Andersen Ranch West slated for supervisors meeting

The fate of a contentious subdivision project in west Carson City is now in the hands of the city’s elected governing board. The Board of Supervisors will consider the Andersen Ranch West project at Thursday’s meeting, which begins at 8:30 a.m. in the community center.

The proposal for 61 residential lots west of Ormsby Boulevard has already seen three public hearings since last summer. In September 2022, planning commissioners recommended denial of the project on a 6-1 vote. In November of the same year, the Board of Supervisors voted to send the project back to the planning commission for further revision. In April of this year, planning commissioners unanimously recommended denial.

“There have been no changes presented to staff by the applicant since the item was heard by the planning commission,” Associate Planner Heather Manzo said by email May 25.

The tentative subdivision map proposes 61 single-family residential lots and a 50.33-acre remainder parcel with an existing residence on an 80.53-acre site west of Ormsby Boulevard. The site is zoned single family 1 acre and single family 12,000 (minimum lot size) and is being developed under previous Carson City Municipal Code 17.10.

That chapter of code governing common open space development was officially repealed by the Board of Supervisors in April, but because Andersen Ranch West was filed under 17.10 before the repeal, the project is still being reviewed under the previous code.

Critics of the project have argued transferring density from the southern portion of the site to the northern portion doesn’t meet the spirit of the now-repealed 17.10. Developers, on the other hand, have maintained the letter of the law is being followed.

Per current zoning, an additional 70 residential lots could be developed on the southern portion for a total of 132 homes on the historic acreage, including the existing ranch house. The applicant, Andersen-Colard Ranch Enterprises LLC, previously proposed an approximately 9.46-acre portion around the existing ranch house remain in “private open space.” However, unsure how that open space would be achieved, planning commissioners couldn’t support the project in April.

Under the applicant’s current proposal, 3.89 acres of common open space in the northern subdivision would exceed requirements of 17.10.