The Lear Theater and Steamboat Ditch
Plus a brief January 13th Reno City Council meeting recap
Two major developments were in the news this week, and toward the bottom I’ll provide a quick look back at the January 13th Reno City Council meeting (see my previous post for further discussion of those items).
The Lear Theater
Questions continue to circulate about the status of the historic Lear Theater, designed by renowned architect Paul Revere Williams in 1938 as the First Church of Christ, Scientist. Last week, the Reno News & Review, now online-only and powered by veteran newsman Frank X. Mullen, published a well-researched overview of what’s known about the building’s fate (I’m quoted along with many others, and—spoiler alert!—I have concerns).
The Lear has always attracted intense community interest and has received millions of dollars in public and private funds through the years. The local nonprofit Artown has held the building’s title since 2011, and if you don’t know the long saga of attempts to renovate it, the Historic Reno Preservation Society (on whose Board I serve) has constructed a timeline as part of an extensive compilation of resources to provide context for the current situation.
There’s apparently a lot going on behind the scenes right now, but these are the key points I think residents should be aware of, as it appears that the City of Reno will be asked to abandon (i.e. give up) well-used portions of the public right-of-way should this plan move forward.
In 2011, amid the pending dissolution of the debt-ridden Lear Theater, Inc., then-Mayor Bob Cashell helped orchestrate the gift of the church building to Artown, along with an adjacent house Artown uses as an office (528 West 1st Street) and a sizeable parking lot.
In 2018, after years of sporadic workshops, discussions, studies, and continued deterioration of the property, Artown initiated a public request for proposals from arts organizations, offering to transfer ownership of the property for free, provided it be restored responsibly and used principally as a performing arts venue that could accommodate other special events. They ultimately selected the Sierra School of Performing Arts (SSPA), a local nonprofit theater group that planned to reopen it as a space for classes, performances, and community use.
In April of 2019, without any public announcement, Artown terminated negotiations with SSPA. According to Reno City Councilman Devon Reese, who served on Artown’s board until last October, the deal fell out over disagreements about the building’s intended use and financing.
Last May, Randi Thompson, who served on the Board of SSPA at the time, published her own account of those extended negotiations, explaining that after what seemed like one of many constructive meetings with Artown’s Lear committee to hammer out some final details—a meeting also attended by Mayor Hillary Schieve—Artown abruptly terminated its negotiations with SSPA without explanation and completely broke off communication.
Rather than initiate another public process, in June 2020 Artown Executive Director Beth Macmillan announced an exclusive arrangement with local development consultant Ken Krater to craft a new plan. Making no mention of the previous public process or its outcome, she touted Krater’s plan as capable of providing a revenue stream to renovate and maintain the theater by incorporating the construction of a luxury apartment building over the top of Ralston Street to the east and an outdoor amphitheater that would use the Lear’s front porch as a stage.
Krater elaborated upon his plan in a September 2020 interview for KTVN Channel 2 where he clarified that constructing the apartments and amphitheater would require the City to permanently close the adjacent portions of Riverside Drive and Ralston Street to vehicular traffic.
According to Mullen, Artown has now entered a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with an unknown “prominent local developer” to further develop Krater’s plan.
Krater is a known entity in downtown circles, where he has been active in development for years. He worked as a traffic engineer for the City of Reno in the 1980s and early 1990s before entering private consulting. In 2015, he was appointed to and chaired Mayor Schieve’s advisory committee Operation Downtown, was named a “City Superhero” by the City of Reno in 2017, and became a founding Board member of Reno’s nonprofit Business Improvement District (the Downtown Reno Partnership) in 2018.
What Krater’s plan would mean for the Lear Theater building itself—or how it would fulfill Artown’s own dictate to function primarily as a performance venue—hasn’t been explained, but Krater says he’s been speaking with City of Reno Public Works Director John Flansberg about the potential street closure, which he is positioning as a flood control benefit.
I suspect that what’s happening now is exploration of what’s known as a “Development Agreement” between this unnamed developer and the City of Reno. These are mechanisms that can create a public/private partnership and grant certain guarantees and flexibility to developments (of any size, which is new as of late 2020) that incorporate a stated city or community benefit. If that’s the case, expect to hear a lot of language framing the abandonment of those streets as a public benefit.
