e e e e e Madam clerk are we ready we are ready Madame vice mayor okay good morning everybody thank you for being here welcome to the Wednesday January 22nd Reno city council meeting we will start with the Pledge of Allegiance Miss golden will you please lead us I to flag United States of America thank you very much may we go into roll call we are calling roll for Wednesday January 22nd Reno city council meeting um council member Taylor here D here Martinez here Ebert here Rees here Anderson here shivi absent at this time M vice mayor you do have a quorum of the Reno city council okay thank you we will move into A3 public [Music] comment our first item today is public comment members of the public may hear observe and provide public comment virtually by registering through the following link which can be found on reno.gov meetings https colon l i n k s period r e n o period G oov SL c o u n c i l01 hyphen 22 it should be noted for those in the audience that comments are to be addressed to the mayor and Council as a whole comments heard under this item will be limited to 3 minutes per person and may pertain to matters both on and off the council's agenda Council may not take action upon any matter not agendized on today's agenda when you're called on for public comment please state your name for the record and begin speaking the time will begin when you say your name and you will be afforded 3 minutes for those participating in Chambers in accordance with Council rules 6.3.1 one while in this room please be respectful disruptive behavior from audience members like clapping yelling whistling Etc which impede the meeting May result in a warning issued by the presiding officer if this Behavior continues you may be removed from chambers if you're an attendee in the zoom meeting would like to pick public comment please raise your hand at this time our first public commenter is George Campion followed by Nicole anagapesis followed by Chuck Riley my name is George champ only I live at uh 301 Gentry Way Unit 302 when I'm moved into public housing I signed the Smoke free adventum all right it states definition of smoking smoking means inhaling exhaling breathing or carrying any lighted cigar cigarette vapor smoking product or other tobacco product or similar lighted product including marijuana in any manner or any form the use of medical marijuana by residents who possesses a valid medical marijuana card and for whom use of medical Med marijuana is not a crime under Nevada law it will will not constitute unauthorized smoking when that occurs in it expressly Nevada state law okay point is I moved in with a medical marijuana card all right on the 17th of this month I had an emergency call to my apartment they came in I had just medicated myself they then reported me to the office for smoking my marijuana all right I presented the office with a copy of my medical marijuana card explaining I was in full accordance of their lease agreement no they say uh-uh that's not true all right and there federally they say there is absolutely no smoking on the property as stated in our lease we are federally funded property if a problem persists we will you will be served a lease violation and can result in legal proceedings to have evicted from the property if necessary I wrote them back after receiving them that they I did not get my apology as I requested and all I get was a letter of harassment because that's what this is okay if this is not a legal document that I signed and they counter signed on the referendum in fact every one of us signed that okay so I would like and I have I am writing to Mr traway who is the fpi CEO concerning this situation but this is a culture problem with FP management within Reno Nevada I guarantee you the Vintage over here that is new on uh what What's the street um Washington and third okay I guarantee you they're doing the same thing all right it's not up to me okay to to to I'm legal all right HUD approves medical marijuana use in their accommodations okay I just want to show you what they're all about thank you an anagapesis followed by Chuck Riley followed by Gary Micon good morning friends uh my name is Nicole anagapesis I'm here in opposition of uh F1 through six agenda items F1 through six and uh yeah it's a kind of a bummer we don't have the mayor here today I guess she didn't want to listen to all of our public Comas but that's okay I'm sure she'll hear them eventually uh once again I am reminded of this council's inability to ever actualize any creative or Solutions based practices to keep its constituents safe there is never money for housing or wraparound services that prevent our most marginalized communities from having to sleep outside but there seems to always be money and time for more policing this disturbing trend of criminalizing poverty and jailing people for taking part in life sustaining activities such as sitting down or sleeping is sweeping this country and this Council seems to have opened welcomed it with open arms instead of protecting the people that you have damned them and under threat of imprisonment you have tied nooses around the necks of those that you have been tasked to serve what is the purpose of government if not to protect the defenseless is your sole Mission just to protect the businesses that no one wants to patronize downtown as a lover of Liberty and autonomy I challenge anyone listening to this overly vague and Onan ordinance to ask what the logical next steps that this Council would take to rid the community of people that it deems undesirable mark my words that police enforcing this ordinance will end up murdering people in 2024 Police murdered 615 people who had either not been suspected of a crime or had not taken part in any violent offenses 117 of those murders were because they were responding to someone having a mental health crisis and also the state of Nevada does spend about 88% more than other states per capita on policing if arbitrary laws and prisons made communities safer this would be the safest country in the world but as we know it definitely is not you are all aware of the information that my friends are going to mention up here and I applaud everyone that took the time to gather data and statistics to try and change your minds but I know that this Council does not listen to reason so I am asking that everybody become a little more unreasonable there comes a time where the hand that feeds no longer feeds and it definitely tastes better than the food and I'm very tired of going to bed hungry Chuck Riley followed by Gary Micon followed by Terry Brooks hi I'm I'm also speaking to F1 F6 thank you for the opportunity to share my perspective my name is Chuck Riley our family has businesses on Four Street and we currently in are investing in refurbishing the Morris burner Hotel our goal is to help create the brewery District as a vibrant section of the city that draws patrons from all over Reno since our businesses are across from Catholic Charities I have the opportunity to meet many of the individuals seeking services on a daily basis I have seen the good and the bad of what life can dish out there are many that just want to be fed and many that are in desperate need of guidance when an ambassador or officer has the opportunity to connect with people in need it is a path to Healing that they will not get otherwise people that don't acknowledge or realize they need help need to be guided to services that are available to them the situation we face on Fourth Street Corridor is far more than stolen grocery carts I have seen Valley record and Evans streets become encampments and permanent Furnishings like chairs mattresses and sofas are showing up these communities are becoming are then become the daily targets of drug dealers cell phone Raiders and much more as they grow in numbers we have had destruction to our property and threats to our employees and customers we can't allow four Street or any Street to be better they are there than in my neighborhood streets to ignore them now and allow them to set up encampments in areas we are trying to improve seems to be an inhumane turn your head away moment there is no perfect solution but KN doing nothing is the worst decision we we can make for these individuals thank you Gary melicon followed by Terry Brooks followed by Caesar Monera hello everybody my name is Gary malanson and I'm here to talk about things at the Vintage of the Crossing Apartment we have a lot of items that need to be repaired and safety issues at the department on September 23rd 2024 we gave the office 25 14-day notices that's these things that the city says we have to do if they don't repair it um to the landlord 40 plus issues on 25 of these forms on September 25th two days later we came here and talked to you guys about issues we're having you guys really didn't believe it so you came down and did your own inspection on October 7th after the inspection fiser said City staff conducted a physical inspection and the property as well to ensure it's in compliance well my question is we turned in 25 of these with 40 plus items they found eight items wrong none of those eight items were these 25 14-day notices I don't understand and something that I'm going to talk about is we have furnaces heat pumps in our Apartments they don't work I've had Parts on order for mine uh for over a year I um January one year ago I reported my furnace not working right they said okay we'll look at it on the um 25th of February they sent a repair man out to look at my furnace he said it needed a motor a compressor and the coils cleaned the coil cleaning is what caused my compressor to fail here we are one year later they did put a motor in they did clean the fins but they tell me they'll look into it they've been looking into my furnace for a year last week I walked this the premises at night when it was 18° 2 people have the same problem I have the furnaces are noisy some of them look like sound like a jet engine but if you walk in Union it sounds like a machine shop we've got a machine shop we have a gentleman back here that's had a stroke he went to the office cuz he can't sleep the office don't care so he knocks on the people's doors that have the furnaces making the noise he got a violation for it and also I want to know how the employees get a bonus for saving money I don't understand that we've got so many problems but fbii gives them a bonus October they didn't get their bonus they made it hell on us the tenants when they got it all straightened out they got their bonuses plus they got a pay raise how does that work when a facility has problems they run it like their landlords if you look up the definition of landlord it almost 100% fifth our place thank you for listening I hope we can get some things done and things fixed I would like to have heat in my apartment so with 27 other people Terry Brooks followed by Caesar Monera followed by Elliot me good morning it's me Terry Brooks again and I came here today because when it comes to being a senior I have a lot to say recent I aged into my 70s and learned what it's like to be a senior so I'd like to share with you my thoughts on being a senior I've already spent most of my life in different ways of being employed some of those jobs were not the best but some of them I really enjoyed and while working in all those jobs at the time what I most desired was knowing that the day would eventually come that I could finally be retired for most of my life I owned my own house but the time eventually came when I could not take care of my house and for most of my life I gardened and fished and grew or caught most of my food but lately I haven't gardened or fished and I rely on store-bought food I used to work and buy and sell antiques to make my all my money for a living but now I rely on Social Security and retirement benefits for a living and when it comes to health I don't feel quite as strong as I used to be and I don't feel quite as energetic as I used to be and as far as mental health I can't remember things like I used to sometimes I forget to do things or forget doing what I did do all these years that I had jobs I spent a lot of time without with with a lot of people but when I retired I didn't spend as much time with other people other problems of getting older includes scams and means of transportation as well as more modern technology and the fast rise of economic inflation and time keeps flying by faster and faster because each year of Our Lives keeps becoming a smaller fraction of the rest of our lives I keep thinking more and more about so many of my Recollections and as I do so I write about them so I can share with you my Reflections I would like to thank you all for listening to me today and I look forward to coming back because I still got a lot more to say and uh one thing I'm a little confused about I was recently appointed to the Reno senior citizen advisory committee so uh but when I speak here I'm not representing that committee or speaking for them or any other organization I'm just speaking on my own so do I need to say that again okay thank you very much I appreciate it Caesar Monera followed by Elliot me followed by Ben Inus good morning vice mayor and City Council Members it's a pleasure to be here I have been absent for quite some time but I always look forward to the City Council meetings coming and doing prayer uh and we understand how complex your job is so that is why we like to keep you in prayer so during this year we you will see a little more of me and um if you allow me to pray and anybody would like to join that is the reason why I always come here heavenly father and the precious name of Jesus Lord we have a brand new year ahead of us full of opportunities and at the same time sometimes challenges but I pray Lord for our mayor vice mayor every member of the council I pray for you to give them wisdom to lead our community to keep them healthy just as you keep healthy their whole families and Lord I pray for our community I pray for our First Responders for our schools our kids businesses in the community as a whole Lord we need you and the scripture says in Jeremiah 29 to pray for the peace and prosperity of the city in which we live to pray to you Lord so that as the city prospers we would be able to prosper and live in peace so Lord I I ask your blessings your peace among this region in the precious name of Jesus Amen thank you Elliot Men followed by benus followed by Chad dukla oh these are new hi friends um not here in a normal capacity that I would normally be um more to talk about crosswalks actually the other night uh at Big Horn Tavern on 7th street I was there watching the national championship game still very upset the Nevada's never qualified for it um not sure we ever will uh we were leaving the G uh the bar uh pulling out I noticed an elderly man crossing the street unbalanced he fell in the street in the middle of the street at night um was unable to get up I immediately jumped out of my vehicle to go and help get this man out of the street uh a truck coming towards Keystone stopped at the crosswalk because there's people in it and that's the law really thankful for him uh but there was another truck coming up Keystone who didn't stop um and didn't see us until the last minute if I hadn't been there that man would have been run over and killed uh I was lucky to have not been hit uh myself uh so what I would like to do and and ask and this is something I talked about with our vice mayor about two years ago when we both went for the position and um I'm really happy and thankful to have her representing me here uh was the seventh street from Keystone up to McCarron and how dangerous it actually is um I almost lost my life two nights ago trying to help an a man who couldn't help himself um so if we could get lights at that crosswalk right in front of purple bean that would be amazing uh and it's not just there this is the entire seven Street Corridor uh this happens a lot people have been killed uh over there and on Kings Row um it is dangerous um so I am happy to meet with all of you you were all friends of mine um but I wanted to put this on the record uh because it could have been horrific so thank you and good luck today Ben Aus followed by Chad duah followed by Blake melan con okay good morning Council as is the mic okay cool uh my name is Ben inis uh I'm resident of War I I'm the Coalition coordinator for the Nevada housing Justice Alliance we are a Statewide Coalition of organizers and Advocates that work with Community uh to fight for solutions that address the root causes of our state's housing crisis uh we actually founded in 2019 in response to City's city of Las Vegas's ordinance um at the time um so it's been nothing but demoralizing of course since last year's um Supreme Court decision and the wave uh that we've seen since whether between uh Vegas and Clark Reno and waso or city Sparks and so on um and so really came here today um you know in response to agenda items or the suite of criminalization ordinances F1 through6 um urging the council to reconsider uh and reconsider because terms of data and evidence that other folks have talked about we know um that homelessness is a housing problem uh it's not a personal or moral failing uh so it is devastating and difficult when we punish folks in response um and we know that with every $100 increase in rent there's a 9% increase in the chance of becoming unhoused uh if we consider our state's housing crisis and cost of living crisis um that started well before covid and was only exact curated by it um and the last thing I'll speak to in terms of data is um a report by uh UNLV uh in resp or addressing our state's um kind of cost burden levels um we have the second highest in the nation next to California meaning the majority of renters almost 50% if you're a renter you were struggling financially and spending over half of your rent uh or excuse me half of your income on your rent uh and we know in those situations um you're you know any crisis away from disastrous consequences struggling between food uh shelter uh Transportation medicine um school supplies clothing and so on um and so that's where kind of the the contradiction comes is that these measures are punitive they're ineffective they're expensive they're they're reactive uh and urging folks to really um consider those root causes um we'll be fighting this legislative session for tenant protections that we hope the governor doesn't veto this time around so changing our state summary eviction process which is also rapid and punitive um tenant protections around habitability and fees and we're hearing about habitability complaints um that go unnoticed or intended to um and also things like uh rent stabilization um you know we also have seen waves throughout our state um of the corporate buyouts of our housing um you know the conspiracy that's unraveled on the back half of the year of companies like real page um so they're they're companies that are helping price fix uh our rents out in the public um so again there's a long list of factors um just invite folks to look at those root causes take this crisis seriously and hope we can work together thank [Music] you Chad duah followed by Blake melanon followed by Ian bigley good morning my name is Chad Duda uh I'm here to address the concerns of air quality quality from illegal drug use uh that goes on in venes of the Crossing Apartment Complex uh there are several known drug dealers meth foming operations throughout the building over the past couple of years several people have been taken out in handcuffs for drug activity now we've all signed this non or uh smokefree addendum but yet you can walk down the halls in the Vintage of the of the crossing and smell marijuana methan aamine cigarette smoke chemical smells we've had the uh Fire Department in here several times uh on the the uh the smells I was forced to remove to be forced to move to another apartment due to the fact that I flunked a drug test because of the fumes that were coming from the apartment below uh there were several occasions my apartment was filled of marijuana uh my my doctor wrote me a notice to immediate move out of the apartments and questions he also suggested that I get an air purifier and I have to thank neomi dur because she successfully helped me move um this here I know it's up on the screen I don't know if you can see it this is a prefiled out of my air purifier uh and it's only been in there for a couple of months now if I took that to a lab I will guarantee you they will find transfers of methamphetamines Coke and and Mar Marana in there now let me ask you something how many of you people would like to breath that in so why should my residents breed this stuff on a daily basis many time many people have complained about the odors in the the apartment complex but yet our apartment complex makes the fix by putting what I call puffers which every once in a while Puffs out a little bit of an odor into the air it doesn't do anything at all I uh we all hear from the community director that she wants pictures pictures pictures pictures so I hung off a fourth floor balcony to record my neighbor downstairs smoking cigarettes 3 hours later I'm reprimanded stating that I Disturbed daily management op operations now my last statement here which I got 29 seconds there is a real estate broker who's supposed to be there to supervise the operations his name is Dennis Treadway I went and called the Nevada real estate division talked with a woman Sharon goded come to find out this guy has not been licensed in the state of Nevada since March of 2022 and this is still under investigation I will confess that the uh FBI Builds an impressive apartment complex but I will guarantee you within 2 years they turn them into slums thank you for your time Blake melan con followed by Ian bigley followed by Mike B thank you hello city council member uh my name is milans and I'm here to talk about the safety of the chairs in the community room at the Vintage at the Crossing managed by fpi uh in November 23 I informed Haley at that time was the community director that the casters on the chairs needed to be replaced the chairs don't slide and are hard to move basically heavy chairs to slide January 8th I was hurt bad from the chairs I fell over and hurt my shoulder rotator cuff my right wrist or my left wrist and hand uh January 9th I told Haley that I fell over on the chairs last night and she told me and my brother it wasn't it won't happen again the casters now are on order casters on the chairs were replaced a couple at a time over the next three to four months on March 24th at a community meeting Chris our uh maintenance manager said that he had ordered all of the 128 pieces pieces that had that they needed to be ordered well that was only 32 chairs we have 64 chairs which means that he should have ordered 256 casters um I turned in a 14-day I turned in a second 14-day notice on 92324 uh on the same 64 chairs after I fell down the stairs I fell down and was hurt chairs that they replaced the casters on were lolan casters not carpet casters so the casters that they replace have been are being wore out right away the 14-day notice I was given uh turned in was given a case number and Michael yarmy uh did that enforcement by telephone spoke to Tony at the lease at spoke to Tony at the Vintage at the Crossing she's a leasing agent and she was told or he was told that they are have ordered new chairs um the case was closed on 9 on 1219 for being told that the chairs are in order um don't understand why a case was closed when the chairs are still there I got a copy of the case that was closed and Michael YY uh did the case investigation I called him and left a message with him um why the case was closed and he told me that it was closed because they have the chairs on order and that he had spoke to Michelle I mean Joy on the 20th who is the uh director of the complex and she said that they were in order Michael called me back on the 14th after he spoke to Michelle on the 14th and she told him that the chairs are in order as of the 14th and that she ordered special design chairs for us here at the complex we don't need special design chairs we just need chairs that are safe uh we have several chairs that the arms have broken off since then um and the Greeno direct uh has a 500 day dollar day penalty I don't know why he closed the case when the chairs are still the same chairs that I got hurt on thank you Ian bigley followed by Mike B followed by Jax Hart hello Council uh I'd like to thank you for taking public comments my name is Carrie Sparkle my legal name likely for the next four years is Ian bigley I'm a lifelong resident of Reno in w i and a graduate of UNR I'd also like to express deep gratitude to members of our community with substantive comments with research elements as mine will be coming from the heart and maybe a little bit less clinical than you prefer I'm here in opposition to agenda items f126 specifically bills 7285 and 7284 in our community we have have the resources to support each other sadly those are mostly privatized and we can't naturalize the lack of additional needed Services because this that comes from choices made by our leaders our problems are a failure of local government to choose our community real solutions come through investing in our community through things like wraparound Services as I said city council has made choices to invest in the further enrichment of wealthy people from outside our community this is a fan bargain where we've sold our heart for empty promises from folks like Elon Musk and Jacob's entertainment I view our couns and our leadership as a lifelong resident as like a spoiled child trying to hide a mess but that's a metaphor and these are human beings and lives we're talking about not messes so I have something I'd like to offer as a gift as a transwoman I carry a lot of shame that I don't deserve I have a surplus of it city council has given security and wealth to those who already have it and take insecurity from those who lack it maybe no one ever taught you respect maybe you never felt how to uh the shame required to correct that action and you never taught how to share I would like to lead by example and offer you a gift I have a surplus of shame that you apparently lack and I would like to offer this to you thank you Mike B followed by Jax's Hart followed by Ilia arbitman good morning can you hear me all right my name is Mike uh I'm a lifelong resident of Reno and I work in the affordable housing sector uh first of all I'd like to say that with as part of my work in the affordable housing sector I'm a firm proponent of the housing first model to solve the issue of homelessness and I believe that if you ask most people in the affordable housing sector they would agree with that so I'd like to First register my opposition to item F1 in addition to the rest of the items in F and thank you to the over 180 people who registered comments online opposing it compared to I think it was four in favor so ratio but we are here to speak on item B8 which is the new draft of the agreement with ulsi setting the terms of the sale and development of the cic um we know not all of you voted in favor of selling to ulyses but during the discussion last August you all agreed that to some that some amount of affordable housing should be a central and non-negotiable component of the cac's future you raised other concerns about the sale of the property including waning assurances that in two years we wouldn't be looking at yet another vacant lot uh there here are some quotes pulled from the minutes of the meetings on August 14th and September 25th just to jog your memories in case you don't remember council member ree stated that he'd like to see the 100% affordable units include some 30 % Ami units as well not just 60% Ami units then vice mayor der discussed the need for residential housing here and expressed a preference for the ulyses proposal because of the shortage of affordable housing and council member Taylor now vice mayor Taylor discuss the need for a project that will actually get built what are our concerns first this item is on the consent agenda meaning that Council may not even discuss it I certainly hope one of you pulls it as there's plenty here that really needs to be discussed there have been significant changes to the agreement and voting it through along with consent would be an egregious misuse of the consent component of the agenda thank you so I continue standing here Jack's Hart followed by Ilia arbitman followed by C mums hi um my name is Jack Hart our second and primary concern is that the ENA and the development agreement described therein do not contain any specific item that defines what affordable housing is um article three of the new agreement refers to an affordable housing project and stipulates a number of units but does not uh Define what affordable means uh 80% Ami 60% Ami what's the breakdown these are very important details that need to be discussed and outlined in writing as part of the deal in conversation with Brian McArdle yesterday he clarified that these specifics are set on the state level through the federal funding program that finance loans for projects like these in other words the units built have to be a certain afford affordability criteria for Ulisses to qualify for the loan does the city have have to be limited to these does the city have to be limited to these criteria absolutely not um they can be a starting point I see no reason why the city does not set its own terms using the state and federal guidelines as a Baseline and write those terms into the agreement for example council member Reese's desire to see some 30% Ami units while not necessarily required for ulyses to receive the loan can certainly be part of the agreement a 60% Ami goal can often be spread out over the property so to speak with some units at a higher and some units at a lower price point mixed developments like these have their own advantages please talk about these options advocate for the best deal that makes the most sense for our community not is the fastest most expedient option in addition article 3 also says that with the city manager's position uh that he without going back to the council the buyer can may change its use of the property provided that the new use is a commercial Enterprise that contributes to the economic development of the city this means that the developer could actually alter and even remove the affordable housing component altogether and he doesn't even have to come and talk to you about it that is so troubling as it would completely violate the original intent of the sale Brian McCardle yesterday confirmed this suspicion well he did say that Ulisses is unlikely to proceed with the purchase if the federal funding fails falls through he admitted that this provision allows for a scenario in which ulyses can change the nature of the project completely without even having to come back and speak to you uh why instead of doing everything we can to guarantee that the CAC property addresses the urgent local need for low-income housing are we proposing this spineless agreement that basically says we'd like for it to be affordable housing but maybe not Ilia arbitman followed by C mums followed by terara Tran IL armman for the record also speaking about B8 which I hope you pull finally the demolition which is the main point here I'm concerned that the staff report makes it appear as if it was always the plan to have the city demolish the property it was not in the original draft which I have here it says purchasers shall apply for a permit to De uh demolish the existing buildings in the new draft which is what you're supposed to vote through today with consent which I have here on the next page it says seller uh the seller in this case being the city that is a big change uh Council never agreed that the city would be responsible for demolition in fact seeing as demolition is or should be the first phase of construction demolishing the buildings before the deal is even closed is a terrible idea and greatly increases the likelihood that we will spend the next few years staring at an empty lot where vital Public Service once stood why is Staff recommending that the city take over responsibility for Demolition and why does the report make it sound like this was always the plan I'm deeply concerned the staff might be intentionally misleading Council and the public into thinking that the city had agreed to take responsibility for demolition when the deal was originally proposed last year you did not agree to that Brian McCardell did address this concern as well and this answer is perhaps the most worrisome of all did you all know that the window for ulyses closing on the deal has expanded to potentially be as long as 2 years and remember their is contingent on a federal funding stream that may or may not dry up with some of the changes happening on the federal level mcardell claims that the safety and maintenance costs outweigh the cost of demolition let's see the facts here can we see this breakdown demolition is very expensive I'm not comfortable just taking staff's word for this knowing that at the direction of ex-manager Thornley uh great effort has been put into ridding the city of the CAC by any means necessary I don't even waste any time emphasizing what a tragic income outcome it would be to have an empty lot and no plans to develop in the event the demolition does uh goes for it at the cities at our expense and ulyses at the city's cost and ulyses unable to close on the deal what kind of contingencies are in place for this scenario if anything the agreement actually gives ulyses every possible opportunity to pull out of this sale even following demolition almost as if that eventuality is baked into the deal itself so here I have a few things I highlighted right um on this page here um seller so this is the city applying for a close of escrow will be conditioned upon completion of the demolition if the parties fail to reach close of escrow buyer need not reimburse annual actual costs so we would be on the hook for demolishing it even if the deal doesn't close and then buyer May terminate this agreement upon written notice to the seller if after completion of the demolition the condition of the property is no longer satisfactory to buyer so it's basically every possible opportunity for ulyses to pull out is provided in there that does not sound like a good deal for the city maybe sounds like a good deal for them but we're here advocating on the city's behalf once again I'd like to remind vice mayor Taylor um of council member Taylor at the time discuss the need for a project that will actually get built so please at the very least all of this warrant serious discussion not a rubber stamp consent vote we've gotten really far with this deal don't drop the ball now thank you C mums followed by terara Tran followed by Steven malar [Music] Markley hello city council my name is uh C momes uh I'm speaking on F1 through F6 agenda items uh last time I spoke with you I attempted appeal to your moral sensibilities when I spoke of our place having no available beds jails being overcrowded and arresting people for having no other sleeping Alternatives being deemed cruel and unusual punishment by Martin V Boosey in the n9th Circuit Court I also attempted to appeal to your financial sensibilities when my colleague Bahar and I mentioned in separate appeals how Charlotte North Carolina saved $2.4 million with its housing first campaign this is all to say that you have one final chance to act in a way that illustrates that you are not morally bankrupt or financially incompetent if you want to reign in a parasitic group and help businesses how about holding real estate developers and real page accountable for arbitrarily tripling rent and closing businesses left and right like what happened with inbi Cafe Capello and the Ling cup to just name a few more over to further incentivize you I want to emphasize that if you vote to criminalize homelessness further it does not end here today we can see what businesses are here today your Patagonia puffer vest and your gender affirming hi taper low taper fade is not an invisibility cloak your action will negatively impact businesses downtown if we boycott