Planning commissioners OK Lompa Ranch plan

Slated for development since 2006, the historic Lompa Ranch is slowly becoming a centrally-located neighborhood in Carson City.

On Wednesday, Carson City planning commissioners approved a tentative subdivision map known as Blackstone Ranch Phase 2 that would create 204 single-family lots between East Robinson Street and East Fifth Street, southeast of Carson High and west of I-580. The approximately 58.52-acre property is zoned single-family 6,000 and multifamily duplex, and the minimum lot size for the project would be 6,000 square feet. Design documents show a new road, Matterhorn Drive, connecting Robinson and Fifth streets.

The vote for approval was unanimous, with Commissioners Nathaniel Killgore and Richard Perry absent, and the item will go to the Board of Supervisors. A similar tentative subdivision map for phase 2 was approved in 2018 but expired last year.

Commissioners made their recommendation Wednesday with 32 conditions of approval, including the developer contribute 60 percent of the costs for a traffic signal at Saliman Road and Robinson Street unless future projects are approved that contribute to traffic. The developer must also extend the multiuse path from I-580 along the project’s southern boundary and design, construct and dedicate to the city a 10-acre park, among other conditions.

A conceptual plan for the Blackstone Ranch Phase 2 project provided by JK Architecture Engineering. The northeast corner would be a park site. 

Founded in 1936, the Lompa Ranch bears the name of Simone “Sam” and Eva Lompa, who both had Swiss-Italian roots. They raised dairy cows and sheep on more than 800 acres, which eventually became about 400 acres as the city grew around the property. The couple farmed through the Great Depression and World War II while raising three children. Sam died in 1969, and Eva died in 2003.

Throughout their stewardship, the Lompa family donated land for Carson High and also sold about 82 acres to the Nevada Department of Transportation for the freeway. In 2006, the property was included in the Carson City Master Plan as an area to be developed with mixed residential and commercial use.

“This is the end of the hunt,” former Carson City Mayor Marv Teixeira said in 2006. “It’s our last major piece of land, and it’s in the heart of our community.”

In 2016, supervisors adopted the Lompa Ranch North Specific Plan outlining development for approximately 251 acres on both sides of I-580 north of East Fifth Street. Roughly 203 acres lie west of the interstate, with the remaining 48 acres on the east side of the interstate bordering Airport Road.

According to Carson City Community Development, up to 1,695 residences could be built in the northern area following guidelines of the specific plan. That includes both single-family and multifamily units: 1,195 units on the west side and 500 on the east side. To date, only 892 units have been approved for the west side (if supervisors approve phase 2) and 306 for the east side. Of those, only 420 units are under construction on the west side including 60 single-family homes.

“This request represents a development plan for the last of the residential phases on the west side of I-580,” Carson City Associate Planner Heather Manzo told the Appeal. “The other undeveloped properties are a future school site, future park site and commercially zoned properties. If residential uses are proposed on those properties, the request would need to comply with the Lompa Ranch North Specific Plan and would trigger at a minimum a SUP (special use permit) for residential development in a non-residential zone which would come before the planning commission for consideration.”

During public comment at Wednesday’s hearing, resident Bepsy Strasburg questioned if approving the plan would count against growth management permit allocations for this year. Carson City has had a growth management program since 1978. In June, applying a historically used 3 percent growth rate, supervisors set the residential building permit allocations for 2024 at 765 and for 2025 at 788.

“In terms of growth management and the number of residential units allotted per year, that’s based on when a building permit to construct that residence is issued, so approving the tentative map doesn’t have an impact on the allotment for that year,” Manzo said. “Once the developer gets far along in the process and they’re ready to go vertical, that’s when we start counting those units against the allotment for the year that it’s constructed, not when it’s approved.”

Ryder Homes Vice President Steve Thomsen, the applicant representing the Blackstone project, said phase 2 would be divided into smaller phases and would likely take several years to build out. Addressing a concern from Planning Commission Chair Teri Preston on construction traffic, Thomsen said Matterhorn Drive would be built in the first phase.

“Keep in mind it’s 204 lots, and that’s probably seven years’ worth of development,” Thomsen said, “so we would build Matterhorn with the first phase.”

In a series of unanimous votes, planning commissioners also recommended supervisors designate the 10-acre parcel on the west side of the interstate and a 3-acre parcel on the east side as park sites. The city itself made the requests for the park sites stemming from an annual review of the Master Plan. If approved by supervisors, the changes would make the land-use designation of the parcels into parks and recreation and their underlying zoning public neighborhood.

Some in the public, including Strasburg, had concerns about the cost of the city maintaining the future parks. According to Community Development, the specific plan requires a landscape maintenance district (LMD) or similar instrument for park maintenance. For those in the neighborhood, a per-parcel contribution for the LMD would be included in their annual tax assessment.

The Carson City School District also is seeking acquisition of a 10-acre school site on the west side of the interstate as called for in the Lompa Ranch North Specific Plan. The parcel was created and offered to the school district as part of the Blackstone Ranch phase 3 project, according to planning staff.

• In other action, planning commissioners recommended approval of a request from applicant Michael Mistriel seeking abandonment of a public access easement that is approximately 47,360 square feet in size and located about a quarter mile northeast of the end of East Robinson Street.

According to staff, the abandonment would make way for development of an approved 139-lot single-family subdivision within the Lompa Ranch North Specific Plan Area. The property is zoned multifamily duplex. The easement was recorded in 1983 but no longer needed for access.