The Carson City Planning Commission met on January 28, 2026, at 1:00 PM. The commission considered several items including special use permits, master plan amendments (MPAs), and a contentious request from the State of Nevada to be removed from the downtown character area map. Public comment addressed concerns about landfill operations, state campus design, and the character of downtown. The commission approved most items but voted 6-0 to recommend denial of the state's amendment to exit downtown policies.
Tonight is January twenty eighth, twenty twenty six. This is a meeting of the Carson City uh Planning Commission. Call the roll, please. Chair Borders. Here. Vice Chair Crone. Commissioner Brooks. Commissioner De Christopher. Commissioner Preston. Commissioner Peterson. Commissioner Pizell. Here. A quorum is present. Thank you. Uh Commissioner Crone, will you leave us in the fledge? And to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. The public is invited at this time to comment on any topic that relates to a matter over which this public body has supervision, control, jurisdiction, or advisory power, including any such item or matter that is not specifically included on the agenda as an action item. No action will be taken on the matter raised during this period of public comment. Please, if there is, please come forward. Anyhow, basically I've been doing less walking and more driving. But the main thing is I was disappointed to find that artificial turf is coming up with the new residences off of uh silver uh silver oak area in the in the lawns. And instead of having zero uh landscaping be maybe some natural rock or uh some sort of uh pollinator uh rely or I'm a little more nervous and normal. Anyhow, you know, plants that will really help sustain the insect life around here. uh uh silver uh silver oak area in the in the lawns and instead of having zero uh landscaping be maybe some natural rock or uh some sort of uh pollinator uh rely or uh I'm a little more nervous than normal anyhow uh you know plants that will really help sustain the insect life around here artificial turf is going to not only heat their area and it's gonna bother their trees and it's not gonna really be very warm or cuddly type situation cement brick stone and there's several other things that are covering the earth now and we just can't handle that besides the streetways are wide and such we just don't have available spaces for our water through the little rain we will soon be getting I'm hoping but we're looking at hot times and when they're not hot they're gonna be cold cold times as far as I've heard of weather and such it's gonna go from one extreme to others and it's not going to be our natural seasonal type goabouts so I really like to encourage that we don't allow artificial turf I mean stone with the proper straining and weed protection underneath would still allow the water to penetrate it and it would still provide for the trees around it and such and I don't think people are understanding that doing that limits what their trees are getting with their natural watering. Thank you very much and I appreciate the fact that you're still all at it and thank you. Thank you. Yes ma'am my name is Kathleen Beasley um I also I already submitted a letter but I wanted to speak to a couple of more points I'm a resident of the prison hill area and I drive east oh I'm sorry and so I'm speaking about the state's request to be excluded from the master plan I drive east on on East Fifth and Roop almost daily I play bridge at the senior center I volunteer at Browser Books my best friend lives in the Sea Hill section. So I feel like out of all the places I don't know in this town that's one I happen to know really well and it bothers me a great deal uh to see the state want to be want to be excluded from actually some very minor requirements and so I uh want to thank the commission for holding firm in this last two meetings um and I'm going to encourage you to reject their request today in my letter I talked about uh finding one which the staff seem to find to be okay they seem to think you could find that this request was in compliance with that I don't understand that because it definitely speaks to policies and one of the key policies is for the downtown to have charm and pedestrian walkability and access and so that is a policy that their request does not comply with and so I think finding one is not something you can find that they're in substantial compliance with finding three I think everyone seems to understand that the conditions just haven't changed that much so I won't reiterate what I said in the letter but the most important part to me is if you give them if you allow them to wiggle out from under this policy now then you have set a precedent for when other big projects come along specifically the Hop and May Adams Foundation proposal for the downtown area and that would really uh worry me and so I guess I wanted to emphasize that many of us moved here I'm sorry I'm not a native but many of us moved here we didn't move to Reno we didn't move to Las Vegas I could have moved to anywhere in the world I chose here because of the Kit Carson Trail and the historic homes so I'm a nerd but I moved here I've lived in California where you can't build anything I've lived in Texas where you can build anything you want and it shows so I was hoping I picked a community where there would be rules that would allow you to do reasonable things and that's all I'm asking you to do is stick with the rules and ask the state to comply thank you. Thank you yes sir push push the button until it's green there you go good evening my name is Rick Garcia I live at 64 Pilot Peak Road or I mean court excuse me and that's closest to the agenda item MPA 2025 triple zero five I originally asked for time to speak because I anticipated having to come up here and argue a point pro or con on that particular item uh the reason that I'm here is to say thank you and especially to Heather Monzo because you have a civil servant that took the time to uh listen to a uh citizen that was unfamiliar I worked in city government for a long time but never in planning so I I just didn't know about certain things and she took the time to educate me and I gotta tell you she sent me about a a thick paragraph and she taught me a lot real quick and and I appreciate it and I think so do my neighbors all the all the neighbors in that cul-de-sac were a little concerned because we got notified late we didn't know what was happening until we talked to Heather or emailed Heather so I want to thank you and I want to thank Heather so you're not gonna get a complaint tonight so thank you. All the all the neighbors in that cul-de-sac were a little concerned because we got notified late. We didn't know what was happening until we talked to Heather or emailed Heather. So I want to thank you, and I want to thank Heather. So you're not going to get a complaint tonight. So thank you. Not yet. Not yet. Not yet. We'll see what you do with it. Thank you very much. Thank you. Hello, my name is Sandra Owens, and I'm here to speak about the Hoppin May's Foundation. I was told or under the understanding that it was on the agenda tonight, but since I hired somebody to cover for me at the bar, I'm gonna go ahead and say what I have to say. So I just want to be very clear. Um I've read his proposal. I am on the outset. I am I support Mr. Neighbor's right to develop his property, and I agree that the development should proceed with the within the framework of the master plan. My concern is not with the development itself, but it's with how the project is structured and what it requires from the public in order for private phases to move forward. This proposal is broken into three phases, yet two phases, two and three cannot be accomplished without phase one.