City Of Reno: January 12, 2022 Reno City Council Meeting Highlights

Press release from the City of Reno:

01/12/2022 4:12 PM

In our ongoing commitment to keep citizens and media informed, we’ve summarized the outcomes of a few key agenda items from today’s Regular Meeting of the Reno City Council. Staff Reports with more information are linked to below:

Jacobs Entertainment/Neon Line District (C.1 & C.2)

C.1 - West Second Street and Church Lane ROW Abandonment

Council approved a request for the abandonment of the right-of-way totaling ±23,106 square feet generally located to the north of the intersection of Stevenson Street and West Second Street and east of the intersection of Ralston Street and Church Lane, subject to the conditions in the Staff Report. Jacobs Entertainment owns or has the option to purchase the majority of the block bound by Ralston Street and Arlington Avenue and West Second Street and the railroad right-of-way. View the Staff Presentation for more information.

C.2 - Ralston and West Fifth Street Alley Abandonment

Council approved a request for the abandonment of the alley, generally located between West Fifth Street and West Fourth Street, subject to the conditions in the Staff Report. The L-shaped alley is ±20 feet wide by ±420 feet long (± 8,400 square feet). Jacobs Entertainment owns or has the option to purchase the majority of the block bound by Nevada and Ralston Streets and West Fourth and Fifth Streets. View the Staff Presentation for more information.

These abandonment requests facilitate redevelopment and revitalization of a downtown city block. The City of Reno, in partnership with representatives from Jacobs Entertainment, hosted a virtual community meeting on Monday regarding the Neon Line District. Approximately 400 residents participated in the meeting, which allowed participants to submit questions before the meeting or live during the meeting. The meeting can be viewed on the City of Reno YouTube page.

Sewer Rehabilitation and Improvements

B.4 - Council approved an Award of Contract for the 2022 Sewer Cured-In-Place Pipe (CIPP) Rehabilitation Project to Insituform Technologies in an amount not to exceed $2,484,769.50 from the Sewer Fund. This project includes lining of sewer mains in four general neighborhoods in Reno: Swope, Akard, Eleventh Street, and Van Ness and Ellendale. These areas have sanitary sewer mains that have been identified as high priority for rehabilitation or replacement due to their age and condition.

B.6 - Council approved an Award of Contract to Herback General Engineering for the Lear Lift Station Improvements Project in the amount of $2,880,695 from the Sewer Fund. A lift station is a pump station that moves wastewater from a lower elevation to a higher elevation, discharging the flow into sewer pipes that then carry it by gravity to the treatment plant. The Lear sanitary sewer lift station, located near the intersection of Moya Boulevard and Lear Boulevard, is identified as a high priority for rehabilitation due to its lack of redundancy, and because it has reached its maximum pumping capacity. The new station will accommodate both existing flows and future development growth in the North Valleys and as part of this project, the Lear lift station sewer capacity will be tripled to 3,000 gallons per minute. 

Council generally discussed sewer fees, and it was stated that staff presentations on sewer connection fees would come back to Council within the next 60 days.

F.4 - Package Alcoholic Ordinance Adoption

Council approved an Ordinance Adoption to amend Title 5 of the Reno Municipal Code (RMC), regarding provisions for package alcoholic beverage licenses and package wine and beer licenses.

As a reminder to the public and media, this ordinance was modified based on previous Council direction:

• Security requirements were removed.

These updates to RMC Title 5 (Privileged Licenses, Permits and Franchises), and previously to Title 18 (Annexation and Land Use Code), address Council’s previous direction to staff to review package alcohol regulations, research best practices, and prepare amendments to address concerns related to public health and safety in the downtown Reno corridor.

B.2 - Regional Road Impact Fee

Council adopted a Resolution for the 7th Editions of the Regional Road Impact Fee General Administrative Manual (GAM) and Regional Road Impact Fee Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), both approved by the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) of Washoe County. Impact Fees are a funding tool for collecting the cost of building additional capacity needed on regional roads due to new development. Impact fees can only be used for new capacity improvements established for a specific service area and identified in a CIP. View the RTC presentation for more information.

B.13 - ReLeaf Reno Donation

Council approved a donation from Kinder Morgan to the ReLeaf Reno program for the purchase of trees and supplies in the amount of $10,000. Parks and Recreation staff reported that they plan to use the funding for a project to plant new shade trees near the ReTRAC Locomotion Plaza and Biggest Little Dog Park in downtown. Council and staff expressed that they were grateful to Kinder Morgan for their generous donation, which will help increase Reno’s tree canopy.

C.3 - Reno Lear Industrial Rezoning

Council adopted the requested zoning map amendment by Ordinance Introduction, upholding the recommendation of the Planning Commission and referring it for a second reading and adoption. The zoning map amendment is from Mixed-Use Suburban (MS) to Industrial (I). The ±81.53 acre site is located on the northwest corner of the intersection of Lear Boulevard and Stead Boulevard.

G.1 - Appointments to Boards and Commissions

Council approved the following appointments:

G.1.1 - Appointment of Commander Joseph Robinson to the E911 Advisory Board.

G.1.2 - Appointment of Nikhil Daftary, Justin Ross, and Meghan Starick; and reappointment of Geraldine Taylor to the Ward 1 Neighborhood Advisory Board.

G.1.3 - Reappointment of Patrick Fisher to the Ward 2 Neighborhood Advisory Board.

G.1.4 - Appointment of John White to the Ward 4 Neighborhood Advisory Board.

Reno City Council meetings are streamed live at Reno.Gov/Meetings and televised live on Charter Spectrum - Channel 194. Past public meetings can be viewed on YouTube.

This press release was produced by the City of Reno. The views expressed here are the author’s own.