them and urge all other young cool cultural creators and consumers in Reno to do the same we will be a thorn in your side moreover it's not just us anymore the Liberals came back from brunch every time Trump passes some new Draconian fascist legislation a new crop of politically motivated People starts looking towards the streets of their Hometown and we are the loudest and hottest thing in Reno right now other than those stupid proposed data centers it's time to start being accountable to all of your constituency all of your constituency not just the ones that are in charge of capital now to reiterate if you vote Yes we and thousands of other people in the City of Reno who recognize the inherent Humanity of our unhoused neighbors will boycott downtown businesses that support this inhumane ordinance all right also on B6 uh pull the draft of the ENA with ulyses from the consent agenda for discussion we don't want another empty lot Tara Tran followed by Steven Markley followed by David nyberg all right my name is ter Tran T Tran uh good to see everybody um I am speaking on opposition to ordinances F1 through F6 as of last night there were less than 20 available beds and we know that number goes to zero when the deadly winter conditions arrive we know that there are far more than 20 people who slept in the streets last night I hear constant reference to the STA the statistic that 64% of people experiencing homelessness declin services so I'd like to break that down what percent of these people have already used these services and were failed what percent are in the process of working through these systems already what percent of people know what these Services entail CS in crowded rooms that are overrun with lice mites substance abuse and sexual abuse what about couples people with pets or with disabilities or the many many people who do not feel safe at the car's campus this city council destroyed a real resource the community Assistance Center through willful negligence and has replaced it with something far worse last night IAL last week I talked to a woman who is banned from Caris campus from sleeping in the same cot as her husband because strangers would regularly climb into the Cs of women as they slept she spoke of a woman who woke up to someone urinating on her sleeping body would any of you sleep there how many people trying to get sober are forced to stay alongside the substances that destroyed their lives I know you have sat here and listened to many horror stories from cares and yet you pretend you cannot fathom why anyone would avoid it when a business is failing because they're slinging a poor quality product would we blame the customer or change the business model even if the people that do stay at cares which once again is constantly full where are they to go when they leave in the morning despite what may you may wish you cannot disappear people you cannot disappear them in the daytime when they have to leave the shelter and you cannot disappear them after they finish a jail sentence for being displaced by slumlords and greedy real estate developers do you imagine that it's going to be easier for people to get steady jobs and housing after they get out of jail do you think that this is going to solve any of your problems if this ordinance passes the people you have already failed will lose whatever trust in the city they may have left people when people have bad interactions with officials they are far more likely to avoid interacting with them again why would people ask for help from an entity that looks at punish them for having lost everything that looks to jail them for sitting on a public sidewalk you want to accept you want people to accept help show them that you care we're calling first and foremost for housing first initiatives for permanent Supportive Housing we know that 3 months in jail cost the same as one year of Supportive Housing and we know that there are far are enough failing empty luxury apartments to house every person you're looking to criminalize our downtown is in its current state because of rising housing costs because local businesses are getting pric out of their storefronts if you want a thriving downtown as you keep claiming it is time to stop prioritizing an imaginary population of gentrifiers and real estate developers with empty lots and unaffordable housing it's time to serve your actual constituents please hold your applause Steven Markley followed by David nyberg followed by Chelsea Chikara hi there my name is stepen Markley uh I'd like to thank the council first for seeing me here today uh I'm not used to being heard uh as for six years I was part of the community we are looking to victimize here today with these laws uh I spent six years on the streets of Las Vegas as a unhoused IV drug user on the best days I was invisible and on the worst I was I was targeted and harassed uh I'd like to say it wasn't the shame inducing and dehumanizing rhetoric that was barked at me by people uh who needed to feel Superior that made me want to change or the fear induced in Me by cops looking to enforce the laws that are very similar to he uh I was fortunate enough to have people in my life who believed in me even when I thought I was hopeless and who loved me when I was incapable of loving myself due to the Stig stigmatic denomination Society duped me into believing I belonged in not everyone is fortunate enough to have that in their lives so it's up to us as a society to treat one of our most vulnerable populations with empathy and compassion because it's only through kindness and investing in the proper social programs that we'll be able to defeat a condition created by internal and external hate and fear by restoring people's dignity if I can I like the quote Robert F Kennedy uh each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against Injustice he sends forth a tiny Ripple of Hope and Crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples to build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of Oppression and resistance I use this quote as a call to action not just to the people behind me but the people in front of me as well let's transform kindness compassion and dignified treatment from a revolutionary idea into a practical reality I understand that this law is an easy solution uh but I believe that we can we can find something better if we work together if we trust and rely on the people that do the work like myself and others behind me or those with lived experience uh all we need is that tiny Ripple of hope so thank you for seeing me today David nberg followed by Chelsea chickvara followed by Paul White good morning I'm David nyberg associate pastor at St Paul's United Methodist Church here in Reno as you all well know we are in a housing crisis here in Reno this crisis is felt most at the low economic side we cannot rehouse everyone who is currently in the car's campus as we lack sufficient housing inventory to do so so we will continue to spend roughly $34,000 per person a year at cares versus less than $110,000 per unit at the lowest level of Housing and Reno the housing inventory crisis has increased with the closure of Lake Mill Lodge and the refusal to reinspect before the middle of the year is not really helpful for those who need housing this crisis is going to grow with the impending loss of another 100 units impacting more than 200 people when Wonder Lodge and the lucky cell and they refurbish them and rais those rents also in this political climate we know that we're not likely to see new Grant monies coming to solve the homeless problem caused by the lack of housing inventory so I call on the city council to open Camp stead one city official I spoke with said the city owns Camp stead one of the airport authorities attorneys told me that the Airport Authority owns campadre campeador if the airport Authority still wants $40,000 a year as it did in January 2019 it is well worth that the bottom line is that we are in a crisis and for 6 years that housing has been mothballed let's get it open it does not greatly matter what group is specified as qualified to live there we need housing inventory across the board and let's not allocate hundreds of thousands of dollars or millions of dollars to get it ready let's make it a community project let's ask Habitat for Humanity to get involved St Paul's is ready to provide volunteers and we can find many any more volunteers among the churches in Reno let's get Camp St open before July 1 2025 let's talk thank you for hearing me now act Chelsea chickvara followed by Paul White followed by Kathy Fulkerson good morning Chelsea Chiara for the record um I'm here to support uh ordinances F1 through F6 um I'm also here on behalf of Josh terot to voice his support as well uh this Council Chief Nance and the RPD city manager Bryant uh was County Sheriff's Office the downtown Reno partnership Reno uh Reno Karma box um everyone has all been working diligently to provide the residents in businesses with a safe and clean environment while providing necessary services to those in need these ordinances are the necessary tools to continue these efforts as Josh mentioned on December 11th providing an opportunity to camp sleep and lie in the public ride away on a sidewalk in a doorway in a park is all counteractive to our efforts and encourage those in need to use um sorry it's uh counterproductive to our efforts to encourage those in need to use facilities which are provided for the safe and more humane way of living the more opportunities we provide for those living on the streets to sidestep constructive services the more we dilute the effectiveness of these Services supporting supporting ordinances like the ones listed in agenda items F1 through6 provides an opportunity to check in on people to educate encourage them to pursue a better lifestyle while providing a safer environment for the public to live their lives and for businesses to contribute to to the economy and the livelihoods of the residents of our community we have great teams in place and now we need to provide them with the ability to do the job they have been tasked with doing thank you Paul White followed by Kathy Fulkerson followed by Irish Jaye paard Kathy Fulkerson followed by Iris Jaye Bard followed by Jake Maynard good morning I'm Cathy Fulkerson co- facil citator of third act Nevada third Act is a National Organization that empowers older Americans to protect the planet and strengthen our democracy strong democracies Empower older Americans oh with strong democracies protect the basic human rights of all members of the community whether they can afford housing or not I I'm here to urge you to repeal all of the city ordinances that criminalize people who are experiencing the temporary situation of homelessness research has shown that the best remedy for homelessness is Supportive Housing once people have an address they can apply for and receive Services open a banking account and apply for jobs housing provides stability security protection and refuge currently a dedicated group of community members are working with four downtown churches to provide warm centers on a rotating basis for women and families with children they open at 9:00 p.m. offer locked storage containers places to sleep and warm Beverages and a meal before closing at 6:00 a.m. after all of this the city proposes arresting and oring the people emerging from a warming Center who then sit or sleep on a park bench until they can get to work or Services after 800 a.m. once arrested or fine the city proposes they pay these fines before saving any money for meals Andor housing how does this ever end all homeless people land in jail with an arrest record isn't jail much more expensive than supplying temporary housing I understand that 3 months of jail is equivalent in cost to one year of Supportive Housing I also understand that it is much more difficult to get a job with an arrest record than without one not only is this economically unviable for the city it is Humane inhumane I urge you to follow the recommendations of your own Human Rights Commission to reconsider these type of ordinances thank you for listening to me and thank you for your service to the community Iris Jaye paard followed by Jake Maynard followed by Elena de laas hi Iris jayie papar the executive director of one trucky River I'm here uh today to support B10 on the consent uh agenda which is a site access agreement uh with the City of Reno for Reno uh Initiative for shelter inequality for the trucky River Urban Tree Workforce program and I just wanted to use use this public comment time to share more about that program uh the overall goal of it is to conduct uh restorative vegetation management east of downtown Reno Lake Street toy way along the trucky River Corridor while providing education on the job training and certification opportunities to community members with barriers to employment we were very uh blessed to Reed funding from Nevada division of Forestry last January to launch the program and then recently uh last uh in December we received funding from River Network to expand the program and when try river is currently working on applying for EPA funding to continue to support the program I'm really proud of this initiative because it's a collaboration with uh one Trey River administering and just supporting the overall coordination of it uh City Areno providing guidance and Direction and um hopefully uh and allowing us to uh be on the property of City Areno to do this work uh Reno Initiative for shelter inequality houses the program hiring the supervisor and the crew members and then trucky Meadows Parks Foundation provides the technical support related to the topic we um some of our expected outcomes is to protect trees from Beaver damage remove dead declining trees uh plant native trees and reestablish them where they um have been invasive trees uh develop a work plan and um and then also moving into more the human aspect of the outcomes we're going to be creating many part-time jobs related to this program and as I mentioned providing curriculum and uh certification opportunities for these individuals so I just uh want to support and I am very excited about this program because protecting the trucky River and supporting our community can be done it doesn't need to be um pitted against each other thank you so much Jake mayard followed by Elena deopa followed by James Matthews Jake Maynard for the record I'm speaking about the further criminalization of our houseless neighbors that is presented again in items F1 through F6 as well as the already implemented organ ordinances targeting our outside neighbors I'll actually be using my time more to talk to the folks listening to public comment and in this room more than the council themselves because this is something that we've done before that I've done before that many of us in the room have done before and we've become disillusion with the majority of this Council who repeatedly put the needs of profits over people and to all the business owners here speaking in fav favor of further criminalization of our houseless neighbors I challenge you not only to examine the impact of this criminalization whether it be increased police violence a decrease decrease in successful trans transition out of houselessness or even more deaths of our neighbors who live on the streets I want you to also understand that these efforts are completely counterproductive to what some of you may want there have been studies and reports done all across the country that all show that the method of criminalizing houselessness only makes the issue worse worse it makes people feel worse it makes people endure more violence it makes people more violent and it stalls anyone from making meaningful progress out of these situations arresting brutalizing throwing away all of someone's personal belongings finding and locking people away is not the same as connecting people with services in equ equating the two is dehumanizing and evil I challenge you to examine your own Humanity and why you feel it's okay to force someone's hands so violently also speaking to local businesses providing public comment as money seems to be the only language that matters Within These Chambers we as a network of Advocates and community members have been paying attention to what businesses are speaking in support of these ordinances and if these actions of criminalization go forwards we will be instituting a boycott within our larger communities to your businesses as we feel it is unacceptable to advocate for such cruelty on our own vulnerable already vulnerable neighbors our money can be spent elsewhere I also invite you to talk with us outside after this if you want to work with us to try to address the root issues of houselessness in a way that puts people first as we work towards real solutions this is an open invitation we're going to be outside today I want a future of housing Justice and dignity for all instead that are the cruel missteps provided today Within These Chambers thank you Elena de deapa followed by James Matthews followed by Alysa nishihira um it's Elena de laas um first and foremost I'm here with u the indigenous peoples of these of these lands in mind um um you know I've sat and thought about what what words I could bring to you that would gain an understanding but I I also feel like there's a lot of violence of ignoring constituents and so I really I really want something to touch here um first and foremost I'm a preschool teacher um I work with children from infancy up to 8 years old and so my expertise is in the social the building of social skills among children that we'd like to see in community and part of my job is helping children how to be human and that is the one thing that I feel like I could really connect with and one of the things that we really discuss often with these little children that are just learning how to be human is that everyone deserves to have what they need because they deserve what they need and that includes food shelter water and care and that's something that I have learned how to implement in a in a in a classroom which is a symbol of our community that we're trying to represent and I just don't understand why there's not a continuation of this in our actual Society this is our actual classroom that we're standing in right now why are we moving away from these Humane things that we should be that we teach our children and that we suddenly lose every one of those people that are outside that I interact with that you know I've met and maybe they're they're sleeping on my neighbor's couch outside and instead of calling the cops we're just like hey dude what what's your problem you know like are you okay hey first question are you okay and his response is I haven't slept in 3 days because I have nowhere to go and that's made has made you know he's going to be really exhausted and exhaustion leads to unwanted behaviors we see that in children we see that because we are human teachers are often experiencing this risk of houselessness and I am one of them my housing stability is so shaky and that is something that is so common in the teachers that I know and I continue to learn about and that's just not okay and that and for me that to me every one of us is getting sick from covid suddenly you're houseless losing a paycheck suddenly you're houseless it's just these little instances that cause us to lead into these issues and I want to talk about the impact on on the indigenous people's lands every time somebody gets arrested and their thing stolen A lot of times we end up finding them near the river and when we're going to River Justice cleanups we're finding them buried under the ground because they've been bulldozed or they've been left there by the cops that have brutalized those people and so this is not a chance to check in not a chance to provide education or care this is them experiencing more violence and they're not really given a chance to do something better thank you James Matthews followed by Alis Alyssa nishihira followed by Michael Tang James Matthews okay Alyssa nishihira followed by Michael Tang followed by Kenda Kendra CI good morning council members my name is Alys isira and I am proud to call Reno home I am a physician assistant I serve as community faculty at the University of Nevada Reno's PA program and I serve on the board of directors for the Nevada PA Association in 10 days my business partner and I will have owned Stella coffee company in Midtown for one year um we are actually hosting a ribbon cutting ceremony next week and you are all invited we are proud to be a female and minority owned business over the last year we have donated to numerous local organizations in support of local law enforcement Youth and mental health organizations and schools and teachers our business is at the corner of St Lawrence in South Virginia it is bordered by WS 1 and two but belongs to W 3 all businesses face challenges especially in year one one challenge we did not anticipate is the detrimental impact the unhoused population has had on our business the growing presence of individuals camping and sleeping in Midtown is having a negative impact on the perception of the area and the day-to-day operations of my business business many customers especially students and families are deterred by this perceived danger of those loitering near and around the business how often would you return to these areas where people are passed out on the streets or erratically approaching you asking for things Midtown businesses rely on foot traffic and a decrease in foot traffic is a decrease in revenue for businesses safety is one of my major concerns in the early mornings I walk the block from my car to the coffee shop with some trepidation I just pray that I will get into the building safely without alarming those sleeping outside or posted outside the various businesses that I pass employees and customers have also Express their concerns due to safety during the hiring process applicants ask about safety some are even hesitant to apply for jobs in Midtown unfortunately I feel like these concerns are just we have had to call local la enforcement on more than one occasion customers have been Disturbed and solicited by the UNH housee within and outside of our business I have been harassed I have had things thrown at me I often spend my time cleaning up empty cans and bottles cigarette butts abandoned items and occasionally bodily fluids from the night before the cost of doing business in this area is a burden that is becoming increasingly hard to manage I am empathetic to the difficulties individuals endure but I'm asking all of you our leaders for help storefronts and sidewalks are not meant to be campsites for the unhoused work tirelessly to make our businesses the best it can be for the community and I humbly urge you to support adoption of these bills 7284 through 7289 and any other measures that will help promote a safe and thriving Midtown business Community thank you [Music] Michael Tang followed by Kendra costelli oh thank you sorry okay thank you hello and good morning City Council Members my name is Michael tang I've been a volunteer with faith in action Nevada and the St Vincent dep Paul Society um I remember uh I met with the Human Rights Commission Right In This Very Room and this is from the fines and justice peace center uh we they established their stats and I'm sure you're aware of it but I'm sure these people aren't aware of this but most of the punitive uh damages that we have established here in this city you know it's very consequential that after this year we only have no progress we only had more consequences and I implore you to find safety net measures and just uh support the well-being of the most vulnerable um I come in oppos to F1 to F6 uh because more punitive measures just means more of this we obviously uh had our shares of talking points with the was County Commission but it's obvious that most of them as State uh as governmental uh officials they don't listen to us that much so if the numbers speak for itself I don't know what we could speak on um I've worked with the homelessness feeding them mostly about uh every day every Tuesday uh we also go to the motels with food in mind and we also make sure rent is paid right now these punitive measures is making it harder for us to do our job as a volunteer group um were just this uh two uh two weeks ago uh Tuesday immediately we were walking up to these group of three homeless individuals our fellow uh brothers and sisters they immediately got stopped by the police Midway traffic now I would like to have you imagine that you're on your hopeless Graves you're ending everything pretty much because you're just forced to move from Reno to Sparks what it feels like for someone to go up to you hey you let me write you a citation for Community Court even though it's been established it wasn't effective I don't see the point of these practices when we obviously have the solutions um it's been proven that the housing first plan is proved wild and as you can see this is also from the children children advocacy Alliance and a lot of our children with that are involved with our homeless members tend to have uh bad chances for the future Kendra costaki followed by Isa aabi followed by Jamie Chapman thank you members of the council my name is Kendra ctoi I represent WM and I am here today to express strong support for items F1 through F6 WM is a member of the 46c business group as a group's title suggests we are located around the area of Fourth Street 6th Street and commercial row along the railroad tracks where conflicts between operating businesses and the unhoused are common I am also a person who held the hand of her father and prayed over the unconscious body of a younger sister receiving last rights as the result of addiction we received a miracle that day but not everyone will and I know that is what makes this vote equally difficult and important for all of you as you know the intention Behind These deliberate and well researched ordinances is not to be punitive but to offer a balanced approach to a complex issue while some may argue that these measures are unnecessary or even cruel the reality is that they will provide the city in law enforcement with tools to prevent harm and ensure that those in need are offered the help and resources available to them this is not about criminalizing homelessness but giving individuals who are in distress a path to safety and support turning a blind eye to someone who is lying on the sidewalk or the entrance of a building does not provide for their safety in fact they may become the victim of a crime or accident themselves as a matter of public safety these ordinances create a pathway to resources through legal means protecting the unhoused they also protect businesses employees and customers who are impacted when the needs we all have and which must be met are sought through illegal means in my opinion these ordinances will help guide people back to existing support systems we can remind those that are otherwise overlooked that they have value as many times as it takes for them to believe it and to break that cycle I ask the council consider the broader picture here the need to protect the well-being of our community while meeting the duty of care to those in unsafe conditions I urge the council to vote in favor of adopting these ordinances as an important step to addressing the challenges that our city faces thank you for your consideration and for your commitment to making our city safer and a more compassionate place for all Isa aabi followed by Jamie Chapman followed by Dennis Garcia hello council members Isa owski president and CEO at Nevada women's fund it's an honor to be here in front of you today I'm excited to share that Nevada women's fund is organizing in an inaugural dayong CommunityWide International women's day event on Saturday March 8th in celebration of this occasion we will be turning the city purple the color of international women's day and female solidarity our goal is to raise awareness about International women's day while celebrating the social economic cultural and pol itical achievements of women the day also serves as a call to action to accelerate gender equality for the first time in history women are enrolling in and graduating from college at higher rates than men yet despite this progress wage parody has remained stagnant for over two decades while we know that hosting an event around iwd won't solve this issue it provides us with a significant public platform to raise awareness ignite meaningful conversations and unite our community around a common purpose additionally it offers an opportunity to highlight the positive strides our community and state have made in empowering women take for example our city council led by our female mayor and supported by a majority women International women's day also allows us to express our gratitude to the men in our community who serve as allies I and mentors the dayong event will culminate at the iconic Reno Arch where we will join a global movement to raise awareness for gender equality by lighting the arch purple this will be part of what is known as iwd lightup which illuminates landmarks worldwide on March 8th to highlight women's rights and equality by participating in iwd lightup we aim to elevate our local efforts to the global stage this 2hour event will be from 5: to 7:00 p.m. it will feature live music inspiring speeches from prominent women in our area including mayor shivi Nevada athletic director Stephanie RM and others we would be honored if each of you would be present to join us for this vibrant celebration uniting people from all walks of life in a Citywide tribute to the remarkable women who strengthen our community the lighting of the arch along with the necessary permits street closures and all related Logistics incur significant costs so in addition to your attendance I would ask if you would each consider allocating a port a portion of your budget as City Council Members to support this important initiative I also want to extend my thanks to councilman member Devon ree for already committing a financial pledge in support of the event your contribution will directly support this inaugural event and the women we are empowering to achievement I brought each of you matching purple International women's day scarves I will leave them here to be distributed when that's possible thank you I love you'll actually bring them over here we'll make sure that the council members get them thank you Jamie Chapman followed by Dennis Garcia followed by Awin MIRS hi city council Jamie Chapman for the record so I'm here to talk about two different things um one is about my application for the Redevelopment agency board position and I'm just going to talk about both of them since I'm here um so I'm interested in this position and I feel I can provide great insight to this board for a few different reasons for starters I'm the executive director of Midtown Reno which makes up a significant part of the Redevelopment area in this position I work directly with property owners business owners and residents I myself am a resident so working with these groups gives me a unique insight into the challenge Alles and opportunity that Redevelopment brings to our area I also a small business owner I own travel pineapple and pineapple Petty cabs which works throughout the Redevelopment area and it gives me perspective as a small business owner but specifically in the realm of Transportation also in the realm of Transportation I sit on the board with the trucky Meadows bike Alliance where we work specifically with micro modal um infrastructure and safety and then I also sit on the central Reno mid Town neighborhood steering committee with the RTC where we're currently working to create an active Transportation Network that um is also within the Redevelopment area so I believe all of these positions as well as my ability to work well with other groups and optimistic attitude make um me a good candidate for the Redevelopment agency board thank you for your consideration okay the second reason I'm here is not as fun it is in regards to F1 and F6 ordinances so as the executive director of Midtown Reno I am here to talk today um representing the small businesses in Midtown I get several calls and emails from business owners that are having issues with people being camped out in front of their businesses and as of right now until a law is broken there's no action or anything that they can do to get people to move and as we heard from Stella and some other businesses that were actually kind of worried to be here to have their name presented as they felt they've been threatened um by community members I'm here to speak um towards this and I know that this is a very tough conversation and we've heard from tons of people and I do really feel for the household community and I believe that more needs to be done however today I am in support of F1 and f um six through F6 being passed because at my core I a small business owner and I believe that we need to do everything possible to support our small businesses and I can directly see that people being camped and people feeling unsafe is hurting the small businesses in not only Midtown but throughout the community and so I do think more needs to be done but for now I think this is a at least gives our small businesses something that they can do to protect themselves and get customers into their business thank you nailed it for time Dennis Garcia followed by Awin MIRS followed by Patrick Colman hello and good uh morning City uh Council Reno first I want to express my gratitude to council member Martinez and uh council member Anderson as well and every council member here present today my name is danias Garcia and I am the president Latino student Advisory Board a organization at the University of Nevada Reno the mission of elab is to enhance the Hispanic community in Nevada through public Outreach ex uh academic excellence and political advocacy today I'm here to discuss a Conference held in Chicago called usle which stands for the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute the conference spans four days and three nights and offers countless opportunities such as workshops networking and empowerment uh sessions usle align perfectly with our mission as it inspires and empowers students while training our community our goal for this conference to take as many students as possible giving them the chance to experience somewhat transformative conference I was fortunate enough to attend the US leag in 2023 and let me tell you I was it was a life-changing experience but I returned Reno with you know renew a sense of purpose and inspiration because although I will admit this I was not prepared for the climate in Chicago I thought Reno was CEST but Chicago definitely proved me wrong and on a personal note my mom passed away in 2021 during my freshman year of college it was a difficult time and I struggled to stay motivated although my dream of graduating and becoming a math teacher kept me going and to to this day Usha gave me something even greater it gave me a sense of wanting to be up there one of these days and presenting and telling the students to keep pushing forward so here I am today before to tell you requesting your support to help us take more students to this conference as of now we have gathered enough funds for three students and we want to take as much maybe the goal to bring eight offers so much more than just a trip it enhances the overall well-being of college students while teaching essential life skills like leadership networking even navigating through college applications with your Aid we can empower the next generation of leaders and continue to make a meaningful impact in our community I hope that we can count on your support and only not this year but but in the years to follow thank you so much for your consideration and time and I would this is not my last time coming here I know I'll be coming here many times and giving these public comments uh so thank you so much to uh council member Martinez and council member Anderson and I'll see you into the next one as of I will be battling my next class of partial differential equations and I'm sure