CALL TO ACTION: Participate in creating the City of Reno's next Strategic Plan.
The public can attend any of four in-person workshops on July 8, 10, 12 & 15.
Welcome to July, everyone. We still have two more weeks until Reno City Council meetings resume on July 23, but in the meantime, you have the opportunity to participate in one of the most important functions undertaken by the City of Reno: STRATEGIC PLANNING.
This past spring, as you may recall, the City of Reno embarked on the process of updating its 2020-2025 Strategic Plan, which technically expired last month. But in March, the City Council was asked and agreed to extend it through the end of the year.
You can read an overview of the whole updating process in the Staff Report from the March 26, 2025 City Council meeting found here or watch the staff presentation on the plan update procedures from that same meeting.
Back in March [edit - I mean, in April], I urged you to participate in the first public component of this priority-setting process, the Community Survey (it closed April 30).
As you can read in a recent news release, we now have the opportunity to offer input to help shape the new plan at four “drop in” workshops through July 15:
Workshop Schedule
Tuesday, July 8, 6 pm to 8 pm - Neil Road Recreation Center, 3925 Neil Road
Thursday, July 10, 6 pm to 8 pm - McKinley Arts and Culture Center, 925 Riverside Drive
Saturday, July 12, 2 pm to 4 pm - South Valleys Library, 15650A Wedge Parkway
Tuesday, July 15, 6 pm to 8 pm - Stead Airport, 4895 Texas Avenue
Workshop Format
At each workshop, City employees will staff seven large posters—one dedicated to each of the “strategic priority areas” shown in the image above and listed below:
Fiscal Sustainability
Public Safety
Economic Opportunity, Homelessness & Affordable Housing
Economic & Community Development
Infrastructure, Climate Change & Environment Sustainability
Arts, Parks & Historic Resources
Governance and Organizational Effectiveness.
The idea for these workshops is for community members to discuss their concerns, thoughts, and priorities regarding each one with staff in an open and interactive environment. You can also visit the first floor of City Hall to submit your thoughts in an unstaffed setting between July 8th and July 24th (during normal business hours).
Where are we in this update and what happens next?
The updating process is scheduled to continue through the end of the year. We’re currently in Phase 1, “Gaining Insight”:
I believe these four workshops will complete the public component of Phase 1. After that, the City will move on to Phases 2 through 5:
Phase 2 - Agreement on Priorities (August 2025) - This will be a City Council workshop to “discuss emerging trends discovered through the gaining insights phase and seek agreement to the high-level priorities of the plan.”
Phase 3 - Drafting the Plan (August through September 2025) - City staff will draft specific plan objectives, initiatives, and measures.
Phase 4 - Refining the Plan (October 2025) - A draft plan will be published for feedback and presented at the NABs and other community meetings.
Phase 5 - Adoption and Sharing the Plan (November to December 2025) - A final version of the Strategic Plan will be presented for adoption by City Council.
What is the Strategic Plan and why should you care?
The Strategic Plan helps the City Council to prioritize actions that help the City achieve (or at least work toward) the goals and strategies it has identified.
You may recognize those “Strategic Priority Areas” listed above from the staff presentations at City Council meetings—many begin with a slide that shows which of those areas the item addresses.
Overall, the Strategic Plan is intended not only to define goals and priorities, but to help the City measure and communicate its success toward achieving them. This is another slide from that March 26 staff presentation:
Because it’s placed front and center whenever important items are being discussed, the Strategic Plan provides the justification for many Council decisions.
But the devil, as they say, is in the details. And this is why you have to keep your eye on not just those “Priority Areas,” which are likely to remain largely if not entirely the same, but on the much more specific Strategies that fall underneath them.
That’s what this process will eventually lead to identifying and formalizing.
YOUR ASSIGNMENT: Read the current Strategic Plan and the corresponding Achievements Report.
You really can’t provide effective input into the next Strategic Plan without looking at the one that’s currently expiring and the City’s report on how they think it went.
Why? Here are just a few reasons:
To understand the scope of the “Strategies” that it identifies.
To decide if you’d like any of its stated Strategies to be continued.
To see if you agree with the City’s assessment of its progress toward stated goals.
To help spur your thoughts about new Strategies you’d like to see the City pursue.
There are three related documents to read here (and don’t worry, they’re all short):
The City of Reno Strategic Plan - This is the 13-page plan, “refreshed” in 2022.
You should read this one in its entirety, but I’ll just highlight the Economic and Community Development area, which lists the following overarching goal:
You then see a number of listed “Strategies,” which are much more detailed:
Each of the “Priority Areas” has three to nine listed Strategies, like those above. You can see that they’re fairly specific but still provide a lot of leeway for what specific actions might be undertaken to work toward accomplishing these goals. For instance, Strategy #6 is to “Implement the Master Plan to support revitalization of urban areas and well-designed neighborhoods.” We’ll check back below on what the City is listing as achievements in that area.
The City of Reno Strategic Plan Summary - This is a one-page document highlighting the “Areas of Focus” adopted for 2023-2025, summarized as “Efficient Delivery of Services” and summarized by the following phrases:
The 2022-2025 City of Reno Strategic Plan Achievements Report - This is a detailed 19-page document listing “major achievements since 2022” related to the strategies. This one is really illuminating because here, you see how the City is linking specific bulleted actions and decisions to those defined Strategies. Taking again the example of Strategy #6 under Economic and Community Development (“Implement the Master Plan to support revitalization of urban areas and well-designed neighborhoods”), we see these listed Achievements:
Some of these “Priority Areas” overlap—for instance, Accessory Dwelling Units are also mentioned under the “addressing affordable housing needs” Strategy under the Priority Area of “Economic Opportunity, Homelessness, and Affordable Housing.” And, of course, there are a lot of priorities and actions embedded in the Master Plan that have not been implemented in the past five years. Should they have been, and should they be prioritized this time? Let the City know.
