At their meeting last week, county commissioners voted to approve re-naming the green arena at the Churchill County Fairgrounds The Tammy Lee Arena. Recently, the local Nevada Paint Horse organization approached the Parks & Recreation Commission with the request, offering to incur all costs associated with changing the name. Tammy Lee was instrumental in supporting events held at the Churchill County Fairgrounds, and she and her family have been dedicated supporters of the community and high school rodeos. Tammy was killed in an accident July 10th.
“This would serve as a memorial to Tammy and will continue to keep her presence felt for years to come,” according to Jorge Guerrero, Facilities, Parks and Recreation Director. The Parks & Recreation Commission supported the change of the arena name at their September meeting.
In further business, commissioners held a swearing in ceremony for the Fallon Churchill County Volunteer Fire Department Officers for the 2020-21 year, administering the oath of office to Jared Dooley, Fire Chief; Randy Sharp, 1st Assistant Chief; Anthony Myers, 2nd Assistant Chief; and Eric Blakey, 3rd Assistant Chief.
The board of commissioners also approved a zoning change for property located two miles north of Hazen owned by Geothermal Resources Industrial Park, LLC or GRIP as the company is also known.
According to Dean Patterson, associate planner for the county, GRIP owns and has developed a number of projects in the Fernley and Hazen area, developing the industrial park on Resource Drive area and the rail park across Highway 50 to the east.
This property is 640 acres and located near Patua geothermal and solar plants. The owners of GRIP are hoping to attract an industrial warehousing or data center user to the property. They requested the rezoning to accommodate development by a potential data center company, that might also want to develop a solar power facility to meet their needs.
Jim Kingzett is the owner of the land and spoke regarding the project and request for the zone change. A resident of Gardnerville, Kingzett has been involved in industrial development in and around Hazen, including the Churchill Gateway Commerce Park, for several years. He said that recently his company sold section nine, in the same general area, to New Nevada Research which is affiliated with Tesla in the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center.
Marie Henson, building department official presented what she called “a culmination of over two years of work,” the agreement with the State of Nevada Board for Financing Water projects for a grant of $646,872 to fund the engineering and construction of the Sand Creek Redundant Well. After the studies, engineering, testing, and applications for the well project, this grant which does not have to be paid back, will pay for nearly 50% of the $1.3 million construction costs of the project. The other half of the project will be paid for through USDA Rural Development loans and grants.
Pete Olsen, commission chairman said the redundant well will provide the county water system a backup in the event that a well fails or is lost for some reason. Sand Creek is located off Bottom Road and to the west of Walmart.
The board also approved extending the Will-Serve agreement with Fallon Haneva, originally entered into by developer Tim Tucker in 2005 for 481 EDUs (Equivalent Dwelling Units). Harvey Whittemore presented on behalf of Fallon Haneva, saying, “during the process of developing the agreements for the Sky Ranch properties we discovered these EDUs had not been extended. Mr. Tucker paid over $2.6 million for these EDUs and over the past 15 years no extensions were granted or requested.” Haneva has requested an extension of five years, as an interim approval that will be in place as discussions with financiers and contractors take place. “These EDUs may be used at the outset for multi-family and possibly single-family units but we will have those discussions with staff when we talk about the water and what kinds of facilities need to be built,” said Whittemore.
Commissioner Bus Scharmann said he is, “glad to see things moving along, I hope to see a ground-breaking out there soon, maybe by spring.”
“Right now we are submitting plans to the Bureau of Reclamation,” said Tucker, “to bring the utilities. We are trying to move it ahead – we are all systems go but we still have to find a builder that can do 40-60 units at a time.”
Commissioner Carl Erquiaga said he appreciated Tucker hanging in there with this project all these years. “Your initial investment here had a lot to do with us getting a treatment plant off the ground, and hopefully we can see this succeed soon.”