will be difficult but I would love to be here as all day but thanks so much a MIRS followed by Patrick Coleman followed by Bryce tun H good morning everyone uh my name is Arn MIRS forgive me this is going to be a little bit fragmented because I just found out about this about 10 o'clock last night but uh first of all I got to say I do not envy you you were dealing with so many complic complicated issues uh of course just from the time that we're living in and some of them being inherited um you know there's we got a long history his here but I would point out that uh this is also an opportunity to be leaders for not only our community but in this day and age for the entire country can see what we're doing here uh we of course have a lot of talk about the homeless which I am very passionate about as well and I know it's a very difficult issue all I could ask is that you do temper and find that balance because in some ways some of the laws that we're talking about are going to be deemed un unconstitutional you cannot have somebody free to lay down a blanket and sit in a park for however many hours for one group of people and not for another and it's really important to identify that difference um with that um I would say uh that I hope that we can um not have that double standard because uh once we start going down that path if you say for example don't have zero barrier shelters then you strip people of their rights because their only options are to go into places that actually say you cannot do this you cannot do that what about sleeping next to your partner for example something so fundamental uh with that um the reason I'm actually here is uh after 40 years of being here we have a Vibrant Community clearly people who are very passionate um friendly um they're they will support local businesses they will um you know any given night be riding on bike paths and walking their dogs and appreciating our beautiful sunsets um I would implore you though with some of the challenges don't sacrifice the long-term benefits of our community for the shortterm costs of them say for example um when we're talking about affordable housing if we FastTrack some random development uh because um it's fast and easy to do um then we might not consider things that should be considered like um affordable living one concept that I think should really be underscored there is no uh passive solar Design Concepts in anything that we're talking about and what that does is it makes your month-to-month more affordable by just considering your heating and cooling um another thing I'd really like to emphasize I think that we should designate and protect strategic fields and lots because we have these Open Spaces that are sometimes used for um cattle or some other things you know we need to really be thinking about Community farms and ways that we're going to be moving in through the challenges of our next next decades I would say and is way with that please um whether I don't know if it'll affect your votes for today but as you move forward please consider these things thank you Patrick Coleman followed by Bryce tun followed by Hannah who hubar hi council members I just want to start off by thanking you uh Patrick Coleman for the record thanking this Council for the leadership and investment in our community over the years especially when it comes to the car's campus and Associated services that are around that I am a small business owner on East Forth Street and I have been for for many years for many of those years I lived on East for Street above my business and I've seen the challenges that are very unique to our community down there especially after um the move of the car's campus for good and for very you know challenging ways um I would just come as many of the other business owners in my little Community down there in East for Street have already and from Midtown and other areas to support um agenda items F1 through six um I would come at it from a little different perspective and that I think that things like the community courts and looking into investing in deferrals and other methods um to not criminalize necessarily but to put people within services and get them in a position where they can be helped with the services that the city is investing in I think that it is a public safety issue and beyond anything that comes to money it's not humanitarian to let people sleep out in freezing weather to be in places where they can be at risk of violence from all sorts of different Avenues as well as from the natural disasters that we have constantly I would like to have this Council continue to invest in our community in extra services in deference and Community Court programs that staff from this city and from the county and others have invested time and effort to develop I would like that to to continue to be a focus um in order to put some form of enforcement around that to drive people into community services for both the safety of our community and them individually thank you very much Bryce tun followed by Hannah hubar followed by Jessica dayover hello uh Bry tune for the record uh glad to be here today um sad that I have to be I'm here in opposition F1 and F6 I did not come with a pre-prepared comment because I wanted to hear what was spoken on today because I'm not going to you know bark at youbody you've already heard car's campus is over full our place is full as of this morning I was looking or maybe it was for last night there's only nine beds available there's more than nine people out on the streets right now I can guarantee you that uh as far as these bills are concerned I think we can all understand that at the end of the day putting homeless people houseless people in jail it doesn't address the issue it does not address the root Clause at the end of the day what we need to be focusing on is housing first agendas we need to be thinking creatively imaginatively and with a vision you cannot lead Reno you cannot lead as politicians if you're not a Visionary what I'm seeing in these bills are simple fiscally irresponsible and morally rankup Solutions there's no imag imagination there's no creativity there's no vision additionally um as many of the people have said here I think we're all in agreement it is inhumane to let people sleep and you know succumb to the weather conditions outside among all the other things that they're subject to no one and I no one is debating that all we're simply saying is that at the end of the day this bill will not achieve what you're setting out to do and at the very worst and quite possibly will harm us physically and you know we've already talked about the moral component um I would like to see Creative Solutions you know we talk about uh you know not having access to an address to get you know employment why not have those postcards out there that beautiful perfect size for publicly accessible PO Boxes that's a start why don't we have Community layons with the various Mutual Aid programs that we have here have you even thought about that have you tried that legitimately I've worked for state and local government before not in this state but others um I'm happy to provide my resume i' be a consultant if you want you know we'll figure it out there have been open offers on this floor today and the small business owners here I I hear you nobody wants to you know you know uh be a a customer you know there's a bunch of people outside B this that and the third we all understand that nobody is saying we want to go to the Stella coffee shop and be potentially harassed by people who are perceived as they said dangerous um which is a perception at the end of the day but sometimes accurate many times not um a lot of the people experiencing houselessness are there for a variety of reasons some of them are you know due to substance abuse which originates for a variety of reasons some of them have unfortunate circumstances I have had many conversations to people on the streets um of Reno some of them are skilled laborers there's one individual I know who formerly a veteran uh was a mechanic had a stroke lost F five motor skills and half of his half of his body now he's sleeping on the street and you want to put him in jail potentially he can't afford that he can't afford the violations what do you want to do with him why not create uh apprenticeship programs publicly accessible PO Boxes publicly accessible storage lockers so they not losing their stuff and that they can at the end of the day actually have a safe and secure place to call home because they're not home Hannah hubar followed by Jessica day lover followed by col Coleman Smith good morning Council or afternoon some of you may know me some of you may not um I am the founder of project Bear Hugs we are a disaster relief and education organization we are National and we help the vulnerable population so that's children elderly and pets uh some of you may know me from the news from the Davis fire I did lose my home in the Davis fire and we learned a lot of different lessons that we have you know preached throughout the years through over a decade um and one of those is the lack of help that happens after a disaster it's a deafening silence after the first couple weeks and because of that we are hosting a donation drive for the LA wildfires on February 1st in town from 10:00 a.m. until 400 p.m. we be collecting Comfort items and um school supplies and our goal is to I know it's a really big goal but some of you will understand my goal um our goal is to supply a full school with supplies um several schools in La did burn down and there are a a lot of students that do not have any thing there's not schools for them to go to because La is already overpopulated so February 1st I will be sending more information out to all of you but just want to let you know thank you Jessica day lover followed by Coleman Smith followed by Steven Zipkin um I just want to thank everyone who shows active listening and eye contact during public comment it means a lot to your constituents um hello my name is Jessica dayover and I'm here to express my extreme opposition to agenda items F12 and six which would make sitting or lying down or camping in public illegal honestly saying that sentence out loud is so dystopian that we as a city should be embarrassed that we are even taking our time up with this right now I am in constant grief at the reality that we have the resources to create a Utopia where resources are allocated to give every single human access to Quality housing Medical Care care and education Etc and those in power actively vote against it why I have two small children and I have learned that as I raise them to be kind helpful members of society I've had to get really creative with how I explain morality to them lately we've been exploring the idea of being a superhero or a villain in certain situations and though we know that all binaries are Illusions and everything falls on a spectrum even this cause it has been helpful in guiding them into how to make various ethical and moral choices before this morning I asked my four and seven-year-olds if sending people to jail for sitting or lying down or sleeping outside because they are unhoused is something a superhero would do or a villain would do and they screamed villain and then my four-year-old asked if he will go to jail if he sits down outside at the park which begs the question how will y'all in Force these measures who gets arrested for lying down outside just those who look like they deserve it in your eyes ethics exide facts and evidence show that these policies do not work they cost taxpayers more in the end so if there's no rational reason to enact these policies because we know for a fact they don't achieve the desired outcome then there's only one logical reason that you would vote to pass these measures and that's because you want to be a villain arresting folks for societ 's failure to provide resources we all need to live is villainous Behavior now we all know many on Ros city council have already sold their souls to developers so perhaps this is all a lost cause present company excluded of course but we have to hold out hope that one day the resistance will actually defeat the empire for good perhaps you will hear the pleas of those superheroes in the city among us today doing you all the favor of reminding you of which way your moral compass should be pointing so dear city council I ask you today a question even my children understand do you want to be a superhero and make decisions that uplift all members of our community or do you want to be a villain thank you Coleman Smith followed by Steven Zipkin good morning C good morning council members my name is Coleman Smith uh I am here in uh support of F1 to F6 um I want to just start off by saying I also didn't prepare any comments I found out about this uh this morning I am a small business owner off of West four Street I back up to the river and the railroad tracks uh I want to complement both sides of of this ordinance that have spoken today um Bryce who just went up I I you know I I see both sides of this I really do um for me in my support of this ordinance it comes down to uh the better part of a decade just kind of being tired of being empathetic and not seeing a lot of change and uh feeling that my employees and my customers are in danger and stressed out and as the business business owner it's my responsibility to eventually pick a side um I've had count countless instances of of fires being started right on the border of my property um people vandalizing my building harassing my customers um and and this happens regularly enough that uh I'm just I I've I've gone from being um you know feeling sorry for these people to to just having to stand up for the people that I represent that I employ um the women and children that come into my business every week um and and so it's it's a complex issue I realize that but at the end of the day I think what we have in front of us with this ordinance is is is an actual solution in terms of protecting my people and and that's where I'm coming to you from is is just a position of feeling like I have to be a leader for the people that I'm responsible for and I think that this ordinance is going to help uh improve their safety uh and so that's pretty much it I'm in support of it thank you Steven Zipkin followed by Jude flegler followed by Al Lee um good morning my name is Stephen I'm here toose pose F1 through F6 and I'm going to make a small adjustment to my speech just to point out that the man before me admitted that he was speaking without empathy um that's really really a horrifying thing to have to hear from someone who is in support of F1 through F6 because at least the small business owners who came before him um were able to pretend like they give a damn many of them tried to redefine what criminalization means to insist that these ordinances do not criminalize homelessness um but I think we can all recognize that criminalization is a word with a definition and proposing ordinances and enacting ordinances that punish people for sleeping outside laying outside resting outside is criminalization of these activities I don't know much about those of you on the city council but I'm willing to bet one of you has a law degree because that's common enough in politics can though can which ever one of you with that law degree thank you please after this is over explain to the other people on the council um that criminalization is a word with a definition and that is what these ordinances are doing um when I heard about these ordinances I um I first wondered will I be punished for sitting but I did not ruminate very long on that question because I know that the answer is no I know that these ordinances are intended to Target unhoused people and I am not one of those people if I sit because I'm having a picnic if I sit because I'm someone who likes to walk around to my errands and I might get tired and see a bench which this city pays for by the way why pay for benches if you're going to criminalized sitting insane um this bill clearly just targets unhoused people and the fact that we all know I you the people behind me the fact that we all know these ordinances will not be applied in a fair way that they are intended to be enforced in a discriminatory manner is exactly what should be weighing on your minds right now not a single one of you if any of you are in I if any one of you is intending to vote in favor of these ordinances I have no idea th those of you who are intending to vote in favor of them know that you are not voting for an ordinance that is going to be enforced fairly you know you will be targeting specific people this bill is written intentionally dishonestly and we only have such a substantial population of unhoused people because you all have failed to do your jobs at providing affordable housing providing affordable housing is what would solve this problem it's what would get people off the streets that causes people to feel scared when they are entering these businesses whether or not those threats are actually real we've heard from many people who feel threatened when they simply see an ouse person and that is not a real problem criminalizing homelessness is a real problem homelessness itself is a real problem and you have the power to do something to solve it and save money as many people have pointed out just build affordable housing please Jude Fleer followed by Al Lee followed by Rosa Kirk via Zoom hi my name is Jude oh I'm speaking in opposition to the sitting ordinance but I think it has been misnamed this is not about people sitting on the sidewalk is about people living on the sidewalk and why are they living on the sidewalk because they have nowhere else to go I don't want them to live on the sidewalk any more than you do but I don't think the solution is to criminalize being homeless this is not about money it's about space there's enough space in Reno for people to live I see Empty Apartment buildings all of arena with big signs that say $1,200 $1,800 $2,000 but no one's living there so how much is it worth if no one is willing to pay that amount of money it's the end of the day it's just an empty building and I'm wondering why you want to put these people in jail is that the only space that you can find for them the real solution to this problem is to find people permanent housing so that they can find stability and can contribute to their Community I know a lot of homeless people I work in mutual Aid and I interact with homeless people on a weekly basis and they're just people and they have histories and they have lives and this is a temporary moment in their life and they're unstable but they can find stability again and they can contribute back to the community and a lot of the people you see here today are working in community service they're working in mutual Aid and they're queer and I'm not going to ask you to experience empathy I'm not going to ask you to imagine that you were homeless because it doesn't happen to people like you it happens to people like me who is queer I I'm transgender and the Trump Administration wants to make it illegal to be transgender but I don't think I'm a criminal and I will take up space thank you Al Lee followed by Rosa Kirk via Zoom followed by Emma doie via Zoom hi um I'd like to join the chorus of voices who've spoken in opposition to agenda items F1 through F6 uh it's clear that the ideas of community neighbors neighborhood constituents public are really bound up in the Logics of private property and the Logics of capital um i' would say that the rate of refusal of services which has been I think cited a lot as um the um on the the onus is on the the unhoused people who are denying Services I think that's clearly a sign of a failure of the system a failure of the services to serve and not a sign of stubbornness or ignorance which it seems like is the point a lot of people make um you know you hear these business owners who um say that maybe unhoused people need to be educated or need to um be shown how to pursue a better lifestyle but that's not going to happen if they're continually forced back into the spiral of uh carceral punish M or um you know fines that cannot be paid and just Financial spiral um this feels a lot like class Warfare I mean citing the people that say that how how is this going to be enforced how how are are um people just going to be clocked as unhoused or house as worthy of sitting in the park or laying on the grass or not um um that seems like a a real issue and it seems like it's um class considerations that um feels unethical and you know maybe unconstitutional I don't know but somebody said that um you know expanding jurisdiction for cops to arrest people for surviving is not a solution and is not going to help those people it is not an act of Goodwill it is not an act of care um and this is also uh the issue of safety um not only do unhoused people deserve safety as much as housed people paying customers or business owners or landlords deserve safety um but I don't know I mean I I I think it's not an issue of safety if someone is sleeping on the sidewalk next to your business you can actually talk to them um you can actually offer them water you can actually give them time to wake up and go about their day and maybe actually put yourself in those Sho their shoes and not um pretend that you see both sides um that that's for everyone uh [Music] thanks Rosa Kirk via Zoom followed by Emma Dodie via Zoom followed by Kelsey Owens um hi can everyone hear me we can thank you okay um um my name is Rosa Kirk davidof I live in ward 3 and in Midtown uh very close to Stella Coffee Company uh which I've walked past you know many times feeling plenty safe um I'm a member of the Reno Sparks Tenants Union I'm speaking in opposition to items F1 F2 and F6 um first echoing some comments made by some other people today I'd like to ask the members of the city council if they have been to Wingfield Park on a Saturday in July if they have they've seen dozens of renoit sitting lying or maybe even taking a nap on the grass in the park or On the Rocks near the river the same can be seen in Idol wild park On Any Sunday in the summer looking closely at the wording of the ordinance being voted on in item F1 these public parks are designated as quote sensitive use properties where sitting and lying are prohibited therefore having a picnic in Park will become illegal but the Reno Police Department is not going to start issuing warnings to every family enjoying the sun in Wingfield Park I believe they will make a decision about the enforcement of this law based on the appearance of the person sitting or lying in the park only enforcing it if the person appears to be homeless a law like this that relies on unequal enforcement does not seem constitutional to me second I would like to draw the council members attention to the fact that 183 public comments were submitted in opposition to these me measures and just four were submitted online in support I'm the 17th person today to speak against these measures during this meeting meaning that there have now been a total of 200 comments in opposition these comments come from every ward in the city and I wonder if the voices of seven of the seven small business owners that we've heard today count the same as the voices of 200 citizens of Reno I urge the council members to listen to the people who elected them spend time reading each and every one of those comments and then decide how they would like to vote thank you Emma doie via Zoom followed by Kelsey Owens followed by Bill Sims can you hear me we can thank you good morning my name is Emma doie and I am a UNR student and senator of the associated students I came before this body on December 11th to speak out against the criminalization of homelessness and am dismayed that I have to speak for the same reason today I cannot understand the city's argument that homeless people are refusing Services just like six weeks ago and as many others have said the shelter dashboard shows the shelters are 98% full how can you argue that services are being refused when this is the level of usage we are seeing jail is not a Humane alternative nor is it a productive one having a criminal record prevents people from getting jobs which only keeps them on the streets and the shelter data proves they're not sleeping outdoors in January by choice so what does work a housing first policy providing unconditional permanent housing to homeless people has has worked in cities Across America from Charlotte to Denver to Houston and it would work in Reno too furthermore if you walked the streets of the city you represent and interacted with these so-called public nuisances you would see that when a homeless person is given something they'll share it just last night downtown I heard one say give a give a hand warmer to another and say you need this more than I do please show these people the dignity and respect they show each other as someone who wants to see the homelessness crisis end I urge you to strike down the counterproductive F1 through F6 ordinances thank you Kelsey Owens followed by Bill Sims followed by Rosie Zuckerman via Zoom I'd like to say I'm here on behalf of all of my unhoused friends who could not be here this morning because they are working I sat right outside last night and had dinner with friends who slept on the street last night and was sleep s on the street again tonight and wanted to be here to speak for themselves but they couldn't be because they are working in this city for this city please absorb that reality secondly I'd like to comment briefly on the fact that a boycott of your business due to your business's actions to the small businesses who have spoken today a boycott is not threatening a boycott is accountability and we will be holding you accountable um past that I'd like to just speak of my own personal experience you guys have the statistics you have all the information you need and you've had it for years thanks to this tireless community so I'm going to tell you about me I first came to Reno in 2011 I fell in love with this area it has been home to me ever since in my heart I left in 2019 due to housing insecurity and I made my attempt to come back this summer I am here to stay whether the city agrees to house me or not but I am scared to be Criminal Iz for just sleeping in my van when I want to be in town with my friends just a couple weekends ago I was part of a fundraiser in the evening I worked a shift at a warming Center at night and the next morning I was part of a non-violent communication Workshop in between those three events my option for sleeping was in my vehicle I slept in my vehicle right outside the church where I just finished a warming shift a warming Center shift you're telling me that that activity is going to be criminalized how am I supposed to be here in community I drove in an hour from Fallon this morning because I cannot afford to live in the city I love this city so much the apartment I lived in in Midtown is three times as much as it was when I lived here a decade ago I don't make three times as much money where am I supposed to live we need housing we love this city and we want to live in this city please just give us housing I want you please to all think about that thank you Bill Sims followed by Rosie Zuckerman via Zoom followed by Juniper Murray hi city council um vice mayor um I just actually wanted to make a quick comment real quick before I start um I noticed on your guys's YouTube channel you don't have close casing and as someone who is disabled but not hard of hearing I just think that's kind of irresponsible because it kind of does seem like a violation of the Ada and as I know there are lawyers on city council I would hope you guys would change that um of course my name is Bill Sims and I am here in opposition of F1 through six because um I know you guys are here to essentially approve those ordinances but what I wanted to say is as someone who is disabled um you guys would have Sally be looking at someone like me who should be criminalized because when I need to sit down when I've been walking as I do for example during the summer um and I need to take a break because I do walk with a limp and I do tire quite fast you guys would say Okay Reno PD or Reno ambassadors should go ahead and harass Bill Sims because he's taking AR rest on public property because how dare he do that on public property and so to see that you guys want to uh pass these ordinances to essentially I homeless people doesn't make sense because well yes I do understand there is not one perfect answer for you guys to have no sympathy no empathy not care about those that are in poverty like myself really says more about you guys as our Representatives than it does about those of us who advocate for um our homeless Community for our disabled friends for people who just need to take a break and say you know what I need to sit down so I just wanted to come up here to really say that I know it's likely you guys aren't going to give a care in the world and you are going to approve of these ordinances but I just wanted to say remember history will remember what side you stood on and none of you that will vote Yes on this are the good guys so I just want to make it crystal clear that by criminalizing homelessness you're not helping homeless you're punishing them for not having the kind of a roof over their head that you approve of along with the business owners that think like you and think that you are allowed to think of other people beneath you as nothing more than anything you need to have empathy or sympathy for thank you Rosie Zuckerman via Zoom followed by Juniper Murray followed by Gilson eaglestar um hi my name is Rosie Zuckerman uh I am a local business owner in I guess Midtown now on South Virginia Street I'm I want to um voice my to the agenda items F1 F2 and F6 that further criminal criminalizes poverty and homelessness in Reno uh I'm like feeling a little bit discouraged because I feel like no matter how many times we show up and ask the same thing the same thing the same thing um it seems that the city is just uh dead set on criminalizing poverty and homelessness uh I'd also like to ask that you remove the um CAC item and take it to discussion instead of just passing a um decision like that without any actual discussion to for the city to demolish the building without ensuring that affordable housing is um insured with the deal as it had gone through uh that's all I have to say I um I guess I also I mean I guess I also have to say that I feel like a little bit confused because I feel like somehow the city is doing things that are financially costly just to criminalize people who are poor um like we've sort of heard people say multiple times putting people in jail costs more than Supportive Housing so I encourage you to do the right thing and thank you Juniper Murray followed by Gilson eagle star followed by Elizabeth Walsh via Zoom good morning I am junip perray I am a citizen of the City of Reno and I am a longtime resident I am also a student here up in TMCC and I have been working here all of my jobs have been in Reno and Sparks I would just like to state that I am in opposition to articles F1 F2 and F6 on account of the fact that these ordinances are no longer are not just an overreach of power but they would be applied in a discriminatory fashion against protected classes giving more power to those who would discriminate against their fellow citizens and it would furthermore waste taxpayer money just by virtue of forcing these policemen to go on errands which are fruitless and not only that but they would create a larger homeless population there is a misconception with many of the people here in the city hall that the people they see that they think are homeless or actually homeless I would like to ask all of you have you actually been inside a psych ward many of them are outright abusive and do not give out treatment if there is somebody causing issues they might genuinely not be homeless and there are already laws to protect against people threatening bodily harm upon people these so-called small business owners representing other small business business owners in the city do not represent all small business owners in the city and they certainly do not represent their employees and they certainly do not represent their paying customers Additionally the homeless population within the city are also employees and they are also paying customers what this would actually do would allow people to discriminate across the board against people they simply do not like this would enable actions contrary to the intentions of the American Disabilities Act contrary to the intentions of the Civil Rights Act this would take public property and turn it into a space for private individuals to wage violence against those they do not like this helps no one and this wastes your money thank you for your time Gilson eagle star followed by Elizabeth Walsh via Zoom followed by Lily Baron good afternoon everybody I'm I understand that there's been a lot of animosity going on towards the uh uh homeless what we would call an epidemic here you know um by no fault of reone not like you're putting somebody on somebody's house not like you're putting out on actually this guy's on Facebook but but you know like everybody else is fine I would appreciate more eye contact when I'm speaking with you know the council here you know if I'm going to be showing respect I would like to have the respect back so if you could log off of your in if you log off your Instagram that would be great this is what I'm trying to talk about here is that everybody outside 90% of the people that we see outside have been put outside of their homes and they're being mistreated by not just the police but by all the local businesses here that are subjugated by all the casinos so they have nowhere to go and if anybody has any sort of empathy here then we can come up with a plan to have them plated or have them placed into one of these apartment complexes or at least one of the hotels that are being renovated into these apartments which I mean come on a a hotel room is a hotel room let's just call a SP of spade here so if we can put these people outside of the road and into a house that would make Reno look a lot better wouldn't it because then that shows that we care about our individuals that shows that we care about our community as opposed to just shoving them under the carpet or you know putting them off to the side to where the tourists don't notice them they're always going to be around because these are our people so why don't we take care of our people and start making sure that everybody that we have in our community is taken care of rather than ignoring what the big elephant in the room is is that people need help and I'm not here to blame anybody but people are in need right now people are losing their homes people are losing their jobs people aren't able to pay a rent because of inflation because of these extraordinary rent rates so why don't we try to make a plan to try to make people a little bit more comfortable in our own Community rather than push them off to make ourselves look better so richer people can come in because then where are we supposed to go we live here those people outside live here they live on the street and we're trying to put them off into the in off under the freaking carpet and that doesn't make any sense because these are what make our community so why don't we make our community Stronger by helping the people that actually make our community thank you for your time Elizabeth Walsh via Zoom followed by Lily baren followed my by Mike Van hooton via Zoom um hello my name is Elizabeth Walsh I'm a member of the renos spars Tenants Union and I'm also a resident in W one and I'm here today to urge the city council to vote against agenda items F1 through F6 now I had a public comment prepared however after hearing what people have said today I would like to say something else I just want to point out that the members who have spoken to you who are in favor of this ordinance are talking about their profits and how much money they're worried about their small business is losing however everyone who has spoken against this ordinance is talking about