South Carson Street improvement district delayed by city supervisors

Before declaring a State of Emergency for Carson City on Thursday, the Board of Supervisors had a full agenda of routine city business.

The lengthiest discussion concerned the establishment of a neighborhood improvement district for South Carson Street businesses.

The NID, like the one formed for downtown businesses, would assess property owners who benefit from the improvements being made in the reconstruction of Carson Street. The assessments would pay for the ongoing maintenance of those improvements, including caring for landscaping, litter and trash removal, and snow removal on the multi-use path.

In the end, the board tabled the item while staff resolves certain issues, including the myriad rights of way now owned by the city and utilized by some of the businesses.

The Nevada of Department of Transportation leased the rights of way to some, but not all, of the businesses before the city took over the road.

“Fifteen properties had NDOT leases but there’s three times that in the right of way and not paying a lease,” said Stephanie Hicks, deputy city manager.

The city is not charging the businesses as staff works out whether to continue to lease the properties, sell them, or abandon them to the businesses, which often use them for parking and signage.

“This NID is more complex than the downtown NID and we want to avoid charging for a lease and for maintenance,” said Supervisor Brad Bonkowski.

The assessments would be based on the square footage of each property’s parcel and frontage length and affect commercial properties on South Carson Street between 5th Street and the I-580 interchange.

The board also decided on a compromise concerning roads in a new development.

The tentative map for Silver View Townhomes was recommended by the Planning Commission with a condition that the subdivision’s internal roads be private and not dedicated to the city as a public road to be maintained by the city.

The board at its annual retreat discussed the idea of setting policy to require streets only used inside a development to be private as one way to reduce its maintenance costs.

But, the board decided to wait for a policy to be established and not start requiring it of subdivisions when other recent developments have not had to do it.

The developer, Mark Turner, also offered to pay for the cost to slurry seal the internal roads, which should prolong their lives, when the subdivision’s final map is recorded.

The supervisors accepted the North Carson Area Drainage Plan and the priority list of projects developed by staff.

The plan outlines nine projects and prioritizes the top four as the Maxwell basin, North Goni Road basin, Goni Canyon Creek tiered basins, and Sutro Terrace storm drain and basins.

“This study was done so we have these projects that we know we need in the queue and we can be ready to act on them when a grant opportunity arises,” said Dan Stucky, city engineer.

The board also approved a number of contracts, including $428,310 for four Caterpillar generators for water facilities; $629,500 for work by Aspen Developers Corp. on the Oregon Street linear ditch; and an additional $30,000 for supplies for the Fire Department's emergency medical services.