The Planning Commission met on Wednesday, February 8 with a full agenda of items to review, and voted to approve each one, most with conditions for approval in addition to each having to meet Churchill County code requirements.
A renewal application for a temporary use permit for temporary quarters for hardship or general purposes was granted to Michael & Amiee Springfield for their property located at 623 River Village Drive. The applicants requested another year to complete the construction of an accessory dwelling unit on the property, so the TUP was renewed for one more year.
A new parcel map was approved for Nathan Zarowny of Idaho Asphalt Supply to split the 55.56-acre industrial property located at 22297 Bango Road owned by Bravo Foxtrot NV into two lots, with the north lot providing a 20-acre future development site with rail service for Idaho Asphalt. The two parcels must be served by a new paved road that will pass from Bango Road through the Safety-Kleen property to access the parent parcel. The new road will use existing and newly established easements that together must meet road construction requirements.
A new temporary use permit application for temporary quarters for a hardship caretaker was approved for Howard King for his property at 2330 Lucas Road. He stated he needed to have someone reside in the RV on their property to help care for him and his wife. The RV is already on site, in use with water, sewer, and electrical connections in place, and is occupied by caretaker Jonathan Hegarty. The RV and its occupant must be removed when the unit is no longer needed for this specific purpose.
A temporary use permit for temporary quarters for a hardship caretaker use was filed by Paul & Linda Nemeth for their property at 5655 Weaver Road. The applicants are almost finished with the construction of their new single-family home on the property and would like to convert the existing mobile home to a temporary residence for Linda's mother to care for her. The mobile unit is already on-site and is currently Nemeth's primary residence. The Planning Department staff report stated, “The Building Department had an agreement with the applicants to remove the mobile home when the new home becomes their primary residence. However, the applicants would now like to keep the mobile home on-site, as temporary quarters for Paul Nemeth’s mother Ellen Donnelly, who is 86 years old and recently had a stroke. The home has some ADA accessibility modifications that can be useful for her.”
A special use permit for a home-based herb farm business was approved for Stacy Fisk for her 1.17-acre property located at 3700 Alcorn Road. Fisk proposes adding some greenhouses to the property and having a part-time temporary employee. She withdrew part of her request which was to hold four small, invitation-only events each year at her property. The approval came on the condition that the farm operations be conducted in a manner that does not create either a public or private nuisance under Nevada law or Churchill County code.
A special use permit application for a 60-foot communications tower filed by SAC Wireless on behalf of CommNet for property located at 15550 Schurz Highway, near Top Gun Raceway was approved. The applicant proposed to remove the existing 38-foot tower and replace it with a 60-foot tower that now includes an 8-foot lightning rod with a light on top for a total height of 68 feet. The previous SUP was approved by the Planning Commission on December 9, 2020, but never enacted due to issues raised by BLM. Churchill County owns the property and leases it to the drag strip organization. Because the county obtained the property from BLM for recreational purposes, BLM raised the issue that the cell tower was not a recreational use. The matter was finally resolved with BLM after two years, but the old SUP had since expired so the commission approved the resubmitted request.
A major special use permit application for new commercial mineral extraction and processing operation with an asphalt plant was approved for Bart Hiatt of A & K Earthmovers for a 640-acre property located north of Interstate 80 between the Trinity and Brady Hot Springs/Nightingale exits. It is estimated that the mining operations will occupy about 40 acres of the property. The applicant will lease the site from owner Paul Gianoli and may operate at the site for as long as 5 years. The proposed operation illustrated on the site plan submitted includes an excavation area, a crushing and screening area, a marinating process area to increase surface adhesion, and the asphalt plant area.
A special use permit application and three variances were approved for a manufacturing/fabrication business filed by Ed Erxleben on behalf of Out West Buildings LLC, for property located at 7450 and 7490 Reno Highway which consists of 9.85 acres and 3.7 acres respectively. The SUP was to authorize the manufacture and fabrication of wooden storage buildings in two large shops and office buildings. The three variances were sought for relief from the street setback requirements, the landscaping requirements, and the screening requirements. According to the Planning Department staff report, “This site and this business have a complicated history characterized by county code requirements falling through the cracks. This includes multiple county staff missing the requirements too. However, there is an important principle involved. The legal standard is that it is up to people to follow the laws, it is not up to the government to catch them. This often occurs in the development world where people inadvertently or purposefully do not obtain permits, or they build facilities contrary to development standards. While the site has been getting a temporary pass for a long time, it still needs to be brought into conformance with county code. Consequently, the site is technically in violation. Since the owner had interactions with county staff who also missed the requirements, staff is trying to work with the applicant to bring the site into conformance, and this application and the associated variances are intended to do so.”
The Planning Commission meets on the second Wednesday of each month in the Churchill County Commission Chambers.
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