people and their lives and how much they care about their community members and want them to survive at the end of the day I would like to think that the city council cares more about people than prophets and also cares about the opinions of the people that have come to talk to them it's been pointed out to you several times that almost 200 people have come and spent time today to oppose this ordinance well only a handful of people have come in support I really really hope that you all take this into consideration and I hope that you're here to represent the people who live in your district and that does include our unhoused neighbors thank you Lily Baron followed by Mike Van hooton via Zoom followed by Megan o Farrell via Zoom hello my name is Lily Baron um I wanted to provide a little update on the warming centers because we're on week six now I can't believe it and um we have seen tremendous improvements from a lot of the folks that are utilizing it just so you're aware of like demographic wise what it looks like it's 75% black and brown women and almost 90% % people who are disabled some who are extremely disabled and I think there's one uh population that I wanted to hit on that I don't know that we've talked about today um and that is folks that cannot perform their ADLs their assisted daily living um procedures meaning they cannot use the restroom and um do other things to take care of themselves which they absolutely must be able to do in every single uh service that we provide there are zero services and zero places anyone can go including cares if they're not able to go to the restroom by themselves abadee themselves and perform their other assisted daily livings and I'm very concerned about that population we have had one um woman visit us at warming Center and she has come to made it to several different locations however had to leave via remsa a couple of times um so I really want us to be thinking about what we can do with that I know that if we did have additional spaces to allow people with pets and couples um that we could see a huge Improvement but that we have seen folks returning back their cognitive abilities are getting better but um these are not folks that you would say are like employable or uh mentally well and it's been nice to see that they feel safe in this area a lot of them also have never used any of the other services and they are coming to use this one so I'd like to kind of speak about it if we can in the future because this is an intervention that is evidence-based and it works and I think that one of the frustrating things about um today other than we've all done this before too many times is that we have kind of two schools of thought and one is based on research and evidence and best practices and another is based on opinion and I know that it is very scary to lean on um research sometimes when it says something that doesn't make sense to you but that is just the way it is it's kind of like a climate change conversation like there's the science and then there's what some people believe it to be and that's the same thing when we talk about homelessness um there is absolutely zero evidence ever to suggest that ordinances making fines or um further criminalizing help heal the community make anyone safer or lead people out of poverty and out of homelessness it's just simply not what research has shown and we see it time and time again so I really just encourage everyone even if it's not the answer that you want to please lean on research and uh best practices that doctors and researchers in this field have been working very hard on and um shown some wonderful results and other interventions like warming centers thank you Miss Baron if it wouldn't be too disruptive I would like to come to the warming Center sometime I don't want it to disrupt your folks who are there um but I would like to come if that would be possible that would be great yeah okay we'll reach out okay thank you so much Mike vanan hooton via Zoom followed by Megan oeral via Zoom followed by Jennifer hilderbrand hey Mike Van hton here can you guys hear me okay we can thank you awesome uh Mike Van hton uh I have run the downtown makeover site um approaching my actually 20-year anniversary um being downtown's biggest cheerleader I started that site in 2005 um basically starting to report on the transformation of downtown from a casino to a residential and uh entertainment Corp and I had applied for the uh RAB board um mostly as a resident who lives right on the edge of downtown about a block outside of the South downtown border and um I just think it would be a great extension of uh my unrelenting passion for downtown um you know some I feel like sometimes the city has written off uh downtown quite a few times throughout uh my my time of reporting it and it always seems to bounce back with development kind of happening in waves and so I just appreciate your consideration for being on the Rap Board I actually attended almost every CAC and RAB meeting back when uh that board was active it was actually one of my primary sources of information for my website and getting out all the good news that was happening downtown um even if I'm not selected for that board uh you can bet I'll be there at all the meetings um doing the same thing reporting on what's Happening and getting people excited about uh the projects happening downtown and I also just wanted to quickly um say a a word of caution about the CAC project uh one of the unfortunate things about um reporting on downtown for the last 20 years is how many times I've seen the Ral city council not just this one but prior councils get burned um by developers uh for promising things that never actually really happened I could the Waterfront project when we abandoned the uh diagonal portion of First Street uh Lun Lunsford park with Ponte veio uh when that project fell through and another project came in that was much larger the uh State Street project when the city sold them the land on the corner of state and Mill Street uh thinking that it was going to be a project with rent restrictions and now we see on their website they're offering Studios that start at $1,700 a month and it seems like the deal with ulises gives them a lot of outs um in case uh something goes wrong and so I just wanted to advise a word of caution uh um and maybe add some things that will prot protect the city a little bit more in that deal thanks Megan o Farrell via Zoom followed by Jennifer hilderbrand hi uh can you hear me okay we can thank you perfect um for the record my name is Megan o farell and I'm zooming in today to um give my opposition to agenda items in the F category I don't think I need to spend a tremendous amount of time reiterating what has already been said in the room because I think it's very clear at this point that the problem that we're experiencing is that we are not listening to the data and the information that encourages us to not penalize people who are experiencing poverty because it does not solve the problem something that I would like to do today is amplify the voices of the people such as Lily Baron who just gave a very detailed information about how criminalizing poor people does not get people off the street and for business owners who I've been listening to on this Zoom meeting all morning I would like to encourage you to remember and not fall for the dangerous rhetoric that's being spread that if we continue to push these kinds of ordinances that your businesses will feel any safer or have any more security than you are feeling right now if you're actually interested in the safety of your business and in the safety of your community passing ordinances that continue to push people further into poverty is not the way to do it I'm going to encourage you to join forces with your neighbors who are trying to come up with Humane situations to support people getting out of houselessness and off of the streets through temporary Supportive Housing through housing first initiatives that actually get people off of the streets and create safer communities than any of the penalizing that we are offering today with these ordinances and agenda F item I would also like to uh reiterate that I think that the B8 agenda item needs to be pulled and put back into discussion because as we are talking about this increase in criminalization of people who are experiencing homelessness we are taking away vital resources that could help support people into transitioning into the next phases of their life in a positive manner please take that off and put it back into discussion and please oppose all of the ordinance changes in the agenda F items thank you Jennifer hilderbrand uh I didn't think I was going to speak today I was just coming to listen but after hearing some of the um speakers sharing their concerns I just want to offer you my perspective um homelessness is a concern it is I agree it's completely inhumane to let any human being we don't want dogs out in this cold weather we shouldn't let any human beings uh be stuck out in this cold weather scorching heat without proper housing without water without shelter you know from a Humanity perspective we definitely need to come up with a better model to help figure out how to get these people off the street that being said there is no you know one solution uh the reason why people are homeless are all for different reasons some people do just need that extra helping hand uh to get that momentum going in the right direction um but others don't I don't believe that they really want to get off the streets I think they like their freedom and it's just kind of the discomfort that comes with being homeless is the price they have to pay to not have to hold down a job I know that sounds cruel but where I'm coming from is I've managed property in this town since 2001 jumped into commercial in 2012 what I have seen time and again the amount of time and expense of cleaning up after homeless activity for my property owners uh between vandalism human excrement drug paraphernalia um in our stairwells in our elevators in our in our doors the entrances uh people sound asleep or being aggressive with people coming by I've brought people who were hoping to rent a space for me to a vacant unit downtown and was greeted with up to six homeless people one of whom was in my face threatening to kick my ass imagine you know do you think that they wanted to rent that space they didn't um it has happened more than once where I've been aggressively uh approached by a homeless person threatening to punch me in the face um simply because he didn't want me taking pictures of his items um I understand I understand that these people have some mental health issues I also understand that when you are not sleeping well you not in your right mind so it's it's a multifaceted approach but I want you to understand what my experience has been as a property manager I I've spent almost $10,000 on one property just constantly boarding up houses that they keep trying to break into and they caught a trailer on fire so then we spent four grand removing the trailer uh for the safety of the homeless so there's so many problem S I don't know what the permanent fix is affordable housing is one of them um but as far as this bill I am in support of it because I don't know what the bigger picture answer is but we do need to get the homeless off the street um my owners keep getting um cited by code enforcement to clean up their property downtown which I agree with but it's hard to get business to come back downtown when this is what business owners are greeted with on a regular basis so we do need to figure out a more positive solution to help those that want to get off the street do so and improve their lives or find a place for those that don't want to get off the street but find somewhere else for them to go so they can live their lives however they want to live but just not impeding the public so anyway thank you Gary CLE via Zoom followed by Jay Richard good afternoon M ice mayor and Council Members First thank you for your service to our city for the record my name is Gary sassel downtown resident and a w one NAB member I respectfully request that consent agenda item B9 be continued until a future council meeting and that it be treated as a non-consent regular agenda item I further respectfully request that in the meantime the city reach out to downtown residents to fully explain the ramifications of this proposed change to the downtown Reno partnership Services agreement before you vote on it this change apparently removes the long-standing practice of RPD providing supplemental police services for the DRP and to which thousands of downtown residents contribute a portion of their property taxes this change was not mentioned at the January 9th DRP luncheon to the best of my knowledge no Outreach has yet been made to either the D by either the DRP nor the city to downtown residents there are simply unknown Public Safety implications of these proposed changes many downturn residents so again please continue item B9 to a future council meeting as a full agenda item not as a consent agenda item and also please reach out to downtown residents to explain this proposal and take their questions and comments thank you for your attention J Richard everyone uh my name is Jay Richard uh I am a lifetime resident of Reno was born right here actually U right over at Renown uh back when it was Washo Medical Center um I stand firmly in opposition of uh the ordinances uh F2 or F1 F2 and F6 um I think it's rather ironic that folks come here saying that people uh are disrupting businesses last I checked people are what what pays bills yes v um jailing folks locking them up simply just for existing does nothing to grow our economy all it does is um is it it stimulates um sorry I I was I wasn't planning on speaking today but um it it's it it fills me with rage honestly to see to see so many people coming in here saying that we are not a government of the People by the people and for the people right now we are arguing and discussing over whether we should care for people or money as far as I'm aware money is a madeup human construct we should be using using these things these tools at our disposal to help people and and making it illegal for them to exist on the street does not push P them to seek better Services as it's been mentioned many times before um the services that are available to them are full they are not adequately available we need to increase those uh that Supply there is a huge demand we need to manage it um it's it's often talked in economics classes supply and demand right now our demand is way out seeding our supply we need to raise that you need to give housing that is as far as I I'm aware that is the only way the only proper solution to the housing crisis the only solution is to build housing locking people up does nothing that does not stimulate our economy all that does is gives it a sedative it just makes things worse think about it this way all those folks that are sitting on the street they're you know they're not maybe they're not paying taxes because they don't have an address to pay to or they don't have a job we put them in a if we put them in a house now they can get a job now they can start paying taxes we have more people giving into our economy we have more people to help lessen the burden of everyone else thank you Christopher Mullen hello reading city council my name is Christopher Mullen I've been laying on and off in Rio for about last seven years really from from California but I see this as a growing Trend across the United States where increasingly our cities are being made not for people they're not made for people to walk in they're not made for people to exist in but they're fundamentally made for profit since I didn't plan speak I don't have much else to say but I just want to keep in mind what what CES are made for that's it Madame vice mayor with that we have no additional public comment registered we did receive four comments which were General in nature or not directly associated with an agenda item prior to 4m yesterday January 21st these comments were voicemail or written corresponden received via our reno.gov online public comment form or by email to our office copies of these have been distributed to the Reno city council and are available to the public on reno.gov meetings one in favor and three of concern with that we're moving on to item A4 approval of the agenda thank you madam clerk I'll turn to to our city manager Bryant and asked if there's any changes or updates to the agenda yes Madam vice mayor thank you very much item D1 on the Redevelopment agenda which is the appointment of the members to the Redevelopment agency Advisory Board will be pushed to February 12th um we'd also like to notify the public that anyone who is interested in being appointed to that board uh the application period will close when week from today on January 29th at close of business 5 p.m. thank you mam I'll move to approve hold on just a sec uh city manager did we have D2 out of order no okay thank you thank you I've moved to approve we have a motion second motion and a second all those in favor I I all those opposed what what did you say about D2 um nothing it was my mistake oh all right okay um motion carries unanimously we will move on to approval of the minutes from the November 20th 24 meeting Madam vice mayor I'll move to approve all items in A5 A51 and A52 second we have a motion of second any discussion all those in favor I I all those opposed motion carries unanimously we are going to move on to the consent agenda Madam clerk do we have any public comment Madame vice mayor we do have public comment on this item we have DPAC Singh and amand deep car hello everyone good afternoon good afternoon kind of nervous never done that stuff before so I'm owner of was for liquor and gift and uh agenda B1 the what's it called Biga so he opening this business opening next to me like less than 20 ft away from me and we selling the S selling beer Wine Liquor grocery silver everything pretty much it will affect our business profit and uh what else and the City of Reno they already have a like so many business this area and top of that the Biga owner they already running the best liquor is family hust family they're running the same store 100 ft away from me and they opening another one next to 20 ft away for me and this area already priding all those business PR giving everybody grocery liquor everything this area so why we need more groceries store or liquor store in downtown top of the haris Clos nugger Clos and that side totally dead no business that side and I've been doing business almost 29 years this area since 20 years of I've been running that business and every year we think the economy go up and somebody else come up open the business next to us and economy go slow down they run away and we still putting money from our pocket to stay open and soon as kind like a renom mar 20168 they came in and they left right now the another business trying to open up same stuff same thing and hurting us now and uh it's threading like our long-standing business we've been doing this business uh our business open since 96 and I've been running since 2004 that's all so because we you guys already cutting down all the alcohol we losing money on there and uh and same business opening like less than 20 ft away and their family already running another business like 70 ft away from us so like five business they already running so this area that's all thank you hello my name is amandip k and I'm just one consult cityo is already cut off liquor license he needs like a no uh sales alcohol too much in downtown areas but beer and wine I think is the same one just one second sorry I'm first time so that's why I'm a little nervous just my one sir one I'm I know uh liquor license is not providing in downtown Reno areas but beer and wine is same stuff same one like a uh everything is same beer and wine is a like a I think same is the alcohol license so please I don't need the more stores in downtown area I need a something else like a restaurants P love restaurant because it's shortage in downtown restaurents but I think no needs the beer and wine and the liquor license thank you thank you very much do we have any other public comment Madame vice mayor we do not have any other public comment just for the record we did receive four comments directly associated with um varying consent agenda items one in favor two in opposition and one of concern those have been distributed to the Reno city council okay we'll close public comment and um ask council members for their pulled items on the we'll start with council member Ebert I'd like to pull excuse me sorry my voice is not great today B7 B8 B9 B10 B1 B12 B13 b14 B15 B16 and B17 please fantastic councilwoman um Durer council member derer thank you a couple of mine have been pulled I was going to pull B8 B9 B10 and B15 great uh council member re no ma'am council member Martinez nothing for me ma'am thank you councilwoman Anderson nothing additional okay can we with the 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 and 17 pulled can we please get a motion to approve the consent agenda motion to approve second all those in favor I all those opposed motion carries um just so Council knows we're going to try and move through the consent agenda so if you need to get up uh there's enough people here that we can do that one at a time and we will start off with um [Applause] B7 council member edber yeah hi hi so I just had questions about what what is included in this this is additional um recording devices are are these vehicles that we have that don't currently have recording devices in them or they upgrade or exactly they're um not upgrades they are vehicles that we have in our Fleet that weren't counted in our initial axon contract for a variety of reasons like the prisoner transport vehicle was not a fleet item at the time um Chief n for the record I don't think I introduced who I was I just started talking randomly um and then so that's a new one and then there are other cars in the fleet that don't have axon cameras specifically our Sergeant Vehicles okay um which it's really imperative that they have them also okay and then can you just kind of high level um you know to get this on the record can you just kind of say what this is for um it's for uh recording devices but is is it for inside the vehicle outside the vehicle or a combination uh some of the vehicles like the prisoner transport vehicle is outside and inside so it' be a dash cam that's uh activated when the lights are or lights are Sirens are activated or um inside the vehicle so that we don't have to have an officer riding in the back of the prisoner transport vehicle with the prisoner which is obviously unsafe yeah um so we would be able to see the I would say it's similar to a baby monitoring system where you they can be in the front seat driving and see if the um the people in the back seat are having any sort of medical emergency or maybe they came unrestrained or they had a weapon that they found somewhere so it's a safety issue for the officer we don't want them riding in the back of the vehicle with the prisoners obviously okay and then this obviously or I shouldn't say Obviously but does it This Record what's filmed or is this just for them to watch in real time no it's recorded um it's a cloud-based system so the information is stored uh consistent with the public records um and the state law what we have to retain records for if there is a case say uh say the suspect in the back of the vehicle does have a weapon or fights with the officers and it becomes a criminal case we would then download that that information for court cases later but everything else is held in the cloud and then deleted on a regular basis if not deleted just like the rest of our Aon systems great I do have a couple more questions I don't know do anybody El have any questions okay go ahead councilwoman e okay um It also says um first year of this expense will be borne by state forture funds for future years this cost will be incorporated into the general fund budget request for the department so is there a way that we can continue requesting State forfeiture funds for this or is that just a one time we can we will continue to get State forfeiture funds that we can utilize for other things but State forfeiture funds cannot be used for ongoing cost they're new items only okay so we have to uh articulate to the state forfeiture one of the requirements uh there's different a lot of different requirements but one of them it is it's not it's not supplanting a current existing uh contract so we can't use it for anything that we're paying for out of general fund currently it can only be a new item this is authorized because they're new equipment okay got it and then also I believe it says said that this wasn't in the fiscal um um plan that Council approved is there a reason for that did we just not know that we were going to need them yes these are new purchases of new so it's vehicles that did not have them that we either added to the fleet or they weren't counted in the original one like the uh the prisoner transport vehicle that's a that's a we had a prisoner transport vehicle a long time ago we did not have one any longer we were able to acquire one and retrofit it so that we can make that system easier that alleviates officers from having to leave their districts to transport a prisoner to jail um if we have multiple prisoners from a single event we can uh put them all together and we save officer space so they can get back on the street and then um I just had another question so some of the vehicles are new to having a camera you said like sergeants didn't used to is it was that accurate yeah so a different um it some of these they were not these were vehicles that were not counted in our original system for whatever reason so as we grow as a department as we develop more supervisor positions we've had 20 new full-time employee positions for two fiscal years in a row we get new vehicles these were not added in that original uh axon contract that I believe well it went to council before I even came here so these are vehicles that we've added since then okay is there any vehicles that have cameras now that it's due to like a policy change that we're you know adding more cameras or just because we didn't have the vehicles included for it's not no change for policy okay okay thank you I don't have anything else motion yeah I'll make a motion to approve second Motion in a second all those in favor I I any opposed motion carries unanimously we'll move on to item uh B8 council member Ebert so this this one I pulled because of some of the comments that we had today I just thought it would be relevant to discuss it um Can can you kind of give us an explanation as to why we would be voting on an agreement um hold on the uh demolition of the the existing facility prior to the sale yep because it is something that we didn't additional or originally agreed to so can you kind of explain why we're moving this direction potentially yeah so Brian McCardle rization manager for the record so uh in September we brought the exclusive negotiating agreement before this body to be approved with the deal terms sort of outlaid uh Council gave Direction on on proceeding with with all those deal terms and those were baked into the final purchase and sale agreement what came up during those conversations it could be potentially two years for the developer to get the funding mechanism to proceed with closing this deal so the question really came up is what do we do in the next two years while we incur costs on maintaining this property uh it currently costs the city about $6,000 a month to maintain those two buildings on record Street uh due to maintaining Safety and Security there break-ins um Windows get broken things like that so it does require maintenance uh as well as the risk that the city holds on whether someone were to break in damage the building potential fires things things like that um so safety security and the resources that continue to go into the those properties um it was decided maybe we should ask for the option to demolish the buildings um over the next two years rather than wait this isn't a we will demo the buildings these are the option that if we decide to it uh we can decide and this body can can decide um when and how those buildings do get demolished this is just giving us the opportunity to exercise that with ulses um and if we do demolish it that they would reimburse us up to a certain amount okay question 20 seconds okay um is there any way that we could condition that they pay for it I mean I know what we're waiting that was the negotiation with them is if we were to demolish the property they would reimburse us for the full cost of of demolition because in their in their plans they do plan to demolish the property um once we close on it but the condition of close is them getting their funding from the Nevada housing division okay which could be up to two years um council members if we can use the request to speak it will help me as we move through this but I'll move on to um council member derer yeah thank you um just to wrap up the demo question um years ago I managed a program flood project where I acquired a lot of property and a lot of buildings that were in disrepair and I know at some point I want to just agree with you that um you know became more prudent for the agency to demo the buildings and especially on security issues I mean if you're you're planning to demo and you're it gets a roof leak you're not running up there to patch the roof you're you know so it's going to just continue to deterior and so I agree with that my question is um what if they they are reneging on the deal I mean what what um push do we have to ensure they actually pay us for the demo um in this scenario where the the deal doesn't close we would have expended the funds to demolish the property um I will say in the appraisals the property was worth just as much if not more um being a fully scraped site um those buildings on property those build buildings on site um are past the point of obsolescence obviously they they've had some challenges my next question is um uh I voted with the for this specifically because it was designed to be an affordable housing project and I know we have this clause in that says they could move forward with a commercial project and my my concern on that one is that um if they cannot AFF effectuate the affordable housing then perhaps another developer could we have many developers working in that space at this time or at least a number if not the word many um and what I would like to see is if if um they cannot move forward with affordable housing that that come back to council and we can make a decision to either move forward with another affordable housing developer or if it's going to be commercial we cut out someone else that was ranked number two that um could have moved forward with a commercial developments just that wasn't the council's preference so I would like to see you know it's more about opportunity that if they can't move forward with what they pledged to do that we go with a number two on affordable housing or if it's going to be commercial that we open it up for a variety of commercial developers so that's what I would like to see is that a possible change I would say you know Ulisses are affordable housing developers if they cannot get the funding to do an affordable housing project it's likely that this deal will not close right and so at that point we could easily put out another RFP to develop this but can that be clearly stated here or understood I think the the clause in the contract you're referring to is based on NRS the city can only sell property without taking it out to the public only if it's for an economic development purpose the language in there says that if the use were to ever change um the contract still holds that whatever future use of this property has to develop an affordable hous or a sorry Economic Development purpose right and so that is really us um clinging to the NRS language on whether whatever happens to the site it has to be Economic Development I thought it when I read it it seemed to say that it had to be affordable housing I mean later in another parenthetical in in the in the whereas it do say restricted the intent of the sale is for an affordable housing project and if they do get their funding from the Nevada housing division they are encumbered for I think 15 years to provide affordable housing okay we're going to move on to council member Reese and then we can go back to another round and we'll start with council member Eber council member re thank you madam vice mayor Mr mcardell thank you so much a couple things one is how is uls's doing let a check-in moment they they've been fantastic to work with uh multiple calls they're making great progress on the project um Ryan wat is here from ulyses you can you're welcome to uh ask him questions as well they've been extremely proactive in pursuing this project well and they were proactive with me afterwards because I was an original no vote on it but we spent a great deal of time with them very impressed by what they're doing they also have a track record both nationally and here in building affordable projects my guess is if they can't build it no one can build it so I'm not really concerned about that uh for my part I do think it is better to demo the building and get the site cleared also I suggested in the past that we should uh figure out whatever we have to do with easements and uh uh anything that is needed to be you know revert to acreage combined Parcels all that Shuff should be cleaned up because whoever buys it and I hope it will be ulses and they'll close on it post haste um they would still need those things so for my part just as a property owner having a piece of property for sale we should scrape the Earth and fix all the land related issues with all of the Deeds um so that's my part there and then um as to the affordability component I suppose I want to make sure that I've been clear this property and this site should be affordable housing right it was previously a site where people received um you know Services there was housing on the site uh that is our intent I don't think it should be a commercial uh development although perhaps there could be a coffee shop on the ground floor or something you know unique like that um but I'm not concerned about that but I want to make sure that the agreement clearly spells that out and obviously you've already said as a practical matter if ulyses can't make it a go we've still got all the restrictive covenants about how we use to pay for it uh but please make it clear the second part of that is this question about what does affordability mean to anyone obviously affordability is a criteria set out by Hud in various regulatory Frameworks and the state of Nevada both I think they adopt very similar ones um what I want and what I hope ulses will hear us say is you will build your performa however you will and my hope is that performa will include affordability at various levels 30 60 80 right um if you can get me a 10 fine I mean you heard a public commenter talk about people who have very difficult needs I don't think it's going to be supportive housing but it could be any of those Matrix range and I'm open to it being shown to us right um I would much rather have b60 than 80 right who wouldn't but I don't know what the performer will bear out if it has to be a group of mixed uses and certain components are market rate and some are affordable I I'm open to that how do we make that happen so uh the classification of affordable with the Nevada housing division is the entire project income average has to be below 60% Ami um you list and you mentioned that last time and you Lally did hear it is that um it is the intent to possibly offer some at 30% Ami all the way up to 80% Ami but on balance on average the entire project must average out to less than 60% Ami okay and how do we ensure that that will be ensured by their funding through the Nevada housing division okay thank you so much council member Ebert oh morning uh yeah so um thank you