Updates & Previews: Week of October 28, 2024
Updates & Previews: Week of October 28, 2024
The final master plan workshop for Wingfield and Barbara Bennett Parks is Oct. 30
It’s a bit of a slow week, City-wise, so today’s Brief consists primarily of updates and a few announcements—but they’re important ones, so please read on!
The single public City meeting this week is that of the Urban Forestry Commission on Wednesday, October 30. You can access that agenda here. The Special City Council meeting previously scheduled for October 29 at 5:30pm to discuss policies, fees, and sponsorships related to special events and special activities has been CANCELLED.
Speaking of cancellations, I’ve just received word that the November 6 Reno Planning Commission meeting has been cancelled. That means the next Planning Commission meeting will be held on Thursday, November 21.
So what is going on? Voting for the General Election, of course! Early in-person voting continues through Friday, Nov. 1. If you’re planning to mail in your ballot, best to do that ASAP. Consult my Guide to the 2024 Reno City Council General Election for helpful links pertaining to the four City Council races to be decided this year.
Wingfield & Barbara Bennett Parks Master Plan Workshop
The City of Reno will be conducting a final online-only workshop to develop the Wingfield/Barbara Bennett Parks Master Plan on Wednesday, October 30 from 5:30-7:00pm. You can register in advance here and find more info on the project here.
Updates from the October 23, 2024 Reno City Council and Redevelopment Agency Board meetings
Now let’s take a look at some of the items considered by Reno City Council (and by the same body in their role as the Reno Redevelopment Agency Board) last week.
You can read the meeting highlights posted by the City of Reno on its website, and here are a few more on items that I previewed last time.
UPDATE: 10/23 RDA Item C. 3 - The Grand Sierra Resort’s request for redevelopment financing
The agenda item receiving the most news coverage (and social media chatter) last week was definitely the application by the Grand Sierra Resort to enter into a financing agreement with Reno’s barely relaunched Redevelopment Agency.
The City staff’s presentation for this item was not posted until the afternoon before the meeting (that’s a page from it above), so I wasn’t able to include it in my last Brief. You can now view it here. Among other things, it revealed that the Grand Sierra Resort is requesting $97 million in Tax Increment Financing (TIF). Why that figure wasn’t in the Staff Report published days before so residents could see it earlier is anyone’s guess. Mike Van Houten with Downtown Makeover managed to put together a helpful article about Tax Increment Financing the morning of the meeting, so I encourage you to check that out.
Several news outlets covered the discussion, including these:
“Billion-dollar Grand Sierra Resort project seeking city tax revenue advances” (Kelsey Penrose, This is Reno, 10/28/2024) - This one also covers items related to the Reno-Tahoe International Airport expansion and emergency fire services.
“Grand Sierra Resort closer to receiving tax incentives for new arena project” (Anthony Ramos, News4Reno, 10/24/24)
“Grand Sierra Resort issues statement on $97 million tax request from City of Reno” (Chris Murray, News4Reno, 10/24/24)
“Reno City Council takes next step to explore $97 million in funding for GSR arena” (Jim Krajewski and Jaedyn Young, Reno Gazette-Journal, 10/24/24)
Of note is the statement that the Grand Sierra Resort issued upon the flood of attention accompanying the news that they would be requesting $97 million in TIF. That came, of course, after prior news reports (and UNR President Brian Sandoval himself, at the September 2023 press event, which you can view here) had indicated that the project would be requesting no public funding. The GSR’s response seems to be that they never said that, only that the University of Nevada would not be contributing anything toward the project. You can read the full statement above.
The GSR statement also includes an explanation of how the Redevelopment Agency’s financing programs work, including some lavish compliments of the “significant improvements” that the City’s RDA operations have recently undergone, stating, “The City of Reno has taken a thoughtful and measured approach to improving the RDA process, and its efforts to implement meaningful reforms are commendable.”
After a lengthy discussion that could be the subject of an entire Brief (and yet might), City Council acting as the Redevelopment Agency Board voted (with Councilmember Brekhus dissenting) to proceed with a formal review, due diligence, and third-party feasibility analysis of a Catalyst Project application for TIF for the GSR arena development project but not to proceed at this time with the participant agreement negotiations that were also included in the staff recommendation. They expect to see a completed report within 30-90 days and after that, will be tasked with deciding whether to begin negotiations with GSR, based on what that analysis reveals.
They also voted to approve the staff recommendations regarding the bylaws for the Redevelopment Agency Advisory Board (RAAB), although things got a bit rushed at the end of that item, and it wasn’t clear to me whether they actually voted to require professional qualifications for RAAB members or not. I’ll try to clear that up soon.
