting workforce needs.

For 2024, the total allocation would be 765 residential building permits, with 510 for market-rate housing and 255 for affordable housing units. For 2025, the total allocation would be 788. Estimated allocations for 2026 and 2027 are 812 and 836, respectively.

The city’s growth management program, which began in 1978, caps the number of residential building permits to a 3 percent growth rate. The city’s current population is a little more than 58,000, and the 2020 Census put the average persons per household in the city at 2.32. Population growth over the next five years is expected to be 0.7 percent each year, according to the Nevada state demographer.

Carson City Community Development has projected an additional 8,384 residential units could be developed with existing zoning and Master Plan policies, translating into a population of 76,207 at buildout. However, over the last five years, permits issued have stayed below available allocations, and allocations do not roll over year to year.

Affordable housing has been a prevalent topic in Carson City policy discussions as the median sales price for a single-family home in the capital city has risen from $145,000 in 2012 to $520,000 in 2022.

Additionally, the GMC recommended the review threshold for commercial and industrial water usage be dropped from 15,000 gallons a day to 10,000 gallons a day.

In other action:

• Supervisors will consider a collective bargaining agreement between Carson City and the Carson City Fire Fighters Association, Local 2251 of the International Association of Fire Firefighters.

The agreement would be effective, retroactively, from July 1 of this year to June 30, 2028. According to city staff, the estimated fiscal impact would be $2.94 million above five-year projections included in the budget for fiscal year 2024.

A copy of the agreement, including pay increases, can be viewed online: https://d2kbkoa27fdvtw.cloudfront.net/carsoncity/cc40bc7d10c2419663b1264b1970829d0.pdf.

• Supervisors will consider a final subdivision map for the Silver Crest Condos project that would create 51 condos on a 3-acre parcel.

Zoned multifamily apartment, the property is located at the corner of East Roland Street and Oak Street. A tentative subdivision map was approved by supervisors in 2019, according to planning staff.

• Supervisors will consider a proposed reorganization of the Public Works Department.

“Accomplishments over the last five years within the water and wastewater divisions of the department provide an opportunity to combine those divisions into a single division reporting to one utility manager who would exercise increased oversight responsibility for both utilities,” reads a staff report.

The report further states, “This consolidation would enable the department to implement a longstanding objective to combine internal city services such as asset management, fleet services, facilities management and the real property program under a new City Asset Services Division focused on delivering citywide services to all city departments in the most efficient and effective manner and led by a new City Asset Services Manager.

“These improvements can be accomplished with no increases in current staff positions or budget,” reads the report. “The goal of this reorganization is to enhance customer service and improve operational efficiencies.”