Be an informed and prepared participant.
Overall, what you want to do in advance is think about actions you’d like the City to take—whether they relate to homelessness, sustainability, data centers, the Lear Theater, bike lanes, etc. and determine which of those seven “Priority Areas” they best relate to, so you’ll know which of the seven posters to focus on during the workshops.
These new “Strategies” are generally derived largely from existing City plans and priorities, as well as from changing circumstances and conversations that have emerged since the adoption of the prior Strategic Plan. That means that ideas from many of the major plans adopted since 2022 in particular (the year of the last “refresh”) will likely find their way into this, including the Truckee River Vision Plan, the Virginia Street Placemaking Study, the Public Art Master Plan, and more. And each of those plans includes a lot of lofty goals, so which should the City prioritize?
At the same time, some of the Strategies in the current plan should definitely be retired, like the previous strategy to “Implement the Downtown Action Plan,” which as you may recall was the plan adopted in 2017 to serve as a 5-7 year, short-term guide to the development of the central core of downtown. That area has changed considerably since then (think J Resort’s massively expanded footprint, Harrah’s Reno closing, more residential units opening), as has the administrative and operational context related to it (i.e. the Downtown Reno Partnership, the Reno Redevelopment Agency “relaunch”)—so that whole section needs a substantial revamp.
I also think it would be valuable for residents to watch the initial thoughts about the new Strategic Plan as expressed by our current City Councilmembers in their March 26 Council meeting. Their comments take about 20 minutes total and start here.
Many expressed interest in more frequent updates on how the City is doing with respect to its stated priorities, and some mentioned topics of particular interest to them, including concrete acts to support sustainability (Naomi Duerr); collaborating with Washoe County on downtown and homelessness issues (Meghan Ebert); a clean and safe downtown (Kathleen Taylor); parks and recreation and infrastructure (Miguel Martinez); and public safety (Brandi Anderson), among other things.
Councilmember Duerr made an excellent point about the need for the City to provide metrics to demonstrate its progress in specific arenas, as well as context to explain how the City’s recent achievements build on prior actions taken in those same areas, as well as how these stated achievements relate to residents’ expectations and experience—to ensure that the City is actually accomplishing what residents value.
I’m planning to attend the July 10th workshop at the McKinley Arts & Culture Center, so I hope to see some of you there—and if not, please consider attending another one. There will be more opportunities for public input down the road, but these workshops will allow you to engage in substantial conversations with the City staff members who are leading this process, so it’s an opportunity to ensure that your voice is literally heard while they’re still formulating what to bring to City Council in August.
What’s your vision for the future of Reno and Sparks?
On a related note, I’d like to draw your attention to a recent opinion piece by Pat Hickey, in which he spoke with Reno + Sparks Chamber of Commerce CEO Ann Silver (and a few others) about the need to adopt a thoughtful governing vision to guide our region into its next stage, whatever that may be.
OPINION: What do Reno and Sparks want to be when we grow up? (Pat Hickey, Reno Gazette-Journal 6/30/25)
From the piece (beginning with a quote from Silver):
“We want to work with both sides of the aisle to promote a fair balance between rapid growth and a sustainable quality of life," she said. "‘Smart growth’ is what we all deserve and when member businesses thrive, so does the community, our residents, and the creation of career opportunities for future generations. Smart growth lays the foundation with roads, schools, child care facilities, professional services, and cultural and outdoor amenities that should be in place before commercial and residential expansion occur. It doesn’t work well the other way around.”
In other words, growth merely for the sake of growth is not all that smart. Ann takes exception with local businesses leaders who have told her, “If we don’t grow, we will die.”
“If we don't have doctors and nurses, and child care centers for our kids or teachers for our students, that’s when we’ll die," she told me. "We are not going to die if we don’t get another factory or another data center. We are not going to die if we don’t attract six more California companies to the Tahoe Regional Industrial Center — we are going to die if we don’t have the right people to serve the people we have here.”
I’m an enthusiastic advocate of the Smart Growth approach, articulated most prominently by the nonprofit organization Smart Growth America. It’s an approach that is grounded in community-centered planning, prioritizing connected communities, accessible transportation, affordability, and a strong sense of place.
Whether or not she’s specifically invoking this specific movement and its principles, Silver is using the term “smart growth” to encourage us to approach the inevitable expansion of our region in a way that is deliberate and strategic, ensuring that the constant drive for economic development doesn’t supersede the thoughtful development of our community. It’s a call for intelligent long-term planning, for all of us to determine how we want this region to look and function, and then to work together (regardless of political party) toward achieving that shared vision.
Participating in the creation of the City’s next Strategic Plan is a great place to start!
Tuesday, July 8, 5:30pm: VIRTUAL Community Forum with Ward 5 City Councilmember Devon Reese
You can watch/participate in a virtual “Community Forum” with Ward 5 City Councilmember Devon Reese on Tuesday, July 8 at 5:30pm. According to a City Facebook post, you can “Learn about the Moose Ridge Zoning Amendment and participate in a Q&A.” There’s more info on Moose Ridge here. Register for the virtual forum here.
Stay cool, stay hydrated, look out for each other, and have a great week, everyone.
Be sure to check out my Citizen Guide for helpful resources and links to help anyone become more informed and engaged in issues related to urban development (& more) in Reno.
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