Carson City development moves along in planning process

A major new residential and commercial development that would include single-family homes, senior housing, small businesses, a clubhouse and pool is moving off the drawing board and into the Carson City approval process.

The Vintage at Kings Canyon is a proposed 80-acre planned unit development on Andersen Ranch located on either side of Ormsby Boulevard on Carson City’s westside.

The first phase of the project entails building the senior housing and commercial space on about half, or 20 acres, of the property on the east side of Ormsby beginning at its border on Mountain Street.

The development has gone through a conceptual review process with the city, in which planning, fire, transportation and other departments provide feedback on an initial map before the developer submits formal plans, said Susan Dorr Pansky, Carson City special projects planner.

From that, the transportation department required two road entrances from Ormsby to the east side of the development rather than the single one in the design, and requested the developer provide access to two roads on the south side — Lexington Avenue and West Sunset Way — which currently dead end into the ranch.

Before going further, the developer decided to contact nearby residents and hold a public meeting to answer questions and take comments that could affect the final design.

That meeting is set for 6 p.m. Thursday at Fritsch Elementary School.

Vince Scott, general partner, The Vintage at Kings Canyon LP, as well as representatives from Lumos and Associates, the project’s site designer, Rubicon Design Group, its planner, will be at the meeting.

Scott said the project is widely supported.

“So far I haven’t heard one negative comment,” he said. “We’ve gotten good positive feedback from neighbors.”

Scott said one issue raised repeatedly was the ranch’s zoning.

Many people think the land is zoned for agriculture and can’t be developed, he said, but it’s currently zoned for single-family units.

The next step is to submit formal plans to the city and request a master plan amendment that would allow for mixed-use residential and neighborhood business, said Pansky.

If plans are filed in May, she said the request for a master plan amendment would go to the Planning Commission in June and, if recommended, to the Board of Supervisors for a first and second reading at their next meetings.

“If all the stars align, we’ll be moving dirt this summer,” said Scott.

Stars aligning includes raising money for the project.

“Financing has been the most challenging part,” said Scott. “There is no money for speculative building so that’s put a lot of pressure on private financing.”

The first phase of the PUD design includes construction of senior housing comprising 32 units for independent living, 128 units for assisted living and 39 detached cottages ranging in size from 1,700 square feet to 2,100 square feet.

Scott is now in talks with Christian Living Services, a Greenwood Village, Colo., company, to operate the senior facilities.

Also planned for the initial phase would be a three-acre park, space for a variety of restaurants for the retirement community and additional construction for service-oriented businesses such as hair salons, dry cleaners and financial planners that would serve the entire development.

The second phase would add 175 single-story, single-family homes ranging in size from 1,400 square feet to 1,900 square feet on lots ranging from 35,000 square feet to 3,375 square feet on the remaining 20 or so acres on the east side of Ormsby as well as the 40 acres on the west side of the boulevard also known as Heritage Park.

“Dale Cox in Truckee is the architect and they won’t be your typical cookie cutter stucco, but will have flair with wood and stone work,” said Scott.

The completed project also would include two miles of walking trails.

Another large portion of Andersen Ranch that borders Kings Canyon Road is not part of the initial development, but may be developed in the future.

Before that, though, Scott said a walking path will be put in along Kings Canyon as part of the project’s first phase.