for explaining all of this do you happen to have any numbers on like how how much it cost to secure this location I I don't know what kind of security measures we have do we have like guards patrolling or is it just an alarm system what what kind of security are we talking about um there are security costs uh we do not have a a service I don't know if you uh Allied or whichever our security company does but regularly they they go by this site they do deal with um security issues on the site quite regularly of people breaking in um it's on the regular route of of City assets that they go and check out um I don't have the exact cost for security but it is it is a uh a recurring cost okay and what's the cost for demoing we do not know yet we have not gone out to bid for the demo um in the contract it's uh not to exceed 670,000 um of the portion that ulses would reimburse to the city so if it comes over more than that we would have to have a conversation on uh whether okay with that price okay here's my concern and it's just financially um I want to really encourage um affordable housing too that's why we went with this group and I I voted for them because I thought it was had the the most affordable housing and I just want people that are watching or were here earlier for public comment to know that this Council does do what we can to um provide affordable housing where we can I mean this is a City of Reno owned property we can't use it as the record facility anymore because Washo county has to do those types of services so we are ensuring that this is going to affordable housing so I just want to say that out loud for everybody that the city obviously is trying to Pro provide more housing um but just in the interest of finances I don't know what's more cost effective just providing security or demoing it I feel like doing the demo costs a lot of money and we won't know for 2 years if this is going to go through or not so I don't think I'm going to support it just because I don't have numbers on um security measures uh at the location but um you know if we're only going to get reimbursed up to $600,000 for demoing it I I don't know if it makes sense for us financially um mam vice mayor if I could add something to the record real quick thank you Ashley turn assistant city manager uh one thing to note I did confirm that Allied security which is our contracted security company does Patrol this property so there is an additional cost for the city for that service uh to your point about cost for patrol versus the demolition one thing I will note uh has been noted by multiple departments in the city that unoccupied buildings continue to be an ongoing risk for liability and oversight for the city um anytime that a building is not occupied it will give us some opportunities for activities that could be dangerous for that property as well as nearby properties uh so that is one thing to take into consideration it may not be the exact tangible dollar figure you're looking for but that is an intangible to take into consideration well I imagine attorney we're gonna move on to council member ree you had your hand up I I don't see your hand Madam vice mayor um I want to be clear the funds whichever they are to be spent if they are spent a would still have to go out for bid is that correct correct and those funds would come from where um we don't know if it's General funds or if we want to uh seek Redevelopment funds to do this um under both scenarios when the property closes that would be reimbursed to whatever fund those of course I think though I I want to make sure that if it is Redevelopment related which I think it is we should fund it out of the Redevelopment agency so that's my thought thanks thank you council member ree I do see council member doers hand up now and this will be your second round correct yes okay all right um what I'm asking is that I was cut off a little earlier I had asked you a question but you weren't allowed to answer I'd like to get an answer so the the question was uh will this come back to us if it's not going to be affordable housing I'd like to see that as a caveat in the uh agreement yeah um if they cannot get their funding I doubt that this project will close and so it would require us to come back to council for another RFP correct okay I just want to make sure that's the process um because I don't quite agree with your assessment that if they can't do it no one can every one of these companies is set up differently has different expectations about a developer rate of return and so on and so I think you know it isn't an automatic that if they can't do it no one can so um we could potentially have a second shot or we could go forward on a commercial development if that to filled so appreciate that and uh as to the question earlier about this 30 6080 um I to recall that and I just wondered what is your uh you said that it's an income averaging thing but but what is their actual plan like they hav done architecture on the project so the at the minimum they have to produce 100 units of affordable housing that income averaged are less than 60% ammi all right great all right thank you very much thank you council member derer um I would just say for thank you very much we received some public comment I was able to forward that to you and your team and some of those folks were here today and I think you were able to address all of their concerns so I appreciate you taking the time to do that I do not see any other hands up from the right um You have one minute council member Ebert and then we're going to be looking for a motion yeah um so again just the interest of of being fiscally responsible I I'm not going to support this I know that there's risk associated with something happening to the building but there's risk associated if the lot's vacant that's where people um you know tend to um kind of encamp currently so I don't think that um the risk is that different you know to the surrounding buildings that we've heard a lot of people uh give comment today about um people next to their building so just to be fiscally responsible um I'm not going to support it if if you had numbers about the annual cost of um security and it was more than the potential demo costs I would but just considering it's an unknown I can't support it thank you council member Ebert um I'm looking for a motion Madam vice mayor move to approve staff recommendations second we have a motion in a second all those in favor please say I I all those opposed opposed okay motion carries with one exstension thank you very much we are moving on to item one opposition one opposition um we are moving on to item B9 and I have a disclosure for this item um Madame mayor fellow city council members and Madam clerk in the interest of full transparency on item B9 I am disclosing that I serve on the board of directors of the downtown Reno business Improvement direct District a nonprofit organization designated by city council to implement a clean and safe program of safety and ambassadors and maintenance workers throughout downtown Reno item B9 involves the amendment number two to the professional service agreement between the City of Reno and the DRP on this matter I have sought guidance from the city attorney's office here city council appointed me to the DRP board of directors as a director I have per se commitment in a private capacity to the interests of the DRP pursuant to NRS in addition I am a bid rate payer and I have pecuniary interest in the assessment the DRP provides clean and safe services that would otherwise fall to the city to provide because the DRP interest goals and operations closely align with the city's interest goals and operations my commitment and a private capacity to the interests of the DRP would not clearly and materially affect the independence of Judgment of a reasonable person in my position to Warrant exstension under NRS 281a 4203 um and number 18- 006a 2018 public officer is not required to abstain from acting on matters involving a nonprofit entity for the governing body where the interests are aligned while I have a pecuniary interest in the assessment the resulting benefit or DET detriment occurring to me will not be greater than that according to any other member of the bid in a similar rate tier the fact that I am a rate payer will not impact my ability to impartially review and render a decision upon these agenda items Madame clerk please accept this disclosure and launch it on the record for this meeting and subsequent meetings pertaining to these agenda items thank you um um council member Ebert or anything on this item I do not believe we have a presentation okay so on this item I just have a lot of concerns about what's being proposed to remove the additional um supplemental police support for the area so I'm just curious if somebody could explain what exactly that means so what what supplemental services are provided now and what would not be provided in the future if we remove this amendment from the agreement can anybody answer that um I can briefly address that we do we do have uh neom ma jardan who's the executive director of the DRP here to answer some questions as well um in the original uh business improvement district contract it said for the first three years the bid shall provide supplemental Police Services is um on an annual basis with a spe specified budget amount for 3 years after that year toe um it would be negotiated between the police department the city of Reno and the business improvement district to decide what level of services should be required in that area um last year uh the the bid decided that they wanted to add some more security bid officers um or ambassadors as well as additional ambassadors throughout the nighttime and so it was discussed with uh the city manager's office that um we could remove that clause for additional police services in the agreement itself okay but what additional Police Services were provided was it more Patrol like what what was it that they were getting I I can't speak to that okay um that was negotiated in the original agreement for the first three years um like we might have Mr Mr Maro can you do name and title for the record please Brian revitalization manager Chief n for the record and just to confirm because I might have missed your question it was what Police Services contract so it says that you know there's supplemental police services and the this is to this vote is to remove that from the services provided with this additional assessment that people pay on their property taxes yes so um it was listed in the original agreement that the city of uh that the DRP would give a financial um amount to the city to pay for a downtown bike Team um and that team worked two to midnight Wednesday through Saturday and they were um only in that area last year that um Financial um side of it was removed um and we did not receive that money this last fiscal year um and we but we continue to provide those services and as you heard in the last presentation I gave on the 11th um we actually provide more services downtown than we ever have before so okay so you said the the bik control wasn't happening oh sorry no that's okay I just see councilwoman Do's hand up so I was going to move on to her thank you um so I am not sure I'm if you could just stay I'm not sure I completely understand so the first three years there was an enhanced bike downtown bike Team that the DRP paid for I don't know the timeline so I can't speak to that I can tell you when I got hired I there was a I reviewed the DRP contract and I there was an item in there where they were paying the City of Reno for and part of that was to pay for a downtown bike team that bike Team worked two to midnight Wednesday through Saturday got and that is what they paid for so but they're not going to pay for it going forward if we do take this action they stopped paying for it last year and we kept doing it so what's the plan going forward we absorbed that um into the budget last year so that fin that B that financial burden was absorbed into the budget we have continued to provide a downtown bike Team the only difference um is that they are not exclusively assigned to the bid right now they are assigned to the entire entire downtown area which is primarily mostly the bid um and but that's really the only change that we've made we've still provided it the change is is we're carrying on uh we're actually expanded beyond the DRP area and the DRP is not going to contribute to that service yes they did not contribute as of last year and my int that my my understanding is that they're not intending so we're trying to clean up the contract to match the reality of what's happening right yes okay and so our I guess I'm going to turn to our manager I mean we're in some severe financial times we all want these Services absolutely but I just I I don't know what it costs to continue doing the bike Team without extra um assistance from anyone whether it's DRP or anyone do you know what the cost is and do you know if we can afford it even in these times of more austerity um I do not know thank you for the question I do not know what the cost is right now we will not Contin we will not be able to continue to provide the same level of service in the that weiding now we will not okay you're going to get an update later today that will explain where we are and some decisions will need to be made within the next 120 days about how we're going to continue our operations okay so I do not anticipate continuing to provide the same level of service with RPD in the downtown Corp simply because I don't know that we're going to have the same level the same number of police officers the next six months so I just wanted I thought we should say that in the out loud Not Just Pretend We're amending a contract with no consequence um there is a potential consequence and I I just think we have to be uh very aware and explicit about it and I don't know that we're going to cut it back I don't know what decision we're going to make later in the meeting but um I just thought it needed to be said and understood by me and everyone thank you thank you council member derer and council member ree I see thank you madam vice mayor I think um I sort of think about it at its core what are the agreements that we have with the downtown partnership and my understanding is that those downtown owners have assessed themselves a certain um increase above whatever they would otherwise pay to provide for supplemental cleaning supplemental Staffing the ambassadors and they have gone out in the last year and had more 24-hour Services they brought on like 10 more people to patrol the areas because they just feel like they have a better read on their needs um then um sort of this fiction we created which was like they would collect the money but then they would send some of it back to us to pay for additional police Staffing our police officers are doing a phenomenal job um whatever we do with them and with this team will be a decision we'll make in the budget but fundamentally I don't think that it's our job to sort of micromanage the budget of the DRP so that's why I view this as truly a cleanup of these items and not about some ability of us to hold on to dollars that we could then spend on something else they've already agreed that they're not doing that um and they've gone out and for the last year gone a different direction we've still provided enhanced Services quite frankly I think we probably do that because we're trying to focus on the downtown environs larger than the drps footprint uh but for my part I just view it as a cleanup of the Professional Services agreement and believe that the DRP should be able to control their own budget uh manager Bryant yes and thank you and just to be clear we're talking about two separate independent things uh this Council approved the budget of the downtown Reno partnership last year and that budget did include a reduction of $800,000 for the police services so this is a cleanup item but to council member der's Point as we navigate the next six to 36 months um I would not expect the same level of policing that is occurring down there right now but we will cross that bridge when we come to it thank you council member Ebert oh yeah so my question is does the amount that the people that live in this area um that they're assessed is has that decreased at all um the rate decrease last year so the rate the assessment rate that they um apply did decrease was it 5% yeah last year um and but property property values went up so the the amount that they collected last year in assessments was relatively the same as in in the previous year but the rate itself did get get a Max 5% decrease okay and is there a reason why they stopped um paying City of Reno for the additional police patrol I think it was a financial decision that they wanted uh security off security ambassadors and nighttime ambassadors as council member ree mentioned um they saw the need to deploy some of their resources so they re-budget it and and added some uh resources to their own okay organization here's where I have a problem with that we've had several people come in from this area with a lot of concerns about noise in the area and enforcement of uh ordinances regarding noise and things like that and um we need enforcement of these things downtown we had an ordinance go through making it possible for RPD to enforce things regarding noise and and whatnot and now we're going in a Direction that makes it more difficult for that enforcement to happen because DRP is not um paying those fees to the City of Reno to pay for those services so I don't know if everyone in that area has been notified about this requested change um I would certainly hope so because if I was paying for a service like that and I was coming down here to ask for additional enforcement over uh noise ordinances I think I personally would be concerned to hear that that change had been made without notification and I don't believe that these new security officers from the DRP are able to write citations or tickets or arrest people for um you know criminal activity so I think that this is um kind of a step in the wrong direction regarding what the people in that area have asked for directly um so and also I have concerns about um this okay if anybody else has questions I think oh um I have questions about this kind of bypassing the way that our property taxes are assessed in the state um they're being asked to pay certain things um with the expectation that they get certain services and that is um you know going up as well but they're not necessarily getting the same services um that they agreed to when they signed up for this um so I don't know if there's any information you can give me about that but thank you council member Eber um I guess I can ask coun or uh council member Jan um if you could just talk a little bit maybe about your board and this will go under my time fresh yeah um I do see councilwoman Durer but I'm going to go ahead and take around and then um if you could just tell us about your board who's on the board and if how the decision was made and talk about some of the Outreach please please absolutely theom jarden executive director of the downtown Renault partnership um we are represented by 17 members on our board and each one of those members represents a distinct different area or representation of downtown it could be a nonprofit it's elected individuals it's small business it's uh large assessment payers and the assessment is based upon their property value it is not a tax we are a private nonprofit that contracts services so the assessment and our budget is deployed based upon and direct correlation to what the assessment payers and the community is saying they want and what we discovered even before this last cycle which came before this body during your bud budget presentations and our presentation where the police funding was removed and put back into ours to deploy was there's strapped resources police now and certainly it sounds like going into the future that's nothing new um recognizing that and recognizing what we're seeing at the street level doesn't always rise to the level of what a police officer needs to respond to and enforce it is the sheer number of people on the street meaning ambassadors and security officers the deterrent nature of that and we did a direct response to what the assessment payers in the community said we want more ambassadors we want security guards we want overnight protection um and by the way we're in a little bit of a lull with regards to development and and values of properties we would you know like to not see our our assessments continue to grow and we directly responded to what our assessment payers were voicing to our Board of what they wanted so we in our budget presented to you and adopted was exactly that response so what we have done is we have added 10 security guards four ambassadors we have an overnight program and we lowered the assessment by 5% so do you have sorry do I didn't mean to interrupt you but do you have downtown residents on your board who voted on this already Yes okay we have uh two residential representatives and then we have others on the board that actually live downtown so we have uh multiple residents represented thank you okay hope that answer council member der thank you I just wanted to get clarity on something um that relates to DRP and I guess your representation Miss Taylor on the board um my understanding is we do have representation and you are it and that we do get a chance to vote on the budget is that correct so we are invested in whatever budgetary decisions are made um it's not us I I'll just use this word micromanaging the DRP we're active members of the DRP and I just want to get that Clarity is that true or are we sitting here we we have you as our representative but we're sitting here as our body can someone explain that relationship I'm going to turn to city manager Brian about our contract relationship with the oh yes I understand yes the City of Reno has contracted with the downtown Reno partnership to um act as our vendor in this capacity yeah and again like I said earlier the council's already approved their budget this Council does approve their budget right and uh this is a cleanup item and we we just it took a really long time to do the manual work about ascertaining what maintenance items needed to be identified and that's what took so long because we had done that work since this first began but to your point yes this Council does have oversight into their budget in addition to over I just want to make sure is our representation because we have oversight or is our representation because we're a paying member of the DRP I would say both I'll kick it to Brian McCardle to clarify yeah Brian McCardle again revitalization manager um of the 17 member board the city and the county both have seats on that board and so they can voting seats yes they are voting seats well that's what I just wanted to make sure that we we are in two places one we're on the board helping approve uh evaluate and approve the budget because we are an invested participant in the DRP and number two we're over here Contracting for services or whatever so I just I I thought it was important to get that clarified because I was starting to get a little squishy on on that so thank you thank you council member deer um council member Ebert you have uh your hand up you have one one more minute is that accurate yeah um yeah I'm sorry I can't support this just knowing what the community has said that they um need regarding additional enforcement for um noise um they've asked us to do new ordinances to help with the enforcement of noise I don't believe that these additional security guards are able to assist in that I think this conflicts with um things that we're working on um in the downtown area and I understand people may have asked for additional um help but I don't think that they realized that that was at the expense of losing additional supplemental um police um presence down there so um I understand that there's a board but I think if you were to do a survey with all the members um they would prefer to keep their additional um supplemental police uh enforcement down there and I'm saying that based off of the communication I've had directly with um constituents in the area thank you council member Ebert I believe I'm looking for a motion at this time move to approve staff recommendation second I have a motion and a second all those in favor I I all those opposed opposed okay motion carries with one opposition Miss Jordan don't uh leave before we say happy belated birthday to you my friend um I know it was yesterday but we'll pretend happy birthday and don't leave before the next Item B 10 okay we'll move on to item B10 council member eert I oh you pulled this too okay yeah I know thank you I wasn't planning on pulling this item until we had all of the com ments come in um I know we'll never be able to make everyone happy but I just wanted to um give you a chance to just talk about things that we are doing to support the community because we'll never be perfect but we are doing what we can to help the community so if you could just kind of talk about um what this is um says the City of Reno Parks and Recreation Department is supporting the collaborative effort between the Reno Initiative for Shel and equality um rise one trucky River and the trucky Meadows Park Foundation to establish the trucky River Urban Tree Workforce program program so can you explain what that does sure happy happy to explain it Nathan Elliot uh Parks and Recreation director for the record I believe we have uh Ben online too from Rise and I think he should explain what the wonderful work that his organization is doing but essentially um I think we're following Council direction to engage our citizenry and to find ways to connect folks who need that that hand up to to get back into the workforce and this is a great opportunity to do that and feel a need uh for maintenance along our River so um if Ben Castro is he on Mickey I think he would be best to talk about rise and then okay yeah happy and and we also have iris from one trucky River here too to answer questions okay okay good to hear Ben cro is not onl at this time but I'll I'll let Iris come up and talk a little bit more about the program yeah um Ben had an emergency but he should be online soon but I'll do my best from when I understand um so I feel like uh you you might be reaching for um how this is helping people uh to enter uh back into the workforce and so we uh have this program centered at County Crossroads program that rise also manages and so uh that is a program where folks uh you know work uh to get past substance abuse and uh they go through the program and then when they get to the workforce Readiness element of it then they're able to apply for the trucky River Urban Tree Workforce program and so it's a great opportunity to really support individuals that have made a really strong commitment to improving their lives and um it not focus just on uh basic jobs but to really support them to uh get to be an arbalist um you know maybe all won't uh go to that direction but also Landscaping uh pesticide application those kind of things um jobs that have been identified uh with a lack of uh candidates to apply for so I I think it's a win-win and I'm really excited for uh you know this it's it's small it's very small we have funding for five crew members and that is till March of 2027 so but it does everything I think uh for the trucky River and the community that's that's good and I I just want to mention too that those crew numbers I think really come with a basis of experience and knowledge that is very helpful out in the uh stretch of the river that we're focused on thank you so much council member der yeah thank you um I too pulled the item for similar reasons because I think it's very unique it's the first time that we're giving job training on a particular field versus generalized how to be a worker how to do a resume and I really wanted to give a shout out to um Council me former council member Nea jardan in the audience because she was the um push to start Reno works and this program is very much modeled on a Reno Works concept where um the city is partnering uh with a variety of folks to give people the job skills that they need uh to become um housed for example self- sustaining really and the fact of course that it's about trees I love that um but further I had some conversations with former council member NE jardan about the North Bank of the trucky between Lake and Wells Avenue and she's particularly concerned about the tree of Heaven that's been growing there and I had an opportunity to talk to you and the team about making sure we were going to be addressing both banks of the river south and north um because that's a particular concern to the downtown Reno partnership um people it's easier to set up camps when the terrain is covered with very leafy plants which tree of Heaven are um they're they're pretty inhospitable plants they're very invasive they have thorns um they're not pleasant to deal with so kudos to the folks that are going to try to eradicate them I think they will require application of pesticide near the river which is a very unique and specialized Talent not something I generally endorse in any setting um I never want to see pesticide sprayed or used but there are certain uh invasive species that require them in various States this is one here and so I wanted to make sure that we gave um proper recognition to council member jardan about Reno Works getting us started on a path uh to helping people with more self-sufficiency and also helping her now in her current role with the DRP in terms of addressing the the bank itself so um thank you uh Iris for making sure those issues were covered and I also know it's going to take resources from the city I talked to Matt BAS at the end of our urban forestry Commission meeting last week and said are you going to have the time to like supervise this and do all the things you're supposed to do and respond to comments and Advance our tree canopy and he said it's getting ever tougher you know he is only one guy so um I know we're in a budgetary shortage but I'd hate to have any positions cut from there especially since we're expanding the duties not Contracting them so thank you thank you for everything can I respond to that really briefly quickly I just want to say that I agree I I don't like the idea of pesticides um but it's uh we're using a a safe model I I don't that that feels a little bit better but I was um good to know that they're they're injected directly into the roots and then I want to us just just be patient with us because I'm learning that um to eradicate The Tree Of Heaven it takes many years of application so we're at it good to know um but it's going to take time thank you so much thank you council member Ebert you pulled this item do you want to get give us a motion uh yeah um I'll make a motion to approve second you have a motion in a second all those in favor I I I all those opposed motion carries unanimously thank you very much thank you Item B 11 council member Ebert hi hey chief n oh is the next one maybe we can pull two together I have 11 and 12 yes okay is right if we open 11 and 12 yes okay do we have to say it just keep moving I know but I don't you have to officially open it we're going to uh open a b11 and b12 together so um I always like to talk about grants that you're receiving and things that the Reno PD uh you know is doing with these funds so I pulled b11 and b12 um one is for a a Jag um what is it Grant yes on B12 and the other one is a a grant for $110,000 for for public or from the Department of Public Safety um the office of Criminal Justice so um for the uh Regional gang unit program so can you just kind of give us an overview of what RPD will uh do with these funds and if they're like ongoing programs or new equipment or just kind of what's what's RPD going to do with this uh yes achieve dance for the record both of these are Jag Grant items so they're the same type of Grant but we're using them for two different things one was applied for by the regional gang unit uh the RPD side and the other one was for heat the human traffic or human exploitation and trafficking unit these grants will fund technology uh software uh overtime and uh some equipment and then training that the officers need in these uh groups to continue their expert testimony in court and to continue to do best practices for both gang and uh human trafficking uh investigations okay and do find that we need to like expand our human trafficking kind of um resources to help fight that or deal with it or um you know you hear um things about that being on the rise like are we expanding that program or is this kind of just just keep it going uh this does not expand the program this allows for us to continue the services that we're providing uh the human trafficking unit and investigations team is uh uh Missing individuals that were from the team that we should be Staffing we cannot staff right now based on vacancies um that we're holding within the police department okay all right any question I don't see any other hands raised on my screen um we're looking for a motion um I did have one more question are these grants that we get every year are they annual pretty much or is this one and done no we apply for these grants every year and we have been successful in receiving the money every year it's not a guarantee that next year when we apply we will get them but we have been very successful in receiving these grants every year thank you all right I'll make a motion to approve items b11 and b12 second we have a motion a second all those in favor I all those opposed motion carries thank you so much we're moving on to item B13 and I believe this is council member Ebert hi it's k Wilson assistant director of public works for the record all right so um this is for the um acceptance of a grant for um school zone uh flashing beacons can you just kind of tell us where these are going to go and and just a little bit about what this is for sure um I'm I'm very excited exed to be here today to uh to for this item um and this grant was uh made uh possible through the Nevada Congressional Delegation from uh Senator Cortez masto uh Senator Rosen and Congressman amaday office and this million-dollar Grant is going for the purchase and installation of school zone flashing beacons so um we have about uh 200 school zones throughout the City of Reno and these school zones are essentially those areas next to schools or around schools that are designated as school zones and of those school zones there's 115 that are still a backlog that there need for the installation of these school zone um beacons and this uh this uh Grant will uh reduce that backlog by approximately 50% so uh we utilize a a um a a process for uh for um predictive process that we use for for allocating the the the the prioritizing the locations um the collections the Bas of of need are based on historical historical accident data and traffic volumes um and we also consider things like uh whether or not it's an overhead Beacon or a side mount Beacon their their cost liage are quite a bit different between the two um so our objective here is essentially we will prioritize the locations uh work with the was County School District and also safe routs of schools to uh get the locations identified and then bring a contract back to council uh con Construction contract back to council for the locations in the W of those Lo okay so we would accept this Grant and then in the future we would approve the the contract to use these funds to install the crosswalk flashing weekends yes okay um and do these have to be used in school zones we had a gentleman share about a area that um was not safe for pedestrian um Crossing today um is there any um review of areas that are not necessarily in school zones for this for this grant it has to be used in school zones yes okay okay council members I don't see any other hands raised uh looking for a motion another please okay um I wanted to know too does the RTC like contribute anything to this or the Washo County School District I'm aware