Updates and Previews: March 30, 2024
The latest on what’s happened, what’s next, and how to stay involved and informed
I know it’s a holiday weekend for many, but like this tenacious wintry weather, the development news just doesn’t stop, so here’s a (relatively) brief Brief to catch you up on the latest and prepare you for the coming week.
As usual, be sure to check the City’s Current and Upcoming Meetings web page for meetings of interest to you. The full City of Reno calendar is here.
Next week’s meetings include the Reno City Charter Committee on Monday, April 1 at 5:30pm and the Ward 3 NAB on Tuesday, April 2 at 5:30pm. You can read the March 2, 2024 edition of the Brief for a little background on the Charter Committee and what they’ve discussed this year so far. Minutes from their past two meetings are included in the packet this time, if you’d like to catch up. The agendas and supplementary info for both of those meetings can be found on the Upcoming Meetings page. Both are hybrid and can be attended via Zoom.
The Reno Planning Commission next meets on Wednesday, April 3 at 6:00pm (agenda here). Among other things, they are continuing their methodical approval of “Zoning Clean-Up” changes to Title 18 (the Land Development Code), which do not include the Affordable/Infill Housing initiatives or a future ADU ordinance. If you’re interested in the details of what they are reviewing, you can read through a summary in the Staff Report and view the redlined document and public comments, too. That meeting can also be attended via Zoom.
And now for a few updates.
Affordable Housing Initiatives and ADUs
The item involving Affordable Housing Initiatives that I discussed in my last Brief (Item C.2) was removed from the March 27 City Council agenda at the beginning of the meeting because, in the words of Assistant City Manager Ashley Turney, “there was a significant deviation from staff’s recommendation to the Planning Commission recommendation.” She continued, “We will be directing staff to go and hold an additional workshop and engagement interactions with the public so they are able to weigh in before that comes back to this body.”
You can view the Council’s brief discussion of whether or not to remove the item on the meeting video beginning here, including some opinions on whether some of those housing-related measures (i.e. affordable vs infill initiatives) should be separated out when they return, and how Council can be part of those public discussions, or at least informed when they are happening.
Although I am, of course, very pleased that there will be more public discussion of this ordinance, I was disappointed that they didn’t at least hold some discussion of the item on Wednesday so we could hear what Councilmembers (and the public who planned to comment) are thinking at this time. Perhaps they couldn’t open the item at all since it was listed on the agenda as the first reading of the ordinance.
Since City staff were presumably already aware of the vast differences between the staff and Planning Commission recommendations when they put this item on the March 27 agenda in the first place, it seems that the decision to remove the item that morning must have been motivated solely by the high level of public input (and concern) they had received since the agenda was posted. The Mayor herself alluded to that. So I think those of you who expressed your concerns to your elected representatives and staff last week can definitely take credit for ensuring that this ordinance will benefit from more public discussion before a Council vote. Nice work!
Stay tuned, and I’ll let you know when I hear anything about the form that public engagement will take, and when.
This is Reno’s Kelsey Penrose reported on the items that Council did discuss on March 27 in a piece published on Thursday. The article mentions some of what various Councilmembers said they would like to see in an ADU ordinance, including hopes for more specificity, for neighborhood-based regulations, for minimum parking and square footage requirements, and more.
Next steps for the ADU ordinance will include gathering more feedback at Neighborhood Advisory Board meetings (so please participate in those!) before staff sends its recommended language to the Planning Commission.
[NOTE: The original Brief sent to subscribers on 3/30/24 mistakenly wrote ADA rather than ADU a few times in the above section. It has been corrected here. Apologies for any confusion!]
Urban Land Institute Northern Nevada event on 4/2
I learned last week of an intriguing upcoming event this Tuesday evening, April 2. It’s being billed as the “Northern Nevada Kick-off Event” for the Urban Land Institute and is called “Why Not Reno? Explore Emerging Trends in Urban Design Excellence.”
The Nevada chapter of the Urban Land Institute is based in Las Vegas and apparently quite active there, as you can see from their website. At the District Level, the organization “supports the best practices in land use through Smart Growth programs, networking events and project tours,” and states, “By offering nonpartisan, unbiased expertise to community leaders, we can positively influence such issues as compact development, transportation, urban design and workforce housing.”
