Introducing The Barber Brief
A little about me, you, the City of Reno, and what we can accomplish together.
Greetings! Thanks for signing up for The Barber Brief.
To kick things off, I’d like to explain what prompted me to introduce an e-newsletter focused on Reno’s development at this particular moment and what you can expect to see here in the future.
Over the past 20 years, I’ve researched, written, and spoken extensively about the forces that have shaped Reno throughout its history, and the lasting impact of those actions on the city’s landscape (especially downtown) as well as its outward image.
It’s no secret that the development of Reno’s urban core was driven for decades by gaming. And because those gaming interests were generally successful, what essentially amounted to handing downtown over to them seemed like a safe gamble (and the inspiration—shameless plug!—for my book’s title). Throughout that period, most resident-oriented services and businesses were either pushed out of or fled what was once the city’s primary business, shopping, and entertainment district.
However, once the heyday of Reno’s downtown casinos passed, the result of that consolidation of power (and real estate) was the depressed—and let’s face it, depressing—environment that much of Reno’s downtown core became in the 1990s and 2000s, from which the city and its image are still trying to recover.
This is a pivotal time in the process of determining what comes next, for Reno’s downtown and beyond. The past decades have been a time of substantial revitalization, reinvention, and redirection, and decisions made today will set the course for decades to come.
So it seems to me imperative that Reno residents participate as fully as they can and wish to in those decisions, and for it to be made as easy as possible for them to do so. We all need to assume our right and responsibility to play a role in retaining and enhancing Reno’s walkability, beauty, character, and functionality—as key components of our city’s overall quality of life.
But it can be difficult to keep track of what’s going on, what’s coming up, and how we can all play a part. I’m hoping this brief can aid those efforts by providing information, context, and analysis of ongoing developments, clarifying some of the relevant processes, and explaining how to make your voice heard.
Some recent developments are fairly well-known because they’ve made the headlines:
Jacobs Entertainment has continued to buy—and raze—properties including midcentury motels on the west side of downtown, erecting sculptures and signage in their place.
The former site of the Wingfield House was purchased to construct a massive Kimpton Hotel between Trinity Episcopal Cathedral and Park Tower.
The entire “Gateway District” at the southern edge of the UNR campus has been cleared of all the historic Victorian houses that once stood there, with any new construction placed on hold until spring of 2021 or later.
The landmark hotel casino Harrah’s Reno was sold, closed, and is being converted into a variety of non-gaming uses.
Artown announced an exclusive agreement with Ken Krater to explore renovation of the historic Lear Theater.
Further south, dense housing and other mixed uses are being constructed on the former Park Lane Mall site (recently renamed the Reno Experience District) and Rancharrah estate.
New housing developments continue to be proposed and planned for outlying areas, including Daybreak, Prado Ranch, and StoneGate.
Most of these projects are being undertaken by private landowners, but many have also involved, and benefited from, some degree of local government action. The Reno City Council in particular (sometimes acting as the Reno Redevelopment Agency) plays a role in many aspects of private development, acting at various times to enable, expedite, or (formally or informally) endorse it.
Some of City Council’s formal responsibilities include:
Formulating and revising city ordinances related to land use (Title 18).
Creating new programs to streamline real estate development.
Entering into binding “development agreements” that can provide private landowners certain flexibility and guarantees, in return for specified benefits to the city or community.
Approving the purchase or acquisition of private property for city use.
Approving the re-zoning of property to allow for different uses.
Selling property owned by the City of Reno or the Reno Redevelopment Agency to specific buyers with or without offering it to the public first.
“Abandoning” public rights-of-way including city streets and alleyways in order to enable private development of them.
Regulating the use, maintenance, and naming of public parks, spaces, and city-owned buildings.
Hearing and ruling on appeals of previous decisions made by various city commissions (including the Planning Commission) and City of Reno staff.
This adds up to a lot of land-related tasks, and none of these decisions are easy. Some of them, when listed on a City Council agenda, might not even seem consequential without knowing the context. But there are a lot of people, including land developers and property owners, who are familiar with all of them, because they work with them all the time. They and their lobbyists and attorneys regularly speak with City staff and Councilmembers about their projects, and often work with PR firms to advance their positions in the public sphere. That’s only natural, since it’s their paid job to move their own projects and interests forward.
But for many issues, that focused attention by only the most directly interested parties can give City Council and staff a limited perspective on how the broader community feels—or would feel—about those same actions. It’s the job of our elected representatives to protect and promote the public interest, but they can’t do it alone.
That’s where we come in, working together as informed citizens to understand and engage in their decisions and deliberations, to help them to see all sides, and to ensure that public sentiment is being solicited, acknowledged, and considered.
I’ve served on Boards and Commissions for state and local government for more than 15 years, working side-by-side with our elected officials, private landowners, and public agencies and institutions to strengthen our communities and to help make them more beautiful, more functional, and more meaningful for everyone. Increased involvement by local citizens can only improve these processes, by demonstrating our ongoing interest in what happens to the city we share and enhancing our sense of connection to it. After all, we are—quite literally—all in this together.
BRIEF TIP: Sign up to receive Reno City Council agendas via email
One excellent way to keep up with City actions regarding development is to sign up to receive emailed Reno City Council agendas in advance by visiting this page: If you don’t know your City ward, enter your address on this page to find out. The agendas arrive in your email inbox the week before the next meeting. They include a PDF of the agenda and a separate link to “Meeting Details” which links to staff reports and other materials corresponding to each item (although those are often posted a few days after the agenda). The agenda and accompanying materials were just posted for the January 13th City Council meeting.