Last week at the regular commission meeting, county commissioners held a public hearing and unanimously approved Ordinances 27, 32, and 39 that add a new zoning district designation to the County Code, called Intensive Multi-Family Residential District, or R-3. The ordinance set the uses, standards, and requirements for multi-family development in all zoning districts.
During the April 7 meeting when the public hearing was set, county 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 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.
Spross explained that county staff would not be going throughout the community designating R-2 or R-3 zoning. A property owner would need to bring the proposal and go through the planning process to have the project so designated.
Several community members were in attendance to give public comments during the hearing, a majority of whom live in the Birch/Pine/Dallas Drive areas. Long-time Fallon resident Jackie Ugalde said the new apartments in Reno on the north of I-80, going into town "look terrible. They look like anthills, and I can’t see anyone living in them, it’s too compacted. This is not Reno,” she said. “We have a lot of area, don’t jam it up. You have to give breathing room. Yes, we need houses.” She said she looked and saw that there are currently 59 properties for sale in Churchill County, three of those are for ground only. “People aren’t buying, the prices are so high, who is going to buy these apartments,” she said. “This isn’t going to solve any problems we have here.”
Lori Souba said, “We have lost trust and faith in the leadership of the county because of what’s happening in our neighborhood. We want our neighborhood to stay rural. We want our lifestyle to stay rural. We don’t want 600 units.” Souba lives in the Allen/Silver Circle area.
Steven Blais talked about the setback issue and said there is not a lot of faith in the commissioners. “You’re beholden to the entire community, not just us in this neighborhood. He and his wife Reana are in the Allen Road/Christie Circle area as well, saying, “Please consider the rapid growth you are proposing and the irreparable harm it may cause. Who is going to want to live in an area next to a noisy park, who is going to want to live with an increased crime rate because of lower-income housing next to nice county homes, who is going to want to live with traffic,” she asked. “You say you love this town; show us you care about rural Nevada, and we’ll show you our gratitude when it comes time to vote.”
After hearing extensive public comment, County Manager Jim Barbee went through a list of concerns expressed to specifically address those concerns.
He reiterated that the action on the agenda was a code change, not a zone change on any property in the county. Any changes in zoning would have to go through the planning process and go before the planning commission before the county commissioners again heard it. The action is not tied to any property or proposed project.
Currently, in existing R-2 zoning, a developer would be able to bring forward a proposal of unlimited density with smaller setbacks. This code change would restrict the density by creating the R-3 zone and putting restrictions and requirements on any projects.
According to Barbee, the unemployment rate in Churchill County is currently at 2.4%, and the EKAY Economics Consultants housing study that was completed in 2019 and updated in the fall of 2021, that said projected new jobs in the community from 2021-to 25 range from 1,577 to 2,257. To keep up with the new jobs created in the community, housing requirements to meet that need are 328 to 470 units per year. He said jobs at NAS Fallon 2025 are at a low, 1,088 to a high of 1,801.
Barbee also repeated information from the April 7 meeting where Chris Mahanna, the water consultant for the county reported on the water resource holdings the county has. Currently, the county has 2,200 acre-feet of underground water rights, 1,056 acre-feet of surface water rights, “we have permits on an estimate, as estimated by USGS and the Bureau of Reclamation, for future development in Dixie Valley somewhere between 10 and 20,000 acre-feet of rights, and currently at the Sand Creek water plant, 1,449 EDUS or what would be an equivalent of that at a multiple of 1.12 acre-feet for a single-family home, recognizing for a multi-family home you get double that benefit because your water consumption is less.”
He also addresses concerns with the setbacks, saying this action changes the existing setbacks from 15 feet in the front from the property line, five feet from the side of the property, and 10 feet from the back property line, making all sides 20 feet from the line.
Regarding roads, Barbee said when a Planned Unit Development or a zoning change is brought forward by a property owner, the process requires a road study to be completed by an independent engineer, the results of which become a condition of the approval of the project. For example, if the engineer says there must be a turning lane installed that must be incorporated into the plans for the development.
The existing water and wastewater infrastructure at Sand Creek are at 31% capacity, with 31% purchased but not delivered and 21% in reserve for projects that are being proposed, for a total of 83% committed capacity.
Commissioner Greg Koenig took exception when Del Thomas, who lives in the Dallas Drive area said, “There is a way to meet the needs of housing without building all these multi-family buildings, there’s got to be some other reason.”
Koenig replied that he had received numerous letters and emails accusing commissioners of “taking bribes and lining our own pockets. You know you’re accusing us of committing a felony? And for what?” He said several people had commented in support of the ordinance and he asked why they weren’t coming to the meeting to comment. “They told me ‘I’m not coming into that room to get attacked.’ We represent the whole county, not just your neighborhood. There is a portion of this county that this is what they want and what they need. You guys are pretty inflexible, and you say unless you do what we want, we’re not going to trust you.”
Chairman Pete Olsen allowed more public comments saying, “You folks are here and you’re passionate and that’s great. This is the opportunity for us to hear what you think.”
Souba spoke one last time saying, “You’re not implementing or addressing our concerns, so we don’t trust you. Don’t put us on the back burner in preference of possible future itinerant residents of this apartment complex living. They’re going to come and go. We’re invested in this community. We should be protected. Anything less than that and it’s going to be a fight to the end.”
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