In the meantime, please read Mullen’s article for much more from me, Councilman Reese, former Nevada Governor and U.S. Senator Richard Bryan (who chairs the statewide preservation nonprofit Preserve Nevada), Randi Thompson, and more.
Steamboat Ditch
Irrigation ditches might not seem directly relevant to city development, but Reno’s network of irrigation ditches is a unique part of its urban landscape. Most date back to the 19th century when they were constructed to divert water to farms and ranches throughout the Truckee Meadows. Today most function largely as storm drains and are enclosed by pipelines in some areas of town while remaining uncovered in others.
The Steamboat Ditch was the subject of conversation and concern this week as residents shared news of a project that could potentially replace 78,000 feet of open canal with pipelines, among other changes. The ditch runs through west and south Reno, and the maintenance paths alongside it have become unofficial but well-used recreational trails, raising concerns for how they would be affected.
The Steamboat Canal & Irrigation Company (SCIC) is pursuing the project out of stated concerns for safety, flood protection, and water conservation. Funding and project partners include the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) and the Washoe County Water Conservation District (WCWCD).
Substantial media coverage this week included stories from This is Reno, and KTVN Channel 2, with the most comprehensive overviews (so far) from the Reno Gazette-Journal (subscriber-only; a short info piece is open access) and the Reno News & Review. They can provide a lot more background, but it’s important to note that planning is in the very earliest stages.
The public comment period for the initial scoping phase has been extended to February 16th and will be followed by data collection, analysis of alternatives, and more public input. Information is provided at http://truckeeriver.nvwatershed.com/, along with directions for submitting comments and a link to the video of the virtual kickoff December 8th public meeting, which can be viewed on YouTube here.
This is not a City of Reno-sponsored project, but Councilmember Naomi Duerr (formerly the State Water Planner and the Executive Director of the Truckee River Flood Project) has suggested that the project’s planners offer another (virtual) public meeting prior to mid-February and has indicated that the subject will appear on a future Council meeting agenda for discussion.
Follow-up on the January 13th Reno City Council meeting
Remember you can always go back and watch the video of previous Council meetings, and when they are completed, read the minutes, on the city’s website. All materials for the January 13th meeting are accessible here and you can consult my previous post for elaboration of these issues and more.
C.2: City Council unanimously upheld the Planning Commission's recommendation to deny the Prado Ranch Master Planned Development, determining that the proposal would not be in conformance with the City’s Master Plan. The motion was made by Ward 4 Councilmember Bonnie Weber, in whose ward the project would have been located.
D.1: The Council unanimously acknowledged the finding that they had violated open meeting law in their discussion of the Skyway Design Guidelines on July 22nd. Only Councilmember Jenny Brekhus brought up the larger problem here, which was changing city code to allow a specific project to evade professional review, but on a positive note, multiple Councilmembers took the opportunity to pledge to be better about involving the public in their deliberations and to undergo more training in Open Meeting Law, so that was a welcome step.
F.3: The Council adopted the revised Title 18 and pledged to bring the remaining unfinalized sections back for approval ASAP.
H.1: The City Council took no action on Councilmember Naomi Duerr’s proposal to initiate rezoning the former Lakeridge Tennis Club site but did discuss bringing the topic back at a future date. Meanwhile, the day before, attorney Garrett D. Gordon with Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP sent a letter to the City Council on behalf of the property’s owners, calling the proposed action “illegal spot zoning” that would constitute a “taking.” Councilwoman Duerr explained she had been assured by City attorneys that it would not be, and cited concerns for fire evacuations, traffic, infrastructure, and compatibility with the surrounding area as reasons to downzone (decrease the allowed density of) the parcels.
Don’t forget that you can consult the City of Reno Calendar to see what’s coming up. Next week’s meetings include these (with links to agendas and other materials):
January 19: Recreation and Parks Commission
January 20: Planning Commission
January 20: Concurrent meeting with Reno, Sparks, and Washoe County (Health District-related)
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