A draft of a land-use map from Carson City showing land-use designations for the northwest part of the city including new categories like corridor mixed-use and medical. A master plan update is expected to go to Carson City planning commissioners Feb. 26.
After more than a year of joint meetings, workshops and revisions, the Carson City Master Plan update is tentatively scheduled to head back to the Planning Commission on Feb. 26 and to the Board of Supervisors on May 1 for finalization.
Between the two meetings, the city is planning to send postcards to property owners whose land-use designations may change under the updated plan. According to Carson City Community Development, the interval between the Planning Commission meeting and the Board of Supervisors meeting will provide time for discussion and refinement.
Land-use designations, as set in the current master plan and proposed for the update, are not the same as a property’s zoning. A master plan provides land-use categories under which different zoning districts may exist. The city, during annual reviews, does try to correct zoning maps where zoning is inconsistent with the property’s land-use designation; however, a new land-use designation doesn’t necessarily mean a change in zoning.
A new land-use category in the update, for example, is called corridor mixed-use, and it’s proposed for major corridors like Highway 50 and North Carson Street. The land-use designation of downtown mixed-use already exists for the downtown corridor and, under the current draft, would remain. The new corridor mixed-use designation would include general commercial, retail commercial, tourist commercial and multifamily apartment zoning, according to the latest draft.
On Jan. 29, planning commissioners met to review Chapter 12 of the draft, which contains action items tied to overall goals of the plan. Commissioners Vern Krahn, Greg Brooks and Gregory Petersen were absent, but members of the public had the chance to watch a quorum of the remaining commissioners discuss action items in minute detail.
Commissioners agreed to change some words. One priority goal in Chapter 12 was to “establish an economic development champion in the city.” The Jan. 29 work session was preceded by a joint meeting in December when both commissioners and supervisors discussed the possibility of city staff dedicated to economic development. For the purposes of the Jan. 29 meeting, commissioners decided establishing an economic development “role” in the city was better than saying an “economic development champion.”
Some items in Chapter 12 were broadened. Action item 5.4e, which said, “Develop a marketing strategy designed to attract and retain new retailers to Carson City,” was changed to reflect all businesses, not just retailers. Other items were suggested to be deleted altogether, such as action item 6.2i, which said, "Consider establishing a vacant building inventory and explore possible strategies within state law to disincentivize long-term vacancies.”
A handful of audience members at the meeting spoke during opening public comment. There was angst about the update and whether the document, as presented, protected what some viewed as Carson’s small-town feel.
Resident LeAnn Saarem was concerned about high-density projects and argued Carson’s small-town feel was not the focus of the plan, “which is what the rest of the residents are asking it to be.”
“I mean, I look at valuing. We need, in the document, to value the community and involvement in all future development,” she said. “Not just when we’re doing these little things. It needs to be as part of everything in going forward.”
The latest draft of the document is online: envisioncarsoncity.org/_files/ugd/e1a66a_f42ab4ca3c5f42878f8c44ce7342a836.pdf.