of several instances of City of Reno installing these uh walk flashing begins but um I'm just you know um want to know how how invested RTC is in installing things like this also and and also wasow County School District when um we have about 200 school zones um I I'm just curious if if the City of Reno is expected to um install beacons at all of them or what kind of commitment do we have from waso County School District and RTC on this sure so for the was County School District uh they they do coordinate with us if there's an installation of a new school the the the idea is is that they they would install the the beacons at a time that the school was being uh established as far as U our partners at the RTC uh we do uh look to see if they can if they're are able to through some of their spot intersection projects and contribute for the installation of school's own beacons okay so the the older existing schools Washo county is not contributing to the installation of of school no they they will when they when they up when they upgrade the the school zones but we do work in partnership with them for the for to getting those installed okay do we ever ask for reimbursement for any of these installations I haven't we haven't what's Grant it's just a grant you know for that so that we'll be basically utilize the grant for the installation yeah I yeah I understand but for any well I guess it's not relevant all right thank you um motion I'll make a motion to uh accept second have motion a second all those in favor I I I all those opposed great motion carries unanimously and we're going to send it back to councilwoman eert for item b14 you get your briefings right you are you get your I do but I think it's important to have these things said publicly we have a lot of commenters talking about things that are relevant to our agenda so so I think it's good to talk about him and give a little bit more information about what city arena is doing perfect okay great so um Suzanne this is about um city of Reena was awarded 280 basically $280,000 um to install two fast charg electric vehicle stations at the public safety center so um is this a grant that we apply for annually or was this uh a unique Grant or something or how did how did um you find out about this and and apply for it sure Suzanne grman for the record sustainability managers so this is uh what's called formula funding under a onetime EBG which stands for Energy Efficiency conservation block grant program we received it in the past in 2009 they did award it again under the iig so this was our formula funding which meant it was a set allocation as long as we applied for it and it was for an eligible use we would be awarded the funding okay and I just wanted to talk about the fact that the City of Reno is prioritizing things like the sustain sustainability um measures and our in our construction and our our new projects and and properties at the City of Reno um so I just wanted to say thank you for your work on these um grants and um yeah thank you thank you all right and any questions for anyone else no okay I'll make a motion to accept you have a second all those in favor I all those opposed great thank you you know the drill councilwoman Ebert no I think this is mine is this yours okay okay well I'll just take the lead here this time um I asked for this item to be pulled because I want to acknowledge the work of the Wild Horse connection um and there are two people in the audience or there were um representing that organization when they heard that we didn't have enough money uh when we discussing the arpa funds and possible reallocation um they went and put out a further appeal they had appeared before us I believe it was December uh to contribute $115,000 to the project and they put out a further appeal and they ended up raising another $32,500 for the project and I really again I think it's unprecedented that um at this point they'll have um contributed once we accept this uh $45,000 city project and um you know we often talk about public private Partnerships and we like to tout those but often the public private Partnerships with a private business and it's rarer that we have a partnership with a nonprofit and I wanted to acknowledge that um in the interest of time I'm not going to ask for a photo op um we did that before but I did want to thank them and I didn't know I I also want to put one more thing on the record um there are some Alternatives being considered for which way the fence would go and um that's all getting worked out in let's say the next 30 to to 45 days um based on some things with NDA but I know that this money is specifically for one of the Alternatives that makes sure that the offense attaches to the um South Virginia and a fence there um they think that would be the most protective um keep the most horses out and would complete the circle uh for the foreseeable future the other option is being considered would not do that um and is much less certain so um if we don't build this a lot of these people have donated specifically and explicit with the idea that we will fence all the way to Virginia Street and there and I have gotten documentation now from Public Works that with their money we now do have sufficient funds to do that project plus a little bit for contingency so I just I want to go on record and saying that if we don't build that alternative going to the fence um of which the basis uh which is why we need the money they that we would refund the money um if we don't end up building that but I want to really thank you um I see uh Tracy Wilson nodding I don't know if you have anything to add but you know you're welcome to come up and I just again want to say you really have gone above and beyond and helping us do this project uh Tracy Wilson for the record and I uh I am the Nevada state director with American Wild Horse conservation volunteer liaison with Wild Horse connection I can speak on behalf of the Northern Nevada or the Wild Horse Alliance of Northern Nevada which encompasses like five or six different organizations all of us are incredibly grateful for the continued work on this and seeing it through to the end and um I know mayor shi's not here but her persistence in saying bring me a plan bring me a plan bring me a plan to make this stop so really it's just a huge thank you okay thank Tracy council member Ebert oh yeah I just kind of to Echo what um council member derer said just you know thank you for your partnership with this um you know it's it's about the horses it's also about Public Safety um and it's really taken a lot of collaborative work to get this done and we're almost at the finish line so just thank you for helping us get there and um yeah it's really important for a lot of reasons so thanks so much for your help council member dur can you please do the honors here I will first I just want to say that um I've really been impressed with the Outreach generally and at our last meeting uh when we discussed this in depth mayor shivi said she was going to bring it to the RTC commission the Regional Transportation Commission to see if members of that body would be willing to donate some of their coun their commission funds and they did and I wanted to recognize um our council member Devon ree for a $10,000 commitment also mayor loose Garcia waso County Commissioner for a 10 $1,000 um contribution and then mayor shivi for a $20,000 contribution um in her future funds and all of those have been counted in terms of making sure that we can meet the bill now we don't have the bid yet um they're going out to bid shortly uh we presume this will meet the bid with a little bit of contingency that's why it's very important to be conservative but um it's incredibly I guess inspiring that other agencies have stepped up uh not just so that's $40,000 from RTC members but also we last meeting talked about a $280,000 from endot to help us with the endot portion and of course if the endot portion costs less uh they will pay less and if it costs more I understand they'll probably contribute more but they're basically paying for the entire fencing and cattle guard around Geer grade um several council members here have made commitments I wanted to recognize council member uh Brandy Anderson who's also on this list for $5,000 and myself who's on this list for $20,000 at this time with more if needed um so we're just waiting for those bids to come in until we have the final figure for Revenue but this is truly a remarkable partnership for many many people and there have been some big donors out in the public not not just the amounts we're speaking of that we've contributed with our public funds but even greater amounts with private dollars so um again this is going to get finished one way or another the team has pledged to me basically by next fall there always seems to be a oh what about this and the weather and the concrete but one way or another it's going to get done so thank you looking for a motion for me and I'm happy to make a motion on item B15 uh to accept the funds second we have a motion in a second all those in favor I I all those opposed then motion carries nously thank you so much Council for your work on this and we are moving on to B16 hi I should have opened this at the same time as the other one um just want to find out a little bit more about this so this is um to support the 136 units of affordable housing um and the development by ulsi Development Group at the records currently the record Street facility that's not in use so can you just tell us a little bit about what this this um agreements for sure um for the record Elaine wisman housing manager um so basically this is um just the first step in ulyses applying for their financing so they're going to apply for tax exempt bonds for the construction of the affordable housing project and then tax credits to support the equity and lower the cost of the projects overall so in order to do that they have to have a a resolution of support from the local governing body um that supports the project and they they include that with their application for tax exempt bonds um and that's like the first step for them to start the financing process great so I really just um wanted to talk about this because I wanted to make sure the public is aware that the City of Reno is engaging and helping to bring in affordable housing into the community that we're aware of the need for more affordable housing units and that we really um doing everything that we can um to help address that situation I know that we'd all like to snap our fingers and have a ton more housing available but it just doesn't work that way um so thank you for your work on this and um I just wanted to make sure everyone was aware of the steps that City of Reno is taking council members other questions I do not see any hands raised motion all right thank you yeah all right uh motion to approve second we have a motion in a second all those in favor I all those opposed fantastic motion carries anonymously thank you very much for your work and I believe this is the last item on consent uh B17 that was pulled by could I have the overhead Mickey I'm sorry Sor ncky could I have the overhead please council member Ebert yeah y just wanted to take a look at the roads so these are new to City of Reno um due to new construction new homes being built out there so these areas will now be part of the street sweeping routes they get sweeped what once a month right um snow plowed in the winter there's time to get to them um just kind of what happens to these areas now that they've been accepted by Reno Mike Michelle engineering manager for the record um so upon the approval um of this item these the the streets that you see will become uh city streets maintained by us and we will be responsible for uh you know repairs and potholes and all that what about sidewalks do we does anybody have to shovel sidewalks or sidewalks are the responsibility of the adjoining um proper owners okay all right so I guess that was it thank you very much I'll make a motion to approve second we have a motion a second all those in favor I all those opposed motion carries unanimously thank you very much we are going to take a break and we're going to come back in 30 minutes which would be 220 I e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e now e e e e are we ready Madam clerk we are all set Madam vice mayor okaying at 2:22 with council member Ebert and mayor shivi absent fantastic we will go ahead and move on to our C items which are the public hearings we are going to um open the public hearing C1 through C3 together Madam clerk was proper notice given and any correspondents received for C1 through C3 Madame vice mayor proper notice was given and no correspondence was received on items C1 C2 and C3 thank you and I will ask our legal legal team to read the ordinance please item C3 ordinance introduction bill number 7293 case number LDC 25-15 ordinance to amend Title 18 chapter 18.02 of the Reno Municipal Code entitled zoning rezoning a plus or minus 0.75 Acre Site composed of four Parcels located on the northeast corner of Sutro Street and Carville Drive extending plus or minus 250 ft East along the north side of Carville Drive south of Hillboro Avenue and multif family residential 14 units per acre mf14 to multif family residential 30 units per acre mf30 together with matters which pertain to or are necessarily connected there withth W one thank you Mr Hall um I will ask council members for disclosures starting to my right n none no disclosures Madame vice mayor have a disclosure okay thank you I'll also note for the record I'm I don't know that I need a presentation on these but I'll wait to see you're doing here okay uh Madam our fellow council members and Madam clerk in the interest of full transparency on item C1 two and three I am disclosing that I was appointed by the mayor and currently serve on the board of directors of the Reno Housing Authority a nonprofit organization closely aligned with the city to implement affordable housing projects in Reno item C1 C2 C3 involve a future affordable housing project on the northeast corner of Sutro Street and Carville drive on this matter I have sought guidance from the city attorney's office here the mayor appointed me to the RH a board of directors as a director I have per se commitment in a private capacity to the interest of RHA pursuant to NRS 281 1 a. 0656 because interest because rha's interest goals and operations closely align with the city's interest schools and operations to provide affordable housing my commitment in a private capacity to the interest of RHA would not clearly and materially affect the independence of Judgment of a reasonable person in my position to Warrant abstention under NRS 281a d. 4203 um public officer is not required to abstain from acting on matters involving a nonprofit entity before the governing body where the interests are aligned Madam clerk please accept this disclosure and LOD it on the record for this meeting and subsequent meetings pertaining to this agenda item thank you Madame vice mayor um in the absence of anyone's need to hear presentation I think these are fantastic and really don't have any questions do we have any other council members with questions okay hearing none I'll move to uh upold the recommendation of the Planning Commission and as to the master plan amendment I move to adopt the resolution tion is that item C1 and C2 combined we will have separate uh motions on each thank C1 that's my first motion okay we have we have motion to Second all those in favor I all those opposed fantastic motion carries unanimously Madam vice mayor on the zoning map amendment I move to refer the bill for second reading and adoption second Motion in a second do we have any further comment all those in favor I I all those opposed motion carries the unanimously C3 uh Madame vice mayor on Charlie 3 I moved to um oh has it already been introduced so I'll move to refer do you need to read anything Carl nope we're good okay second we have a motion in a second all those in favor I I all those opposed motion carries unanimously thank you very much we are now moving into thank you so much uh RHA and the team and this is a great project Amazing Project so thankful very grateful okay so moving into the D items we have a financial update and do we want to open the RDA at this time Madam clerk yes ma'am so if we can open the Redevelopment agency board for Wednesday January 22nd um I will take roll call council member Taylor D here Martinez Ebert abent at this time ree here Anderson shivi absent at this time Madame vice mayor you do have a quum of the Redevelopment agency board thank you madam clerk do we have any public comment we do not have any public comment registered on this item okay moving into approval of the agenda move to approve and if I could just State um if I can have manager Bryant just remove that item from this agenda that would be helpful I'll move to approved with the removal of item D1 from the agenda second we have a motion second all those in favor I I all those opposed motion carries unanimously thank you very much um item A5 approval of the minutes from the regular October 23rd and November 20th meetings move to approve second I thought I heard a second motion second all those in favor I I all those opposed motion carries unanimously and we will open up oh let's see here we have a Department items how do you do you want to do the RDA agenda through that right now or do you want to move into together C1 and D okay we're going to do C1 RDA and D1 council and D1 council hi viky so Madame vice mayor if you can Oh no you're right thank you so C1 on RDA and D1 on regular agenda thank you good afternoon Madam vice mayor and council members Vicki van Bean Director of Finance for the record before you today I have your second Financial update I'm doing these quarterly now for you at Council and so this one uh will be the second one for this year today's update is just going to be on the general fund it aligns with our strategic plan under fiscal sustainability and with the general fund we want to give an update with this particular one because this is the one we struggle with building build the budget for each year it's the largest fund as the city it was adopted with two $340 million including fund balance as adopted before you you'll see the breakdown of that adopted budget this is the current year budget the current year budget was adopted before the labor negotiations were complete and so you'll see an extra little piece at the top highlighted in yellow that has an $8 million in onetime funding that funding was needed to cover the contracts that came in higher than budget at the time when the budget was approved and Council approve the use of these one-time funds to cover that budget Gap in the current year that budget Gap that we see that $8 million we can only overcome that by increasing revenues or decreasing expenses as we move forward we know we have that Gap in the current year and as we move forward we have to plan for that in the revenue side or the source side of the P that you see here C tax which is Consolidated tax it's mostly made of sales tax liquor tax cigarette tax and uh real property transfer tax so it's but it's mostly sales tax it's very volatile it's our largest revenue Source in the general fund and then property tax is the second largest source between those two it's almost 60% of our revenues come from just those two sources on the expenditure side you'll see salaries and benefits equate to 76% of our budget so we are a people we're in a people business we're providing services to the community and so most of our budget goes to providing those services with the people that provide those services so the largest piece of our budget isn't as flexible as we might need as we move forward um with some of the challenges that we have kind of coming ahead operating expenses account for about 20% that includes everything that we need to keep doing everything that we do software equipment Vehicles insurance premiums all the things that keep the city running um really those haven't increased a lot over the years that I've been here um they've been very flat and budgets have been flat in that area and departments have had to learn to um go out and to bid find better ways to do things um use technology in in new ways to keep those cost low so in those areas departments have done really well but we are going to face some challenges as we move forward in the current year um the budget itself is um balanced but it's balanced with that $8 million of onetime funding when we look at the current year we say where are we at in the current year we need to know where we are currently so that we can build the budget for next year we need to figure out are things coming in on budget are things under budget what type of um savings are we seeing what type of changes do we see that we need to adjust for for the next year's budget so before you you'll see the fiscal year 25 general fund budget and this is the status of the current year where we think we are today right now what we're seeing um is that c tax that Consolidated tax that biggest piece is flat year-over-year what we've received so far to date is July August September and October so we have four months of data for seax at this point right now that is trending flat year-over-year so what that means is we've received exactly the same dollars in that same time frame last year as we did this year normally you see growth in this space and we need to see growth as a city in this space just to maintain what we have since we're so people oriented and and we our stuffing costs are the largest piece of our budget so we have to grow in revenues otherwise we can't sustain what we already have and so that's a concern here um so we are showing under budget here by about $5 million if the trend continues and it stays completely flat the other area is franchise fees franchise fees initially when I put this together uh built this up we were running about 15% under budget we've received another data point for sanitation and we've uh received some new information for sewer so those have been updated so now we're showing about 12% under budget but right now franchise fees com in quarterly so really those I only have one data point at this point I will have a second data point at the end of January and then property tax I'll have have a second data point really at the end of January as well so this is our working model we continue to update this as we move along as this changes the model for next year will change a little bit too because if these come in above or under where we think that's how we build out next year's budget um to make sure that we're still trending as everything's trending along so right now we're estimating we're going to be around $8 million short in revenue and it's mainly from those two areas SE tax and franchise fees franchise fees fluctuate um typically they grow year over-ear but they do fluctuate based on consumption and also on the weather so if we don't have really cold weather it's going to fluctuate because the usage is down um and I think a lot of that is what we're seeing both the consumption drawback where people are adjusting their thermostats and then also we're seeing um just not as cold of a winter as as we've seen in previous years so year-over-year we're not seeing that growth in the expenditure side um the city manager has given because we know that these things were are some challenges we have in the current year the city manager's given direction that the Departments are to include a 2% um decrease in their current service and supplies so departments are going through and seeing where they can save money in this current year of at least 2% has been mandated that they do that looking at that we look at um where other things are coming in uh to project out where we think we'll end the year between vacant positions and those savings that we anticipate we think we'll have around7 million of savings so between the revenues and the savings that the revenue shortfall and the savings that we're going to have um we're estimating around $1 million short this year um I fully uh I'm fairly confident that this will be resolved as we move through the year because we will continue to um update our salary and benefit Outlook to see vacant positions and things as we move along and if departments actually uh find some other savings and things as we move forward as I draw back you know and tighten our belts a little bit I think that this will resolve itself by year end so this year I do believe it is not a concern um as we look to next year we do have some things that we have to consider so the economy so as we look out for next year what does that look like well tax bill sales are flat right now in waso County and that's from July through October we are not the only ones in this boat both city of Sparks and was County have both come out recently and said they are experiencing the exact same thing flat Revenue growth is not good for us we don't want we certainly don't want to be in a recession where you're losing money but flat Revenue growth doesn't work either because of the people base that we are so you know so strong in the people base that we have to have growth in order to do those uh step increases the colas and the things in the cbas we still have to grow in order to fund the things that we have and so the flat growth is not um it's going to be challenging for the most part it's anticipated potentially three to five years we don't know yet the real thing is we've gone through recessions before we kind of know the flow of those and how we lose the money and it kind of comes back gradually what we haven't done really is go into the soft landing and that's really the space where we're at now where the feds have done some things to kind of produce a soft Landing to reduce inflation and so we really have to be cautious as we move forward to make sure that we're flexible to adjust as we um build these budgets CPI the inflation rate came out in December a lot of our fees and the fee schedule are adjusted by CPI so that's 2.5% that will be the those adjustments will be done on the fee schedule as well as updates to other items on there that we'll come back to you during the budget workshops and then the sewer rates the user and the connection fees are also adjusted by CPI that same 2.5% so that's the only growth we will see in that space as well potential impacts of the 25 legislative session we're not really sure so there could be some things coming out as we move forward and continue to build that impact it Federal Reserve reduced interest rates uh three Cuts in 2024 trying to reduce inflation we anticipate there'll be a few more in 25 one of the things with inflation though is even if inflation slows it may have little effect because the prior year inflationary impacts those costs don't go down as much as they just flatten out so they've increased and then they kind of flatten out so although we may be saying we're reducing inflation the impact of it we're still going to feel it in more of the flat sense for the volatile economy that I put on here just the general uncertainty and again it's because we haven't been through that soft landing and we don't really know what that's going to look like right now it's looking like very flat revenues um especially in the area of sales tax and the Consolidated tax that we're seeing and I'll kind of demonstrate that on the next few slides and I didn't mention this but I have 12 slides so I just want to get through the 12 and then we'll have questions at the in so this is your preliminary look at fiscal year 26 the general fund budget um the state has projected that we that the current year we would have zero growth um overall and then next year would be 2% and the year after that would be 2.7 that's that flattening again we don't necessarily use the State numbers because sometimes what they're seeing at the state level isn't what we're experiencing at our level so it may be higher or lower based on that right now we are ex seeing that exactly 0% growth in seax on our side so I am using the state projections at this point the 2% growth in SE tax so that's in there property tax I think is going to decline just a little bit as far as growth-wise because of the reduced building permits during the time when the uh interest rates were higher so I think that uh the new the new construction piece of the property tax we're going to see that a little bit less um still we won't have those final numbers until March 25th is when we get the final property tax numbers I will have a little bit better estimate in February as we continue to Roll Along um when I get some updated numbers from the county but again the finals won't come until March um franchise fees I did update as I mentioned the other slide uh with some new data when that Updates this updates we do know that they knew that uh CPI is the 2.5% and so you're after that 2.7 so if you look at the little arrow I put the little arrow on there just so that you could kind of focus on those five years of kind of flattening there if you think about this just in you know basic math if we were to grow four $4 million which is normal growth in fiscal year 23 we grow another 4 million in 24 and you continue to have that compounding growth that you would normally have that's $20 million of growth over this 5year period that we don't have because you don't have the compounding effect of it continuing to grow and right now we're in year three of this so we haven't really seen issues of this because can you absorb it in can you figure out other ways and absorb it in different ways for a couple of years yes but once you see this continued impact of it that compounding effect of it not growing year-over-year while you're expenditures are growing that's where it's creating the pressure where we're under to create this new budget so just to summarize how do we get here that slow Revenue growth the slow Revenue growth The increased um cost for labor and the compounding effect of both of them the compounding effect um not just of the labor but of the revenues is is really what's creating this Gap and so um the labor negotiations had multi-year contracts except for iff when you go into these multi-year contracts you anticipate you're going to have normal growth which we did and that is one of the risk of doing a multi-year contract um one of the benefits is you know what you have when you're building the con building the budget so right now as we build the budget we know what's in those contracts and what we need to cover versus where we were last year same time last year um we do have a payroll system that does have a lot of things that are having to be done manually and so some of the paybacks that need to be corrected like flsa and some of the compaction things that we're seeing um are Corrections because of the system that we're using because of some of the manual processes so those are Corrections that we do need to do um retirement costs have gone gone up significantly and retirement costs across the board for regular rate this year the change is a little over 3% and for police fire it's almost 9% change for the budget that we're building for next year so when you think about that for example like police fire if you're going from 50% to 58.7% that's for every if you think about every dollar we spend for a salary uh that costs almost 60 cents in retirement for that dollar for that $1 and for a regular member it's for every dollar you spend that's 37 cents just for the retirement piece of it for the city so this is a significant very large cost and if you look at it even bigger you say Okay $100,000 is a salary that's almost $60,000 in just for the retirement piece of it for that position um it's it's a compounding so um the Baseline budget for next year as we built it does not have any enhancement and it does reflect that structural deficit it and it's probably around 25 million once we factor in all of the the unknowns that we still don't have as we build this out and we'll continue to build it and continue to update as we move through this process so questions have come up hey why can't you use fund balance why can't you just use fund balance and fix it and we just move on well fund balance is not a savings account fund balance is the money that we use for cash flow fund balance is the money that's in between when we have revenues coming in so a lot of our major Revenue sources like property tax and franchise fees only come in quarterly and so in between those quarterly payments we have to make payroll we have to pay the bills as they come in the invoices as they come in if we don't have that fund balance we are not able to do that so it's not really a savings account and dipping into it a little bit yes can we to cover a few things but that's not going to solve this problem that we're talking about here we currently have a 15% fund balance equates to about $41 million and that's about two months of operating expenses we need a minimum of about 10% in order to pay our bills as they come due if we dip below that 10% we start to have to hold bills 30 days 60 days trying to create that lag time until we can have enough revenues coming in to pay those bills um and then there's a potential below 10% that we would have to ask for ad es from the county which the city has done before um uh when I was early on with the city they were doing that where they ask for advances on property tax just to cover bills as they come do so this is the real reason we can't we can't rely on fund balance to fix this problem so if we look at fund balance what does it look like if we didn't do anything and we just continued forward I think we'll end this year with the 15% ending fund balance but if we don't solve the structural balance of the the structural issues that we have between the revenues and expenses in fiscal year 26 will be down to 6% if we used all the fund balance to cover that $25 million gap we'd be down to 6% NRS requires that we have four we can't adopt a budget uh with less than 4% fund balance and really we couldn't operate with that either um this is just really for illustration purposes to say that fund balance is not the answer the answer is we either have to find new Revenue sources um uh or we have to cut costs there are things that we could do in the interim as far as trying to do a balanced mix of some different things and that's what we're actually working on right now for you as Council to figure out what those um things would be and what we would recommend as we move forward to create a plan that's flexible and also has um the least impact to labor because we've heard that that's a concern um least impact to labor or at least impact to Services there will be um impacts to Services as we move forward because there's just not enough money to go around we are not in this boat Alone um as I said uh washa County and Sparks are having the same challenges that we are we are collaborating with them to see if there are areas where we can do things together or see what they're um what they're looking at to uh change some things or things where we can join together to maybe some cost savings we are looking at that as well um but there's not one easy quick push button to fix this so we're going to continue to update for data points as we move along for revenues and expenditures we're going to keep looking at that to see where we're at as far as savings as we move through the year if we end up with a little bit extra at the end of this year that should be used to move forward to balance a portion for next year um to try to get us back to that balanced budget piece we're going to continue to finalize the cost allocation plan um reviewing the fee schedule with departments and with us Council as well and then we'll be discussing changes to address this structural deficit and and what we would recommend to move forward for timeline on January 29th the city manager is meeting with all of the labor groups to go over this information um in February we will have briefings with us Council on the recommended changes and what we're looking at on March 5th we will have a budget Workshop which really at that point will be what we think we need to do