The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly - A recap of our appeal of 6000 Plumas St. to the City of Reno Council.
A rendering of an aerial view of the 6000 Plumas St. development in its current state.
A RECAP
After six hours of presentations, testimony, and discussions that concluded at midnight on April 28th, the City Council choose to uphold the Reno Planning Commission’s approval of Lyon Living’s redevelopment of 6000 Plumas Street.
Of the 18 appellants, there were presentations by 10 that covered the following topics: History of the Property, Traffic, Parking, Building Height, Setback, Screening, Compatibility, and the Developer’s Bait & Switch. The detailed testimony by the appellants explained in detail why the 314 condo development, in its current configuration, was not in keeping with Title 18 of the Reno Municipal Land Development Code, to conserve established residential neighborhoods.
The appellant’s stated they were not NIMBYs (not in my backyard). The appellants expressed that they were not against a development if it was closer to the 150 units that Reno Land presented to the Lakeridge Tennis Club members and Lakeridge neighborhood residents back in August of 2019.
Aside from many request for a less dense development, a few appellants requested the City Council to apply conditions to the development. One such condition was the placement of the new sidewalk that will extend from Plumas Street to Lakeside along S. McCarran. By moving the sidewalk to the backside of the current retaining wall, it would save SEVEN mature 40-year-old evergreens. Four council members were un-moved by the plea to save the trees, nor any of the appellants’ points to have the developer reduce the density of the development in-keeping with the surrounding neighborhood. The vote was 4:3.
THE GOOD
The three elected City Councilmembers that supported the 18 appellants and voted to DENY the development were, Naomi Duerr (Ward 2), Jenny Brekhus (Ward 1) and Mayor Hillary Schieve. We thank all three of them for their tireless effort on April 28th.
Naomi Duerr (Ward 2), Jenny Brekhus (Ward 1), and Mayor Hillary Schieve.
THE BAD
The four elected City Councilmembers that voted to APPROVE the development were Devon Reese (At-Large), Oscar Delgado (Ward 3), Neoma Jardon (Ward 5), and Bonnie Weber (Ward 4).
Devon Reese (At-Large), Oscar Delgado (Ward 3), Bonnie Weber (Ward 4), and Neoma Jardon (Ward 5).
THE UGLY
Council person Bonnie Weber did not ask a single question nor participate in any of the discussion during the entire 6 hour Zoom meeting! Council person Jardon also asked no questions during the 6 hours and her participation was limited to a brief comment on the RTC’s efforts. Council person Delgado requested and was successful in a getting a donation to Reno’s Housing Authority given this development does not address Reno’s shortage of affordable housing.
Council person At-large, Devon Reese did actively participate in both the questioning of the city staff and lawyer for the developer, as well as discussions with Council persons Duerr and Brekhus. Unfortunately, Mr. Reese did not think the points presented by the appellants nor his co-council members warranted any conditions to be set on the development and declared his vote in favor of the development, therefore supporting the Planning Commission’s 5:2 vote. Of note, Mr. Reese requested a donation was made by the developer to the Moana Aquatic center in lieu of 2 pools being demolished by the developer when they torn down the club in June 2020.
This blog post was submitted by Megan, one of the LDC21-00036 Appellants.