UPDATE: 10/23 City Council Item C.1 - Bella Vista Ranch Development
“Tensions flare again at City Hall over wild horses and south Reno development” (Kelsey Penrose, This is Reno, 10/27/24)
Excerpt: “Reno City Council members on Wednesday approved updates to the Bella Vista Ranch Phase II Planned Unit Development (PUD). Changes included several requirements surrounding building sizes and the removal a requirement that developers provide a watering area for the Virginia Range feral-estray horses.”
UPDATE: 10/23 City Council Item C.3 - The Stevenson Street Abandonment Request
I previewed this one last week here and you can watch the item on YouTube here. The owner of Mod1 and Mod2 (on the street’s east side) appears very eager to have more parking created immediately adjacent to his property for use by his tenants.
The idea of increasing the parking capacity of Stevenson Street seemed universally supported, but there was considerable resistance from multiple councilmembers (primarily the Mayor, Naomi Duerr, and Jenny Brekhus) to the idea of abandoning the street (called a “city asset”) in order to create it (Kathleen Taylor, however, had no problem with it, didn’t see “where the controversy is” and thought everyone who objected was just “going down a rabbit hole”).
The extensive discussion included consideration of whether the City can just add more parking to the street itself, possibly by using redevelopment funds. Councilmember Brekhus and attorney Jonathan Shipman confirmed that funds can even be lent to RDA1 from RDA2. So it looks like that might be one of the options that staff will be exploring over the next few months, along with potentially writing up some kind of Development Agreement or even a land lease. Council voted to continue the item to January 9.
In my mind, Councilmember Brekhus came in with the most helpful articulation of the big-picture context here (as she often does) by directly challenging why the applicant needs more parking for his brand-new apartment building. Like her, I think this point is an important one to consider as the City encourages the construction of ever more residential units in the downtown area. As Brekhus put it, when the developer built the Mod 2 (the newer building at the SE corner of West Second and Stevenson Streets), he took advantage of the City policy that does not tell builders how many parking spaces they need to include when constructing this type of housing. The City lets the market decide, which is what area developers wanted. And in this case, the developer underestimated the number of spaces his project would require. Brekhus continued:
“If you abandon this and privatize those spots, maybe you’ll have more spots on Stevenson Street than you do now….[but] if you do that, you’re telling every developer in town, ‘If you mess up, if you don’t have the parking, come look at the City. We’ll just put private parking signs all over.’ That’s really bad.”
Also during this item, Revitalization Manager Bryan McArdle reported that the City is currently conducting a parking study “with somebody in town who is looking at all of these parking challenges.” McArdle acknowledged that while there are currently 17,000 parking spots downtown, some units and small businesses still have parking challenges with their clients (this is definitely true for many of downtown’s most historic buildings, particularly those constructed before the automobile era). He also reported that he will soon be coming forward with a five-year “Capital Improvement Plan” for the Redevelopment Agency, but that there wouldn’t be any projects in RDA1 the first year, since it has no money (although with the possibility of inter-RDA loans confirmed, maybe that will change).
More development-related updates
A few other development-related items have been covered by the local press recently:
“621-lot Meridian 120 housing project in Reno looks to refinance after default” (Jason Hidalgo, Reno Gazette-Journal, 10/21/24)
“Reno Century Riverside 12 theater back on market after sale doesn't close” (Jason Hidalgo, Reno Gazette-Journal, 10/18/24)
“Music past 11 p.m.? Reno bars might have to pay heavily for permission” (Jaedyn Young, Reno Gazette-Journal, 10/25/24)
“Permit for new hotel downtown as part of UNR Gateway project” (Mike Van Houten, Downtown Makeover, 10/23/24)
Kimpton Hotel site auction
As Downtown Makeover reported a few weeks ago, the Court Street/Island Avenue property that was formerly slated to be the site of a new Kimpton Hotel is scheduled to be auctioned off at 11:00am on October 30 on the steps of the historic Washoe County Courthouse. See Mike Van Houten’s story at the above link for the parcel numbers and more details.
The sale will include the lovely Regina Apartment building, constructed in 1941. Whatever happens, hopefully its safety can be secured, so it can be opened and enjoyed once again.
Washoe County Library Local Author Fest: November 9
Please join me and more than 40 other writers with links to Northern Nevada for the Washoe County Library 2024 Local Author Fest on Saturday, November 9 from 10am to 4pm at the Downtown Reno Library. I’ll be selling copies of Reno’s Big Gamble: Image and Reputation in the Biggest Little City and reading in the auditorium at 1:40pm.
For more information, participating authors and the full schedule of readings, visit the Washoe County Library website. Hope to see you there, and PLEASE VOTE!
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 X, Facebook & Instagram. If you feel inspired to support my writing and research with a financial 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.