in order to get to that tentative budget to get that to the state by April 15th so we really have a very short amount of time to figure out what are short-term the best steps and long-term the best steps as we move forward to figure out um how to bring this back into alignment so with that that ends my presentation and I'm glad to take questions thank you Vicki and council members if it's okay with the body if if we have extra time needed in this space I think that it would be okay if we take it because this is a very big item but um I don't see any hands raised but I'm sure there are speakers that are interested in having [Music] questions I'll start with council member ree thank you madam vice mayor uh Miss furan thank you so much for the presentation uh it's um complex and I think you've done your best to distill it down to to uh manageable data points for us as council members uh for my part I um appreciate um first and foremost being um as communicative as possible with our staff because I think the one thing that I do worry about is that they see the sky is falling when I'm not sure the sky is falling it's just a course correction and it's a re a time for us to really reflect on the way in which our revenue is generated and so for me um I I I just think it's a not a bad thing to have those honest conversations with our staff so I think that that's part of what I would encourage you to do is continue to have honest conversation with us uh and with our staff make sure they understand that they're a part of our ongoing success um and I think that you're communicating that to me today and I just want to continue to encourage you to do that the second thing is um and I I'm not sure that this is what the conversations will turn on today for some but uh ultimately um I don't think any of us up here has the skills or technical knowledge to like plug the holes in the absence of your direction to us on that so we will be looking to you to figure out like what are the things that we can do reasonably that will have the biggest impact on plugging the we'll just say the1 1819 million hole um because what I am hopeful we do is rather than like a hunger game style effort where we're like okay let's eliminate you know this department and then you look at that Department's you know net nut to the budget and it's you know $500,000 right I I think there will be broader structural things that we have to really address so that's kind of the general response to what you presented me today and then this is perhaps directed both to you and to the manager's office and that is to say um we have known for a very long time that structurally in the state local governments are essentially set up to fail in some ways because with our Revenue stream that we receed being so very tied to property tax and with property tax depreciation happening in a state and never resetting on sale or death um we just find ourselves in a downward Revenue stream and an ever increasing cost stream and so I think long term there has to be greater weight and emphasis put in a legislative fix so hopefully that will be one of the tools in the toolbox to address it I know that um at least one assembly member assembly member Natha Anderson intends to run a bill along those lines I know um former state senator Julia ratty also ran with a similar concept and you know I I don't know that any legislators here are plea from the Das but I'll just book bookmark it here that we need help from the state to figure out what we can do to change this in Balance so those are my comments in this first round correct appreciate you thank you council member re councilwoman D yeah thank you um really appreciate the presentation and the preview of the presentation really helped get my mind around where we are I also want to really uh commend um our manager for being so proactive with our um labor groups I don't know that they've ever had this kind of early conversation about what's happening and how it may or may not impact them and I think that's critical in order to have them be our partners solving the problems I mean we're not making this up every jurisdiction is facing the same kind of things I I want to Echo um council member ree's comments about the legislature I I truly think that um we need to do everything we can to support whatever Nath Anderson assemblywoman brings forward and we need to be there for her I think all local governments in Nevada need to be there because we've got to get the message across this has got to be addressed um the other thing I think that will be potentially very important not for next year year but maybe in next year is that um you know we all have on our calendars this meeting to discuss fire service and um as a j as a community if we do get together or act together and we all do agree to move forward with some kind of regionalization there should be some salary savings um some uh rejiggering in terms of uniformity of service you know instead of this conversation about threers versus four-person Crews um we should have a a betterment of equipment um all the things but it's going to go all the way to the next legislative session you know to get there at a minimum and so I think those two things we've got to be very cognizant are going to help us you know if we can get to the revenue side fixes not just the cut and back expenditure fixes um I think we're going to be good better in the long term so I too see this as a very collaborative process at our Council um we all understand the mission we all understand we've got got to bring in a Balan budget we all understand that's going to involve some pain um and the fact that our employees which are 85% or so of our um expenses having them as our partner again I think is going to be what helps us get there so instead of a aggressive management versus employee kind of situation I I hope for something different and and I think we can count on them so thank you thank you Council member der and I see council member Anderson's hand hi um just a couple of questions um on the realignment of positions and where they're being funded whether it's the general fund or the building Enterprise fund there were some questions from people that you know wrote to the council and also some reporting about being confused about why those realignments happened can you just quickly remind us why we realigned those positions and where they were being funded sure those positions um a deep dive was done into positions um for the city manager and all the Departments to determine what the work is actually being done by the people in those departments so some of our people are split funded so say they do a portion of sewer type work and then they do general fund work so they may be split 50/50 um doing that type of work in the building fund you have some split positions and then you have other positions that are fully funded in there and what it was determined because over time some of those positions May at one time when they were split funded in there were doing building Associated work and then that work evolved and their duties changed and changed to someone else and so as those changes were made um their positions weren't necessarily being funded correctly anymore and so that deep dive that was done to determine is everyone appropriate being appropriately funded did that this year and we also so um tried to figure out where should they be funded so if it's not here if this isn't the right space where is it somewhere else one of the confusing things and I think in the past that's happened it's we call it development services and they may be doing development services type work but they aren't necessarily doing building work and to be charged to the building fund they really have to be doing work related to those building fees and so this is realigning those positions exactly where they should be and it's just a cur over time it wasn't something that was done um on purpose it's just the evolution of different management and The Changing Times and positions thank you and then just one other thing I was hoping that when you come to council and you give us opportunities to you know when you get new data points and you have a better um understanding of how this is rolling forward and our numbers that we're looking at if you can also remind us of different opportunities to work with our regional Partners I know that we are addressing fire in a hopeful and focused and aggressive manner but if there are other areas where we can be working with them um our other partners to solve some more problems together that would be great of course and those will be the long-term areas that we need help solving because really we don't have control over most of the revenue sources in the general fund we get the source we get the money but we don't really have control over them they take legislative action they take you know collaboration with other agencies so that is a really great space thank you for that council member Ebert hi thank you for the presentation and thank you for all the work that you do on our budget I know it's a lot and thank you for your work on this um I agree that we could find some Savings in consolidating um Services regionally um I know that there's some hurdles to that and it's not an immediate fix but um you know this is maybe an opportunity to talk about um just regionalizing not just you know fire but sewer and and other services I don't know if that's um steps that we could start taking to move us in that direction um I don't know um I've heard some people say that that's something we could do now we just need Mutual um uh Aid agreements I've heard some other s other people suggest that we would need um a new um item on our property taxes I'm not sure exactly what that would be but if we could have maybe maybe some joint meetings with Sparks and and um County to talk about that what those steps would be to move forward I think that it wouldn't just be a benefit to us it' be a benefit to all these agencies it wouldn't just be um you know Reno's um paying less for services but everyone is and we get better quality of service um so um again I know it's not an immediate fix but maybe it's something we could just start working on maybe this will be a motivator for us regionally start working on this cuz I think it might be a hard sell um with the state if if it's has to be a ballot uh initiative to um change our property taxes so I just wanted to say that thank you um so I just want to I wanted to talk a little bit first about what I think I heard you say to help me understand and make sure I'm on the right right page we're okayish for this year yes um depending on what happens we don't have SE tax yet for November and December which could be a big indicator so I would ask that when you get that if you let us know when as soon as you can that would that would be helpful for the next budget year we without the unknowns are looking at about a $18 million shortfall with some of the unknowns it could be up to $30 million so we could be looking at a $30 million budget deficit in planning for the next budget sure that number cannot be made up by cutting I don't think is what I'm hearing and that we need to bring in more Revenue to help bridge that 30 long-term that $30 million so one thing that I he is well why don't you take money out of Redevelopment agency or why don't you take money out of sewer agency or sewer fund to plug these holes in other places is that something that is possible no because those those funds that come into those either RDA or into the sewer funds those funds are dedicated just like the building fund so by NRS they have to pay for certain things we can't take building funds and pay for general fund stuff there are some things that we can work on um to make that Nexus a little bit yes the other thing I was curious about is when we talked about the building fund and realigning some of those positions with our big funds that we have sewer Street have we done that investigative work to make sure that those positions are aligned with those funds so yes okay so everybody is is being paid out of the right funds they're doing the right things yes okay city manager directed that this year and went through every single position so yes okay perfect that's that's good news and normally do it through the budget process but not to the depth that we did this year so um in the budget process we would normally do it and send out a list and you know people go through it department head goes through checks it off yes yes yes but didn't really dive into each particular position to really get into the basics behind it and this year we did okay so everybody's in getting paid yes for out of the right funds correct um I will pass my time do I councilwoman dur is your hand up again yes okay okay just a followup on that on the building fund several people have asked I just want to confirm now the building fund set up by Statute or it authorizes us I think to have a building fund could you clarify that uh the building fund is an Enterprise fund so it's run like a business just like the sewer fund so the revenues that come in from those building permits and the building activity have to be they can only pay for building type so do we have to have a building fund I thought at some point in the past we talked about dissolving it think you have to have one I believe at one time the city had it as part of the general fund prior to me I believe yeah don't quote me on that but I believe at one point it was but it is currently set up as an Enterprise fund me is it requ is my question to is it required that I would have to defer to yeah is it required hi Chris pingry director of development services no it's not required um the Enterprise fund was created back in 1991 for the building Enterprise fund it has changed shape over the years um but it has been enacted following NRS since 1991 and but no it's not required so thank you so the more we put funds in boxes it reduces our flexibility to expend those dollars you know it's restricted expenditures restricted for sewer restricted for this some of the funds like sewer fund are we required to have that fund I would I think we are I'd have to defer to the attorneys on that one I think so too but I think we're not for building and there may be other funds so it may be just something to look at to give us more flexibility even over a short term even if we then reformed it at some later date five years from now or whatever once we sort of get through a crisis um I'm not advocating this but I'm just asking the questions so that we know what's required and where do we have flexibility to solve problems okay okay all right thank you thank you councilman Ebert yeah um I just have a question about you know generating more Revenue I know that we've lost the air races and that was uh kind of a a sore spot for my community it was beloved but um are there ways that we can work with our CVA to bring more events into town to help with room tax and things like that like are we working on any anything there to help in that regard I think that differ to Ashley uh thank you Ashley attorney assistant city manager um per one thing to address per Reno Municipal Code all of our special events are the cost is distributed onto the promoter uh so those are not a revenue generator for the city from a direct cost we do receive indirect costs from additional seax oftentimes um though it is not a direct one for one as it relates to rscva I do know that they have hired someone to try to bring in more events uh one of the things that we've really worked on here at the city through the leadership of this council is dedication of your arpa funds uh we have two full years of programmed activation coming forward there's 47 new events that will be coming to the downtown area over the next two years so we're hopeful that that will be something um and that's led by Rachel McIntyre activation coordinator and Brian McCardell in Economic Development to try to help bring in a little bit more SE tax a little bit more opportunity there so we're working with rscva uh they focus on room night sales uh they are that's their space that they occupy but we continue to meet with them to try to help generate something for more room tax for the and that was my point was how do we how do we increase that room tax um how could we maybe proactively um get more events going on here maybe to kind of fill that Gap that was left from the air races or things like that I'm not saying necessarily that the city of Rena pay for them and I also don't think that the city of would get a direct payment for him but just in the um expectation that we would get room tax revenue from that event um so yeah just just a question I don't know if if maybe we can have any joint meetings with rcva too and see if there's any anything that we could joint talk about uh jointly or um you know if that's a possibility I'm in communication with their executive director often so I'll bring that to him um just for this Council for a reminder uh we permitted over 250 special events in 2024 that was actually a 30% increase in special events for last year uh so we've had staff that are really focusing on engaging that promoter Community to try to find more events to bring in as we know that that's a benefit to all the small businesses that are around that as well as our community okay thank you um for my last my last round I would just ask manager bran if you could put a put an ending on this as far as what are we doing as for Solutions moving forward what do you need from us and how how can we help so thank you very much um you've heard some of the work that we've been doing uh we have been actively working to enhance um events in the area to increase Revenue proactively uh we are talking with some of our regional Partners to see if we can't collaborate and reduce expenses because we are not alone in this boat um we've identified some expenses and we'll be meeting with waso County to see if there's an opportunity to share and or reduce some payments that we are currently making to Washo County um as you are aware there was a fiscal Equity study performed last year and we're talking about that with our regional Partners um internally you've seen some of the reductions that we've already identified but we do have there there's no way we can get to where we need to be without somehow impacting labor the goal is to reduce the impact and M mitigate the impact on labor as much as we possibly can but with a 25 to $30 million shortfall we just we cannot uh get there without having some type of impact uh what does that look like um we're we're talking about freezing positions uh we'll be doing an economic analysis of what that would look like over the next 15 to 30 days um I'm anxious to hear what the labor groups have to say it's not a negotiation there's certainly no commitment but we are uh seeking their feedback as to uh what their perspective is uh because this isn't something that I I agree should not be just foisted upon them without seeking their input um we have $750,000 in Revenue that was just banked yesterday I believe from the salale of some property we're going to be ask asking councel to put that towards the FY 26 shortfall and additionally there's going to be some other property sales that we'll be bringing to you in February and talking about you know when those are sold can we put those towards the FY 26 shortfall so there there's a lot of different options some of which are oneshot money and some of which will be a longer impact But ultimately we have to increase Revenue in order to reach the service levels that this community deserves and uh that our staffs very desperately want to provide um they're very committed to the work that they do and it's quite distressing when they don't have the ability to do what they know needs to get done so that's kind of the high level uh we'll be meeting with olive Council in February with actual dialed in uh details and then we'll be talking in the budget workshops with all of you about what works for you and what doesn't thank you manager Bryant uh councilwoman yeah I have one more question um just thinking about ways we can generate Revenue uh what are we doing with the the ballroom like is do we have assets that we don't necessarily need to hold on to I I'll tell you the short answer is that's on the list uh and an assistant manager attorney will give you a better answer you assistant city manager Ashley Atty for the record uh part of as manager Brian alluded to we will be bringing forward a property plan to this body the second meeting in February to discuss the assets that the current the city currently has in our portfolio um as you mentioned the ballroom there's currently an agreement it was a 30-year agreement from the date of the certificate of occupancy from 2008 20 20 years 20 my math was County Education it's a 20-year agreement um it's currently occupied with the roow they do the programming and management of the facility if they break even if there's a profit we take half they take half if there's a loss they absorb that loss uh there is quite a bit of debt tied up in multiple of those facilities but that will be something that we'll bring forward to Council next month to ask for direction from you if you'd like us to go out to look for a buyer to look at amending contracts to look at what our options will be okay I had one more thing too I lost it for a sec um well I could follow up okay uh real quickly um what about our payment for the ball field what I was going to say I I had a feeling you revisit that contract uh that is an option to revisit that contract uh one thing that I would keep in mind for that is that is funded by the RDA so that's paid for out of RDA 2 right now with that money it's a million dollars a million it's a million um so that's not General funded money what that million dollars does is two things the first one is that is a lease to own if you will for the asset which is the physical ballpark as well as the property which obviously will be very valuable uh for a city asset for future use uh secondary is that that million-dollar payment really programs baseball for the community that's part of the agreement is maintaining the team and the facility um for the events that happen there so that will be on the list if that's something that Council would like us to look into but it is paid for with rda2 money but just a followup so if we didn't do it um and that money stayed with rda2 rda2 can pay for things that help the city as well right it can pay for Capital improvements correct right mhm okay just some thoughts and um I just want to say again you know talking about doing demo of buildings today like we don't have the money to do extra things and it's too late now we can't go back in time and change vote on that demo of the record Street building but um you know when there's things like that we don't necessarily have to do I hope that Council will reconsider doing things like that so anyhow thank you okay Vicki did you want to move do you have more of on your presentation no that ends my presentation and I can turn it over to Lindsay she has a just a few slides to show you what's in the augmentation that's before you this doesn't require a vote what I presented it's just an update for you and to get your feedback what she has requires a vote oh thank you Vicki thank you all right uh good afternoon council members vice mayor um Lindsay Hatfield budget manager with Finance I have the augmentation for you so Vicki gave you a good kind of overview of where we're at this is a little more of the nuts and bolts of kind of what we're doing today changes that are happening so this is the second quarter augmentation it covers the beginning of October to the end of December of the fiscal year this is typically the augmentation where we will bring forward the fund balance true up that is a true up between where we projected last year was going to end and then where we now know with the AC accepted act for um where that where all those fund balances actually ended so we take those two and kind of true them up and and recognize all of those changes on this augmentation additionally we have uh grants and reimbursements revenue for that um in the general fund that's about $1.7 million the bulk of that is for Wildland um Strike Team reimburse ments for the fire department so that's paying for overtime and Supply expenses that we have already expensed to um to respond to those Strike Team requests um there's a bit of contingency being allocated here I'll get into that a little more on future um on some of the future slides and then we have some position position funding changes that Vicki talked on um I'll give you a little more detail on those and then there are a couple of new positions um I'll first all any concerns with saying that there is no fiscal impact to the general fund for any of the the changes that are proposed we have been very mindful of that and balance these [Applause] changes so for the position funding changes we did look at that position audit that was completed um like Vicki said that covered all of the special revenue and proprietary funds we looked at um individually every single position the Departments provided justification for those what work are they doing that justifies them being in that fund and there were a few uh changes that were found that that were needed um the building Enterprise fund as we we know now those Code Enforcement Officers those need to be moved out into the general fund um but at the same time we realized that there were three positions in economic development that are providing um 100% of their effort is going towards Redevelopment and that's not where they're currently where they they were being charged they were being charged um to general fund and so we're looking to realign that move those positions over to Redevelopment that's where the benefit is happening that's where the funding should come from um and so with those changes and then the elimination of the two positions that Vicky mentioned that director code enforcement uh and the assistant to the city manager um and I would just like to proface and see both of those positions were vacant we are not getting rid of people this is an elimination of vacant positions um but with all of those changes and kind of looking at the math on everything it um bounces out to no fiscal impact to the general fund and we're able to move all of those code enforcement um positions over to the general fund with this change um additionally not included in the general fund piece but um development services in evaluating all of their positions they did have three vacant positions that they um determined they could go ahead and eliminate at this time so that's kind of also recognized here so for new positions um the ones I have listed here in the general fund these 25 positions these aren't new to you they have come to you in the form of these contracts but this is just kind of our paperwork side of things where we're formally recognizing that these 25 positions are now a part of the City roster um we have those 24 airport fire Personnel we know that those are going to be 100% reimbursed from the airport um and then that one River Ranger that is being reimbursed from wo County from their ARA allocation so all of those positions no impact to the general fund but this does kind of recognize them formally and let us add them to the budget for RDA 2 these two positions are new I don't believe these have come to you before um there's a project manager and a management assistant as that Redevelopment agency is um generating more increment and those projects are growing we're seeing um they are planning kind of you know long-term capital projects there and need a project manager to manage those um that that effort is growing on the administrative side as well as I'm sure you've noticed you've seen Brian a lot um so that management assistant is going to help him with um managing those admin tasks the last item here and then um I'll wrap up is just for contingency um if you recall on the last quarter augmentation we started the year out with a million in contingency funds 300,000 of those were allocated for um the trash cans in downtown leaving us with 700,000 since then there was some stolen fencing at the Le theater and U manager Brant is proposing to use small piece of that contingency that 6600 to cover um replacing that fencing so that's what I have if you have any questions um council member dur yeah thank you um can you put up the slide uh where you're eliminating the positions yes um I just want to or moving them I just want to understand a couple of these so we heard today from a number of residents um that happen to be a senior affordable uh units that came here telling us that they had filed uh 14-day notices to their apartment complex as per required by the city to put those people on notice and when they didn't get them fixed that falls back to the city but we're eliminating the director of Code Enforcement and what I'm worried about is the follow through on you know who's taking care of that you know um I can answer that thank you very much council member um so that position has been vacant since the individual uh left that position several months ago and um assistant city manager attorney has been shepherding the code enforcement team and has made a significant number of improvements in that area and I believe they will be following up and have been following up with respect to all of those issues on fpi and then the parking enforcement I mean that's a revenue generator so um my understanding it's always been discussed for 10 years that I've been on here that when we put people out to enforce parking meters we get money we get more money than what it costs so have we looked at that balance we we have and actually we're going to move parking enforcement team underneath Travis Trill uh who's going to be uh kind of managing that along with the individuals who uh look at the parking meters and and collect the money from them so there's an opportunity there for some efficiencies we think and really just at the end of the day we do not need a director level position and we needed to save money yeah so this was a great that makes sense I just wasn't sure if parking enforcement was going away or what was happening and then one last question the historic preservation management assistant who's been incredible on helping move our history uh group forward I I'm a little unclear about the rda2 funding I mean I'm not opposed to it but I do want to make sure that she's working Citywide um on History issues and if she's not if she's just restricted to the Redevelopment areas you know what does that look like Ashley attorney assistant city manager for the record uh this position came about as you know you were a big advocate of it initially it was funded by the building fund through the evaluation we realized that that's not an eligible fund for the work that she's doing um so this is an initiative under the RDA program that this Council adopted back in August of the historic preservation efforts and we believe that we can justify the work that she's doing for the Redevelopment areas and the things that will benefit it's like maybe an 8020 that most of her work is in the Redevelopment area we believe that we can justify the majority of what she's doing for where she's at for the funding I just didn't want that to be at risk because it's it's gone from like night to day she's done tremendous work thank you for acknowledging that effort that she's done okay [Music] thanks Council woman nebber um so the fence was that the new fence we just put in do you know believe it yes okay all right was it damaged or like taken away stolen as stolen okay maybe you should stay up here should stay up here um Ashley turny assistant city manager for the record um yes the we discovered that half of the fence surrounding the Leer had been stolen in there was some snow on the ground so feels like December uh so this was something that we had to replace that that's actually we don't own that fence we pay a monthly fee to rent that um as a reminder that cost is about $111,000 a year for rental and so we had to pay the rental company for the replacement of that okay and um are we still waiting to find somebody to make the fence that was approved by shipo or is that there is no funding available at this okay and the contingency account um is that still going to be a thing going forward uh in in the the budget proposals that we're looking at currently there would not be a contingency fund next year but we do still end at the end of the fiscal year yes okay so that makes me nervous in case of emergency next year we wouldn't necessarily have funds set aside for any kind of emergency um also are we still paying for the lay yes yes Ashley attorney assistant city manager I'll stop saying it Clerk's got it uh yes this body currently allocates $125 $25 great deal $125,000 uh per year we have four more years of payments on that that is currently funded from room tax funds okay so it's not general fund money so 125,000 for another four years she said yes the last payment will be due in FY 28 okay all right and I presume that we pay for security around there also or is it just the fencing right now it's just the fencing I believe that is currently included in our Allied contract for awareness and rotation yes okay but no alarms or anything like that there's no alarms there's no power no anything in that building at this time okay thank you council member ree thank you Madame vice mayor and um really my comments are not um they're related to a question that then created a question for me and the question is directed to miss Bryant so I understand um the movement of the general fund positions that were eliminated and then that that work was essentially redistributed to miss tney and Mr pingry is that correct uh Mr Trill oh Mr Trill who I I didn't see I saw him earlier um and and this is a more a general statement not because I want to spend more money we're trying to save money but I I I do worry about just loading other people up with more work than they can reasonably do and or not compensating people I you know I have been a very big ad advocate for our staff um uh and making sure that we're compensating people for the work they do pay Equity as a part of that I I am a little uncomfortable with just saying hey you assistant manager you now have another department that that seems odd to me and quite frankly I don't want to call those people out because they would probably say hey we're just trying to help for how long is that sustainable I I don't know I don't know either um and we're probably going to have a a few more of these situations as we figure out how to keep who is employed employed with the least amount of impact um so today the best I can do is say uh the team is incredibly committed to supporting those who work here and doing the best that we can to mitigating the negative impact but there is just simply no way around it that we are going to feel something in the near future and for the next 2 to three years unless we fix this Revenue situation sooner well and we're we're all going to have to work on that again I'll just say Miss tney who's here Mr Trill who's not uh thank you for stepping into the Gap I I hope it will be a short-term solution not a longterm one I I I take it that those are in themselves were previously full-time jobs correct and so now we've just said to someone who is you know also doing a full-time job here's another one so I just I'm worried about that um long term and understand everything you said and and will be part of the solution uh but you know paying people more or paying more people those are always the dispute or the the you know issue that you have when you're dealing with budgetary issues I'll be watching it is all I'm saying thank you and and I will say that the kind words mean a tremendous amount to our staff when they hear um anyone from Council acknowledge their hard work and think them it goes a very long way so thank you for that well uh it's you know easy to do it's hard to eat kind words so thank you so much I think I'm going to try again and understand this it is really hard for me to understand 25 new positions in the general