The Nevada District’s membership is said to represent “the entire continuum of land use and real estate development disciplines including developers, builders, investors, architects, public officials, planners, real estate brokers, appraisers, attorneys, engineers, lenders, academics and students.” As a “kick-off” event, I presume they’re hoping to formalize Northern Nevada involvement by such folks, so I’m looking forward to hearing more about that.
The event is free but requires advance registration and will be held at The Virgil at 301 Vassar Street from 5:30-7:30pm on April 2. Speakers will include Matthew “Chef” Kwatinetz, who is the Director of the NYU Urban Lab; JF Finn III, a Principal at Gensler, Los Angeles; and one of the City of Reno’s Assistant City Managers, Ashley Turney. Brianna Bullentini will moderate.
Registration information and bios of the participants can be found here. Hope to see you there!
New & Ongoing Development Updates
The City of Reno just released the latest edition of its Current Development Projects newsletter, which you can view online here. Don’t forget that you can sign up on the City’s website to receive these newsletters via email every two weeks. They list new project submittals with contact info and links to the full project applications as well as dates of upcoming public meetings and links for sending in your comments to the relevant public body.
On the topic of upcoming developments, no one can match Mike Van Houten of Downtown Makeover when it comes to assessing the status of new and ongoing permit applications and traversing the city by foot to get the skinny on what’s really happening (or not) with various projects around town. Be sure to check out his News page and social media accounts for the very latest.
This week alone, Mike reported on a lien document filed against the Reno City Center by its former general contractor that reveals how much of the project has supposedly been completed; new proposed multifamily projects on Stoker Avenue and Spokane Street, and some reassurance that the historic 1907 Colonial Apartments on West Street (currently known as the Westlyn) are in fact being renovated not demolished (the boarded-up windows had made many nervous). Thanks for your constant diligence and dedication to raising public awareness, Mike!
Washoe County Citizen Engagement
As you know, I primarily focus on Reno in The Barber Brief, but I do want to draw your attention to a few development-related resources and public engagement opportunities at the county level.
First, Washoe County is inviting residents to participate in a “Community Engagement Follow-Up Survey” intended to better determine how county residents prefer to be informed about county events, programs, and services. You can view the results of their initial survey and participate in the follow-up here. Among other things, it asks about resident preferences regarding meetings, webinars, and the like.
Also, you should be aware that the Washoe County Community Services Department has a Citizen Engagement site where you can sign up to receive announcements about projects in your area via email.
Visualizing Residential Density
On the regional level, the Truckee Meadows Regional Planning Agency (TMRPA) just released a special edition of their regular periodical that’s fully devoted to residential density. It includes various graphics and tools intended to help residents visualize how much land is utilized to support different types and densities of housing—something that can help inform much of our current discussion.
To access these tools and graphics (and much more), visit the TMRPA’s info-packed website at https://tmrpa.org/affordable-housing/. It includes some excellent images depicting various scenarios of future development (with projected costs and availability of resources for each) and links to their GIS-powered “Affordable Housing Tracker,” an interactive map-based inventory of affordable housing, as well as to their 2019 report, Housing Our Future: Truckee Meadows Regional Strategy for Housing Affordability, which you can read in its entirety here.
That’s it for today. Have a lovely weekend, and let’s hear it for those sunny daffodils and blossoming bursts of pink and white, stoic harbingers of a long-awaited spring.
Be sure to check out my Citizen Guide for helpful resources and links for anyone hoping to become more informed and engaged in issues related to urban development (& more) in Reno.
As always, you can view this and prior newsletters on my Substack site, subscribe to receive each new edition in your email inbox, and follow the Brief (and contribute to the ongoing conversation) on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram. If you feel inspired to support my writing and research with your generous contribution, you can sign up for a paid subscription through my Substack site or contribute to my Venmo account at @Dr-Alicia-Barber or via check to Alicia Barber at P.O. Box 11955, Reno, NV 89510. Thanks so much for reading, and have a great week.
NOTE: The original version of this Brief sent to subscribers on March 30, 2024 mistakenly wrote ADA rather than ADU a few times under the subhead "Affordable Housing Initiatives and ADUs." It has been corrected in the online version. Apologies for any confusion!
Thanks for the insightful recap, Alicia. Your efforts to increase community awareness and involvement on these topics are invaluable. I hope you'll be able to participate at the upcoming (TBD) workshops on the proposed Zoning Code Changes and Affordable Housing Initiatives; when the time comes, your perspective, as well as the broader community's input, is essential.