The Churchill County Commission met this week in a regular meeting with a full agenda including a nuisance complaint, appeal of a Special Use Permit, and consideration of a Planned Unit Development application.
The Fallon Post will provide a follow-up article on the entirety of the agenda next week but is providing this brief report on the housing issues as many members of the public were in attendance opposed to the potential actions.
In considering the Planned Unit Development application made by Nev Dev, LLC for the Old Stone Ranch property located south of Casey Road and north of Birch Lane, commissioners heard from Public Works Director Chriss Spross and members of the Nev Dev, LLC organization. Spross said his office reviewed the application and stands by their recommendation to the planning commission to approve the project based on the conditions and mitigations provided in the application.
He said the project would be situated in the Urbanizing Area designated in the 2020 Master Plan that is located west of US Hwy 95 and north of Sheckler Road. According to the Housing Needs Assessment that was completed in 2019 and again in 2021, there is a shortage of housing in the community and a lack of multi-family housing. The report says there is a demand for residential units, outside the Naval Air Station Fallon demand, of 1085 to 1,801 units over the next five years. NAS Fallon alone will need 550 new units of housing by 2026.
The Old Stone Ranch development could provide 428 units, but with the bonus density request made possible with the inclusion of a 10-acre park, the development could provide up to 678 units. Developers are proposing 617 units, 101 single-family and 108 town homes in the first, south phase and then the apartments in a later, north phase under a separate Special Use Permit.
The planning commission voted 3-1 at their December 14 meeting to recommend to the County Commission to deny the PUD request, saying the findings for the tentative subdivision map were not met due to the project failing to conform to surrounding areas, and insufficient road infrastructure.
Several neighbors in the area were at the meeting and voiced their concerns over the project. Jackie Ugalde said, “I like Fallon, I like that we’re a small town. I’m against overbuilding in one area. If you can reach through the window and shake hands with the guy next door, that’s too close together.”
Lori and Jim Souba read prepared remarks, methodically going through the development standards in the county ordinances. “There are thousands of undeveloped acres in Churchill County that could be used for high-density housing,” said Lori. “There is no excuse for destroying an established rural neighborhood for this purpose.”
“We have junior sailors living in travel trailers,” said Commissioner Justin Heath, “they’re living in Hawthorne, Fernley, Reno, we are short 80 percent of the housing out there on the base right now. We have seniors who just want a reliable place to live, they don’t want an acre, they don’t want to pay a landscaper, they just need a place. We have our young people who have to leave town because there is no place to live.” Heath, who has served as a physician at Banner Churchill Hospital said they can’t get physicians at the hospital because there is no reliable housing here.
Commissioner Myles Getto said while he is fortunate, his friends who graduated with him, who wanted to stay here in Fallon and raise their families here are not able to. “I’ll be voting yes on this project.”
Commission Chairman Bus Scharmann said this issue is a difficult decision. “You elected us to make decisions and they’re not always popular decisions. Right now, 23 percent of the people who work at NAS Fallon live out of the county. These decisions have to be made.”
The commission voted unanimously to approve the PUD for Old Stone Ranch, and then approved the tentative map application.
Commissioners also considered an appeal of the denial by the Planning Commission of a Special Use Permit application for a multi-family development on Coleman Road, Riverstone Apartments, being developed by Vertex Fund 3, LLC, a Colorado company that answered a Request for Proposal by the county to provide apartments in this subdivision. Commissioners also heard an appeal of the Planning Commission’s denial of the application for a variance from the lot density and setback requirements, as well as a consideration of the tentative subdivision map for the development that would cover two parcels totaling roughly 32 acres and creating 19 lots within an apartment complex.
Spross again presented the staff report regarding the need for housing supply and recommended supporting the county policy to encourage higher-density single and multi-family residential development in the portion of the urbanizing area that can best support urban development.
He said in December of 2021, the county solicited RFP from developers to purchase and develop property for multi-family housing. The county received one proposal from Vertex and entered into the agreement. In March of 2022 the county approved a new R-3 zoning designation to limit the number of units per acre for multi-family development. In July 2022, the county changed the zoning to allow 16 units per acre. At the December 14 planning commission meeting the project was denied on a 4-0 vote.
Spross said county staff has been working with the applicant and stands by the recommendation to the planning commission to approve the development. The recommendation is based on the criteria review of the findings and the conditions outlined on the staff report. “The conditions should be included as part of the approval,” he said.
Several members of the public and neighbors to the proposed project commented on their concerns and opposition to the project. Many of the comments addressed the issue of traffic and the intersections at Coleman and Highway 50 as well as Coleman and Venturacci.
The commission overturned the decision of the planning commission and approved the Special Use Permit, authorizing a multi-family development on the subject property.
The commission also addressed several other issues and those will be covered in a story for the January 27 paper.
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