Jeremy Drew presented a resolution in support of federal legislation addressing the Fallon Range Training Complex (FRTC) Modernization and the Churchill County Lands Bill. The county has been involved with the Navy and the FRTC modernization project since it become public in November of 2016, participating throughout the process as a cooperating agency through the National Environment Policy Act (NEPA) process. The Record of Decision (ROD) was signed by the Navy in March of 2020, and the recommendations were sent to Congress.
According to Drew, the ROD did address some of the county concerns, however, did not incorporate all the county-desired mitigation measures, nor did it reduce impacts the customs, culture, and the economy to acceptable levels.
In May of 2020 Congressman Amodei introduced H.R. 6889, which Drew said is very specific to the FRTC and the Churchill County lands bill. “The rest of our congressional delegation has been fantastic in terms of providing attention and an open ear to us in this process, in particular Senator Cortez-Masto continues to pursue a legislative solution including four amendments she made adding an intergovernmental committee to provide some better interface between the local community stakeholders and the Navy as things go forward.”
Commissioner Scharmann discussed his concerns over the grazing and mining rights along with the status of Pole Line Road.
Ryan Mulvenon, Cassidy and Associates, who represents Churchill County in Washington D.C. discussed the grazing issue saying they are, “working closely with the offices of Amodei and Cortez-Masto to develop legislation that seriously improves the ability for permittees to be compensated in a way that reflects the realities on the ground.”
Mulvenon did say there is a possibility that the Defense Reauthorization Bill will be voted on by the end of October and for the provisions related to the FRTC to be included in that bill.
The City of Fallon has provided a letter supporting the resolution. The resolution can be seen by clicking this link.
Commissioners approved the resolution, re-affirming their concern with the ROD and the Navy Legislative proposal as well as affirming the commission’s support for H.R. 6889, Division A and the legislation offered by Senator Cortez Masto. This includes formal support for updated mapping developed by the county as well as a commitment by the county to continue working with the congressional delegation and stakeholders.
County Manager Jim Barbee gave the COVID-19 response report saying that the county has been on the State “green” list for the third week in a row. “Our positivity rate is 2%, well below the 7%,” he said. “The modifications made by the health board and working through the Task Force to ensure that duplicate positives are not counted, has been beneficial and got us back into good graces on the statistical side.”
Barbee said the county is averaging 20 positives over the 14-day period which keeps the community around the 2% positivity capacity. The county also continues their testing on Tuesdays and Thursdays and the staff is working with lights and heaters as the days get shorter and cooler, to keep people as comfortable as possible.
Barbee also said that Governor Sisolak has loosened restrictions on large gatherings and expanded large gathering requirements on how controls and social distancing would be handled. There was great disappointment that there was not a decision on youth sports and hoping that will be forthcoming.
Ernie Schank was appointed as the designee to conduct the annual meeting and election of supervisors for the Lahontan and Stillwater Conservation Districts.
Ben Shawcroft, from the District Attorney’s office, presented information on the expenditures needed for the new Churchill County Civic Center. Commissioners approved $859,604.50 to pay H&H Specialty Supply for the supply of a pre-engineered steel building and authorized the county manager to execute the agreement when appropriate and in phases if necessary.
Commissioners also agreed to purchase a strategically located piece of property on Coleman Road from Lavinia Johnston for $400,000. This parcel was identified as being necessary for the future construction of a north/south connection for transportation and utility needs from Rice Road to Coleman Road. Johnston, as part of the agreement will lease back the property for $650 a month for one year.
The property was appraised by a licensed appraiser for $335,000, but negotiations led to the higher price mainly because the seller was unwilling, and the county needs the property in order to recognize the economic benefits that will result in the future development of the area, including the aforementioned Haneva development. State law requires the value of the property be set and appraised by a real estate appraiser but does not prohibit the purchase for more than the appraised value.
“This is a key piece of property for the county to own and help with that north/south transportation route if we’re going to develop that part of the county any further we need another way to get back to Hwy 50,” said Commissioner Olsen.
The next commission meeting is scheduled for October 21, 2020 at 1:15 p.m.
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