At their regular meeting last week, Churchill County Commissioners set a public hearing for an ordinance that would allow for a new zoning district designation known as the Intensive Multi-Family Residential District or R-3. The new residential zoning district would allow for multi-family development in the form of large apartment complexes and incorporates the potential new zone into the Planned Unit Development standards. It also creates a new section in the county code that provides development standards for all multi-family development whether that development is in an R-2 zone, R-3 zone, or a PUD.
Public Works Director Chris Spross and Senior Planner Dean Patterson made a presentation to the commission on the R-3 Zoning concept, which was approved by the Churchill County Planning Commission in March.
www.thefallonpost.org/news/4447,planning-commission-approves-new-zoning-district
The changes in the density and allowed uses provide a tiered and increasing allowance of density that provides for R-1 with five units per acre, R-2 with 10 units per acre, and R-3 with 16 units per acre. It is possible through a PUD to request bonus density in exchange for providing additional facilities or amenities which allows the density to increase to 8 units in an R-1, 16 units in R-s, and 24 units in R-3. Because of the intensity of population in an R-3 development, the zoning also allows for a limited number of commercial and community uses that would commonly provide neighborhood services.
Several community members spoke in opposition to the ordinance, citing traffic and water issues. Nancy Hoggard said this code has no business being applied to Churchill County, “there are no three-story buildings in Churchill County, there are at the base.”
The hearing on the ordinance will be held on April 20, 2022, at 1:15 p.m.
Commissioners also considered and approved the sale of two properties located on Coleman Road to Vertex Fund 3, LLC, a developer from Colorado that has completed several projects in Reno. Vertex answered the county Request for Proposals that was issued for the property with the intent of providing 360 units of what Tom Ernst called, “upscale accommodations.”
Ernst is a principal with Vertex who spoke at the meeting along with Lonnie Phelps who is with the engineering firm working with Vertex.
Civil Deputy District Attorney Ben Shawcroft introduced the agenda item and explained that the smaller Coleman Road parcel of 5.20 acres will be used to build a road that will eventually connect north to Rice Road and help alleviate traffic burdens. The larger 26.21 acres parcel will be used to serve the purposes of economic development by providing the needed housing supply.
“Based on the housing study that was updated in 2019 we realized the pressure on the community for multi-family housing units,” said Shawcroft. “We issued the RFP to find a developer interested in purchasing and developing this property and had several inquiries before receiving the one official proposal from Vertex.” He said the properties qualify under the statute for sale without first offering the property to the public because under the statute the properties will be used for public purposes of roads and economic development.
Ernst presented a general concept of the project and said the company is excited to be working on this “public, private partnership with the county.” He said the apartments are considered “market rate, multi-generational” accommodations, and they are not subsidized. They are amenity-driven and will have a pool environment with workout facilities, and a dog park and will be built to “blend into the surrounding neighborhood.”
He said Vertex has been working in the Reno market and loves Nevada. “We looked at the master plan here, you have a good plan, a lot of rural counties don’t have one and we can tell you have a vision, and you are only limited by the housing shortage. We would like to be the provider of attainable housing.”
Chairman Pete Olsen said the Navy plans to bring 1,200 more jobs to the community by 2024 and a new company is just opening with 60 employees, “along with the 20% of the current workers at the base who live outside of our community, there are our own children who stay or want to come back. If we don’t build more houses, there will be no place for them to live.”
County Manager Jim Barbee said the low supply of housing in the community is impacting the cost of a house. “By expanding this with the higher-end product we’ll open up greater supply and have a cascading effect in terms of providing more affordable housing across the board.”
The commissioners agreed to sell the properties for the appraisal price of $600,000 to Vertex which will also be responsible for extending the water and sewer infrastructure to the property, with the county reimbursing the costs through impact fee credits. The development plan is slated to take three years to complete, but Ernst said in reality they hope to take two years or less.
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