fund and two positions in the RDA but I think I do understand based on you know what we just heard at $30 million shortfall the 24 airport fire personnel and the one river river Ranger are completely 100% reimbursed from a different a organization the city has no financial obligation in purs in benefits or anything longterm for those positions is that accurate correct those are all reimbursed to the city at 100% okay and then I think I understand what I talked about a little bit earlier is the rda2 the project manager and the management assistant are coming from funds from RDA 2 are my question is are there are things that we need and this is probably for assistant city manager attorney are there things that we need to do for the city that RDA 2 could fund besides these two positions is there a better use for that money RDA funds are limited by NRS to a very specific definition and that definition is that these funds must be used for redevelopment so it is not for maintenance it is not for additional bodies of various types it's very specific to Redevelopment efforts within the boundaries uh so what that means essentially are people who are working on Redevelopment projects so the positions that are in front of you today they are employees of the agency is how you can look at it they are not General funded employees so these will be the people who will be helping to support Capital Improvement projects in rda1 and rda2 so that is one offset from the general fund that we're hoping to shift that burden as those funds become available uh the second thing is this staff is who will be helping to support Brian and his efforts with Tiff applications uh we currently have five right now on the pipeline six total we are anticipating another two to seven to come in in the coming months uh we do not have the bandwidth to be able to manage those in a timely manner in order to help reup the property tax that will come from those developments okay and then my second question is um from the last time I looked at rda2 there's a healthy balance in there somewhere 8 to 10 million-ish approximately $8 million as you'll remember this Council earmarked funds for the um abatement and site prep for the new Fire Station uh we do have about $8 million that will be coming forward from a capital Improvement project list that will come forward to this body for voting during your budget cycle and again that $8 million cannot go to the general fund we can $8 million is absolutely 100% cannot go to the general fund are you sure I will go to taxation jail so no I Ken cannot go to the general fund has to be jail very specific I can't go to jail thank you councilwoman neor and I believe this is your is your last round okay um great I lost my trainning thought oh I had a question about the parking structure here I noticed that we're not collecting fees at the parking structure for a while now is there a reason for that is that something that we could do again or Ashley attorney assistant city manager for the record so the current gate system has been broken uh to a point of which we have no return um people crash into it I would estimate I'm looking for Harper six seven eight times a week probably um and so it has been damaged beyond the point in which we can repair it uh one of the projects that's currently happening for cost savings and revenue generation is um a group are looking at a new parking software and that would be tied into that gate structure to help us to generate revenue from there um ultimately we need to get all of the meters all of the parking Revenue collection system as well as the ticketing system onto one software it's currently over multiple softwares uh which leads to additional license costs and inefficiencies so yes is the answer we're working towards that we're just not there today okay and then the existing parking meters throughout the city MH like are those okay like we don't need to replace those or anything or are those good to go what we already have we have them um the we switched them over Travis and Carri are both not here so we'll go from the best of my knowledge Uh current meters are okay today um an interesting thing about meters is that they have technology in them and which upgrades their Wi-Fi connectivity uh these were on 2G which you will note has been off of your phones for quite some time uh those have been upgraded to 4G but you'll note that phones are now on 5G so we're already behind so there will be a capital project that will come from that in the future uh that would be one thing for example that could be on your RDA list of capital Improvement projects in the future as a funding source okay so maintenance can cannot be used but capital projects can be so that would be a great option for you to spend that money there instead of General but it could only be used within that bubble with the bubble correct okay okay all right one of the long-term Visions um that we have and that we'll be bringing forward to council over the coming years is parking is really an economic development tool and we've not had the opportunity to really engage in that space in a meaningful way based off of Staff constraints and money constraints ideally parking becomes something that is like an Enterprise or a proprietary fund where it is revenue generating self- sustaining and then is used as economic development um so this is one step as manager Bryant mentioned yes staff efficiencies but also trying to get all the parking things under one house um we currently have a consultant doing a study of available parking spaces downtown to help us determine the best way to use our parking management so those findings will come before us uh in the coming months and we're hopeful to have a better plan for you built over the next year so great awesome and then just real quick I presume manager Bryan we'll have like a list of city um resources and Facilities that we can talk about selling in the future or something in February uh Ashley February 26 uh Brian mcardell and Ashley tney are bringing forward a list of all properties that the city currently owns and the question to council will be what if any would you like to sell um so we'll get that direction from you then and with the expectation or recommendation I should say that that money goes into the general fund to help with the FY 26 shortfall okay can we also maybe consider leasing of some spaces too so that it's all up for everything's up for discussion long term okay thank you I think we're looking for a motion Madame vice mayor I'll move to approve staff recommendations second motion and a second all those in favor I have discussion real quick all those okay um I know the votes already passed on that too but we had a a way to have more um patrol downtown with the partnership with the um DRP and you know we voted to let that go away and now we're going to have to make really difficult decisions with um Staffing and and resources for code enforcement and um all types of enforcement and different things and um you know it's it's unfortunate that [Music] um you know we're not taking advantage of these things that are available to us that wouldn't cost the City of Reno funds to use for additional um supplemental um First Responders police downtown so anyhow um uh my votes a yes though thank you okay so I think that um yes coun discussion purposes you know that those that's just not a true statement councilman Eber um that is not what happened today um what happened was the DRP collects its funds and it decided how to spend those funds it was not a choice between funding the drps claim and funding more police services that decision was also raised and made a year ago this was a cleanup of that document I assume that you voted for it a year ago so the revision of the budget and saying that that's what happened earlier and then trying to blam us for it is now what happened so I think um we had a motion a second all those in favor I all those opposed okay motion carries unanimously thank you and if we can take a motion to adopt the resolution for item C1 okay Motion in a second all those in favor I I all those opposed motion carries unanimously and Madam clerp I believe we are on RD a E1 comments board comments that's correct members do we have any comments for the RDA we're moving on to closing public comment for the Redevelopment agency which is item G1 I have none so I'm just looking for a motion to adjourn the Redevelopment agency second okay all those in favor I I all those opposed motion carries and now we are on item D2 yes moving back to the regular Council agenda and I see Nick afternoon mayor and Council Nick Sone City of Reno government Affairs manager for the record I was waiting on public comment Madam clerk do we have any public comment we do not have any public comment registered additionally we've not received any correspondence sorry about that thanks Nick Nick Sone government Affairs manager for the city manager's office of policy and strategy um today I'm going to give you an update on our 83rd Nevada legislative session platform um every two years we come back and adopt this document it gives us General guiding principles when we are working in that uh very fast-paced 120 days um so naturally or intentionally our platform is meant to align with the entire strategic plan as we use that day-to-day uh when we are looking at the bills uh so why city state relations matter uh I think it's really important to address that we have a shared constituency whether it's the assembly members the senators or maybe waso County um many of these people that um are represented by the city of reeno are also represented by these folks so it's important that we work together with our stakeholders to really think about how can how can we best serve our community um as a refresher uh the state of Nevada is a dealers rule state meaning that the state has to give us explicit authority to do something and that um as you just addressed with the last um item is why we are in the situation we are in with depreciation on our property taxes so um just as a refresher that's why it's so important that we work with our our stakeholders down in Carson City um and our city Charter acts as that governing document our constitution for some car vs or specific things that meet the needs of the City of Reno so operational impacts each day we look at um during the legislative session what kind of impacts are happening to the City of Reno whether that be potentially a bill that is offering rental assistance to our residents or a bill that doesn't initially include our residents in Rell assistance dollars but we are able to amend ourselves in and provide $3 million to the City of Reno residents uh and regulation so talking about open meeting law public records public noticing those kind of things uh so like I said very fast-paced things change dayto day it's an iterative process and so you might see a bill that sounds like a great idea on Monday but the next day uh they tell us where the City of Reno has a $20 million unfunded mandate on that bill so it's important to uh for me to be down there every day and watch the process as it unfolds uh and continue to work with our stakeholders as things change literally minute by minute um the legislative platform is meant to give you a little bit of a guideline of my regular Communications with Council uh the general principles and policies I use when I am looking at bills and then uh the coordinated efforts so that I can help you uh potentially put together talking points um let you know where the rooms are for certain legislators those kind of things so last session there were uh almost 1,00 bills we followed about 350 of them uh so that's a lot of reading that I and many of the staff at the City of Reno have to do uh so these are all the times that I'll come back to the city council for direction or um for feedback on some of these bills uh they're based on the 120-day calendar which is in uh deadlines that the legislature sets for itself so that it can quickly get through its process Nevada is one of four states in the union that meets only once every two years uh so it's a lot of work to get done in a very short amount of time um in addition to these meetings I will also be giving you informational briefings uh with each council member to give you an update on what we're working on and I also will provide uh Bill reports letting you know what I've been working on that week and what bills we're supporting opposing or neutral on or working with our partners on uh the legislative platform covers many things and I'll try to keep it short but uh local government Authority is one thing that we really respect and um include in that document and that the City of Reno believes that uh our residents and this city council is the closest to our residents compared to other legislators so it's really important to uh continue to work with them and continue to um respect the authority of our elected body the decisions that we can make as a city uh the ashis denote some of the changes that I've made to the platform Mental Health Services isn't necessarily a new thing that we care about but I denoted and added a new title because it was previously under fiscal sustainability Economic Development thinking about ways um in which we might be able to use additional tools for economic development in the City of Reno uh Workforce housing I also added to um uh assist with uh housing up to 120% Ami as opposed to just 60% and then uh artificial intelligence I think will be a major discussion especially given that the um former executive order on official artificial intelligence was resented recently uh so how do we get to the point where I make a or we make a decision on the city's position on a bill uh First Council policy so this document the Strategic plan then we have operational feedback so I asked the staff how is this going to impact your daily lives what is it going to take away from you being able to do for Reno residents then fiscal impact how is this going to impact the city's uh ability to manage its own budget and the the day-to-day decisions that we make then political capacity who else am I working with Clark County waso County um city of Sparks Etc who also um will be directly impacted this and how can we work together to address that issue and then finally I get the administrative recommendation which I present at uh the City Council meetings that I come to uh so just want to reiterate I'm here to be of service to you uh whether that means I'm helping you write testimony uh they very much like to keep their minutes uh very well kept and so they ask for you to actually provide written comments so I'm happy to do that for everyone let you know where the legislators are let you know what time meetings are happening um any way that I can help that's my job and that's what I'm here um to be of service to you so if you would like to uh provide testimony or get a request from a legislator I'd love to be looped in just so I can help you and there's my motion thank you Nick council members I don't see any hands raised you're trying okay well while you're trying one of the things that I am interested in maybe looking at is possibly looking for opportunities to make the Planning Commission co-terminus which is um maybe a larger complex entities in sou and our neighbors do so if that's something you might want to look at I would appreciate that okay council member ree thank you so much Sone um a couple of questions and maybe one of them is just related to uh efforts as we all said on other boards part of it is is I am the chair of the uh Northern Vada public health and then serve on RTC and both of those groups have then ask me to go participate in some measure so whether and to what extent I need to have that cleared through you or what what is your advice on that um like next so on the 3rd February 3rd that's the opening day I think going to sit on the floor with one of the members who's invited me on the 4th is the planning or the transportation day down there and so I've been asked to go down there what is your expectation of us individually if those other things are happening well I think you know again uh it's really important for me to be around and be able to help you or be of service to you but I also very much trust Joel and Paul that you just mentioned um when it comes to U maybe Transportation day um I don't think I necessarily need to be you know hand inand with you at all times but I think it absolutely helps me uh know how I can be of service to you when you're in the building and then the sort of the reverse is also true if you need us you would let us know and and certainly that is um all of us are always prepared to go and Advocate on behalf of the city assuming it is a city priority sure absolutely and then the second thing is um you indicated one of the bills had a fiscal note of like $20 million unfunded or was that a hypothetical that was a hypothetical okay perfect um and so I don't have to worry too much about that um the budget apparently got off to a rocky start as I've read and so what is that getting put back on the tracks from my understanding there will be some amendments to that budget by January 29th 29th that's coming up very quickly um okay and then um we aren't running a specific bill this time the City of Reno does not have any uh bdrs in August the city um elected to not sponsor any bdr yes and so and then the last question I have with my remaining time is um I had had some productive conversations with uh Senator um who was interested in running a a bill related to the Lear have you heard anything more on that uh Senator Angie Taylor um I I think I've seen some iteration but what can you tell me about that so I had a great meeting with Senator Taylor last week and she let me know that she would be sponsoring bill it's actually bdr 765 and it revises Provisions related to historical preservation and that bill will uh allocate 12.5 million to the Leer theater yeah um it's a very exciting thing to be honest with you um and the conversations that I had with the senator were very positive obviously um you know a lot happens over the course of a legislative cycle um but certainly know that whatever we can do to advance the interest of the Senator's bill I I would hope that we would do and and um it's very exciting uh very opportune moment thank you so much I did not see other hands raised yeah i' I've raised maybe I'm on the wrong number oh you know what uh councilman Martinez let's go ahead and you had some thoughts thanks so much Vice May appreciate the presentation Nick thank you I know when we were discussing bdrs and the legislative station coming up part of that conversation entailed uh fire regionalization and I didn't see anything your reports I just wanted to ask you kind of where we're at there and kind of get an update of how things are going there so we are aware uh Senator Dy will be running or sponsoring a bill related to our fire departments but I do not know what um is being asked for or what will be in that that bill but uh we hope to have more conversations and learn a little bit more on February 6th okay and just echoing what councilman Marie said if you ever need any of us feel free to just let us know and happy to support any ways that we can and support the efforts that the city wants to see accomplished down in Carson thank you council member der yeah thank you um similar to council member ree um I'm involved with um a couple legislative committees so one example is the tomwa um you know I'm chair of tomwa but I'm also chair of their legislative committee there's going to be a number of water bills I had similar question to him as I expect to be down there not often but maybe a couple times related to to those issues also on the Western Regional Water Commission legislative committee um also uh wanted to make comment on the Leer I hope that um if the if there are um hearings on that that you call upon me you know I'm the leaz onto historic resources I haven't had a chance I was out last week to talk to um assembly woman or Senator Taylor um so I'd like to be involved in those conversations and what in the past you may not realize it but um when certain bills were coming up it may seem like it's impossible to get down there to you but I've been able to Mo once I got a call you know one time I was even in my pajamas at 4: in the afternoon and they said na me we want to on the floor in 30 minutes and I was dressed down in Carson City in 30 minutes ready to talk so don't hesitate even if you find out it's an hour from now we need to talk I I I wouldn't make the decision for us let give us the call and let us see if we can make the deadline um and then lastly I mentioned earlier about the depreciation um we really we really need many voices supporting that from all over the state and I I hope you'll call upon us on that bill you know for um assemblywoman Anderson that bill has been pre-filed and it's assembly joint resolution one oh okay so um I'm just saying we we should be there to talk about it and then finally um in my own private business I expect to be down there um on some other issues that really aren't involved in the city but don't be surprised if you run into me on something unrelated okay thank you I believe we're looking for a motion there's no other questions are we looking all right second all those in favor I all those opposed thank you Nick motion cares very much okay Madam clerk it looks like we are moving into the [Music] ordinances that is correct Madame vice mayor um do we have public comment I don't have any registered for the record um we did have some public commenters earlier that did not wish to speak there were three letters of opposition that were filed this morning um additionally each item has a different uh public comment associated with it so I'll just go through those very quickly item F1 had 10 87 comments four in favor 183 in opposition um item F2 received 165 comments three in favor 100 162 and opposition item F3 10 comments three in favor seven in opposition item F4 10 comments three in favor seven in opposition item F5 10 comments three in favor seven in opposition and item F6 received 170 comments four in favor 166 in opposition those have been distributed to the Reno city council and are part of the permanent record thank you madam Clerk and I will ask Mr Hall I apologize we did just have one hand that was raised via zoom and it is Natalie Handler hi there can you hear me we can go ahead and state your name for the record and begin speaking thank you Natalie Handler for the record uh I would just like to hear all of you discuss at this time the logistics of how this ordinance will actually help our un house Community because it is as it has been previously stated that is exactly who it targets which is highly problematic on its own if during this discussion time the council who has continuously pushed this ordinance along to its final adoption can just walk us through this process it would be much appreciate so let's imagine a scenario where a person resting on the side is resting on the sidewalk on Fourth Street and law enforcement enforcement comes across them sitting uh they tell the sitter they can't sit they hand them a flyer with the address of car's campus in our place tell telling them if they do not have anywhere to go they can go to these places but they cannot continue to sit they must either continually walk around never to rest again or go to one of these shelters unfortunately the shelters on this very day are full and the person has been walking and now needs to rest so they continue to sit now they are warned and I guess I have some um logistical as questions on the warning process alone first how will the person be identified properly as we know many do not have IDs how will uh if say another officer encounters the same person how will that officer know that this person who has no ID has been previously warned or not will the officer know if the person has been put on a temporary lock out of the shelter Are the officers in direct communication with shelters and can confirm open beds at that time or will we be asking people to walk all the way down there only to be turned away will they offer transportation for the person and their belongings if they choose not to go to the shelter or there are no beds available or they cannot get there on their own will they now be cited in fined how much will this fine cost will they also have to go to Community Court and what different services will be offered there that haven't they haven't already heard about if they do not pay the fine does it double what does that pay schedule look like if it still goes unpaid do they now have a warrant for their arrest when does someone go to jail for sitting how much Social Work and case management are we expecting our untrained police force to do before taking them to jail once in jail will they now be provided a case manager that will work with them to get housing and access wraparound Services upon their release if not how will this in the end have done anything other than waste resources and push them further away from exiting homelessness I'd love to hear you all uh in inform the public a little bit about some of these questions at this time if you can um I'm in full uh opposition to any of these ordinances and thanks for your time Madame vice mayor with that we have no additional public comment okay so I will ask Mr call to read um the ordinance ordinance uh F1 ordinance number 6694 an ordinance to amend title 8 chapter 8.12 of the Reno Municipal Code entitled defenses against public peace prohibiting sitting lying sleeping or camping on public places including but not limited to sidewalks streets alleys sensitive areas or within doorways prohibited and other matters properly relating there to and um do we have questions or discussion from Council I'm trying to look at my speaker thing but I don't see any hands rais but mine okay uh council member Ebert yeah um so I wasn't able to vote V last meeting um I was um away from my seat um I know the mayor waited for me but the vote had already been taken um on this um for the first vote on it um but I just want to reiterate that I don't think that we should make it illegal to sit um lay down or sleep I think that we could do better and I think that we've already established that the county is responsible um for services that is why they have uh uh now taking over the car's campus even though City of Reno built it um I think that um they should be um providing Services we should not be arresting people um Julia ratty came in and gave us a great presentation about U Mental Health Services that will now be provided by the county I think that's an excellent resource for people that need those types of services um I think that um the county sheriff should be um uh contacted to address issues that um you know when people are doing illegal activity I don't think that it should be ignored or we should look the other way but I don't think sitting down or laying down is is an illegal activity um and I think that um if our end goal is to get people into Services there are ways to do that to um require people go into services without having to arrest them um I just think this is heading in the wrong direction and also just from a cost standpoint um once someone's arrested then we assign them somebody to work with them at the court a Areno public defender um RPD is is using their resources to arrest them all of these um expenses the City of Reno is paying for when we've established that Washo county is responsible for services I know that I've met with um uh County Manager Brown um over a year ago to discuss warming centers in Ward 4 if there was um power outages for the community and um the response I received was that people could use the car's campus so um if if the facilities available through the county aren't adequate then the county needs to um provide better services but the City of Reno has established that count is responsible we don't have the budget to provide all the services is needed the county has the mental health services they have the car's campus they should be taking care of this we shouldn't have to arrest people to give people the help and support and care that they need thank you council member Eber council member der yeah thank you um I too was not here um to hear the discussion or vote on this item last time um I was here for most of the meeting but not that um portion and so I didn't get a chance to ask our staff some of the questions and I thought Miss Handler put it very well um I I'm a kind of a logical person a practical person and I really want to understand how this is supposed to work um I want to be really clear I support the intent of trying to address uh protecting people all people protecting businesses um what I believe in in detailed reading of the ordinance as drafted is that it's overly broad um camping is poorly defined it's called not just camping which involves overnight and the cooking and making a fire but it also includes camping shall not be limited to sitting line uh for example uh shall be defined to include sitting in line and and I don't think that is a definition of camping um I support the concept of the ordinance because I think we need something um I had a great chance and if some our staff could come forward I had a great chance over an hour yesterday to talk to our staff um Mr sui um Mrs sparza um our Chief's representative and I asked them these questions and they said they had mirrored or Mr suudi said he had mirrored the or ordinance on some ordinances adopted in California there were some 60 of them and they were thinking that if those were challenged well ours would be challenged and if they weren't challenged um we'd be safe and it's sort of like a a practical safety and numbers kind of thing and I understand that but I also feel that he also did a great job of moving apart from those existing ordinances to identify um exceptions like sitting or lying down due to Medical emergencies or someone in a disability using a wheelchair the things that are in section e you know he carved those out unique for our city Arena ordinance and I really appreciate that work that he did um so again my concern is to say that you cannot sit or lie in a public park um and I would even go so far as sleep and I gave them some examples personal examples of myself um sleeping in Virginia Lake Park um oh so many years ago and I learned that that's since been banned I think it was in the 90s that you could not put out a you know a a um a blanket and sleep um and I would do it at my lunch break you know was a routine activity for me and I I wasn't breaking any loss I asked well what's the option sleep in your car well that's been outlawed since it's sometime in the 2000s so what my concern is is I thought everyone has to leave the car's campus by a certain time they can't hang out at the car's campus um to my knowledge um they have to leave and come back at a certain time I want to get some clarity on that um what are the rules of the car's campus so if someone needs to rest longer than the given hours they can do that so if you could address that Mrs sparza and then if Mr suudi could address the issues about you know how we sync up with other communities ordinances that would be helpful councilwoman councilwoman Eber I see your hand up to some of these does some of the questions that councilwoman dur asked address some of the questions that you're gonna ask no she she can go and then I have other questions okay thank you equity and community relations officer um I am happy to answer your question so the car's campus is a campus that's open for anyone in the community if someone would like to rest they could certainly rest there to highlight just some data on what capacity looks like there there are four uh 549 emergency beds available and that is the general uh sprung structure that's there in addition to that there is the winter overflow shelter so that includes 10 n or 108 beds collectively that is uh those are beds that are located at the car's campus overflow in addition to beds that are located at the uh Women and Children's shelter those are available those do have a little bit of a time limit so people check in in the evening to use that space uh the general population and the sprung shelter those are available throughout the day so wait just explain that do they have to leave at a certain time or can they just stay there all day the Overflow there is a different process because they do clean up and then they're open again that evening they are reserved for individuals but most importantly the campus uh the resource center which we call the warming center is open 24 hours a day 7 days a week and that has capacity for 120 individuals as well and you can sit but lay in that area correct okay but can you lay in the let's train sorry I just wanted to make sure I got I understand I just but I think you had two questions and I want to make sure that we had Mr sui come up and answer your other question but can you lay in the shelter Miss as far as a during the day yes yes good thank you Mr sui uh Brian City Deputy City attorney for the record uh let me begin let me make a clarification first this law is not to stop the use and enjoyment of public space like a park this law is really to prevent people from converting the public space into their private use so taking a park and camping in a park and making it their personal residents that's the intent of this law it's not to stop people from enjoying recreational services at a park to to sit and and and and have a picnic watch children play soccer games all those things and I say that because I want to caution city council really quickly with this ordinance you are also repealing multitude of other ordinances So currently it is illegal right now in the City of Reno and has been to sit lie sleep or block a city sidewalk it is illegal to sleep or block an alley it is illegal to sleep or block a doorway it is illegal to camp along the trucky River it is illegal to camp in a park to sleep in a park it's already been illegal most of these laws have been in existence since the late 90s to the the latest one was in 2005 which is our camping in a park 20 years so all the things you're hearing it's already already against the law and that goes to the credit now because people don't even understand that of the way the Reno Police Department enforce it's officer discretion and that is a key thing to always remember when you're dealing with law enforcement and the laws it's how the police enforce the laws and they're going to look and they're going to use their Common Sense they're going to use their discretion to enforce just like they have done with camping in a park for the past 20 years what this law really is doing is taking all those laws I mentioned from different chapters and sections and combining it into one law it is expanding its jurisdiction Citywide but the reality is is most of it already applies Citywide but it will Encompass the desert it'll Encompass empty lots that are owned by the city those lots that are owned by the city are not intended for public use in the first place they're City Lots probably meant for development not meant for people who camp sleep play on a playground because there's no playground there so the reality is it's just expanding its jurisdiction so that's to address the part the other part I will say is this Fresno passed the toughest law our law is not even as strict as Fresno 40 other cities in California follow Fresno's suit California is now having some of the toughest sitting lying sleeping camping bands you will see in this country I will tell you our law is not cuz you mentioned it those exceptions for medical someone in a wheelchair someone who's been walking and now is sore from walking and needs to sit all those exceptions are written in Fresno doesn't have that half the cities in California didn't even have those exceptions half those cities didn't even put warnings our law contains a warning you have to be warned before any enforcement is is done we did steal some language from Fresno in the sense that it allows a person who is in violation of the law who's been warned who refuses to leave or can't leave or whatever the situation may be to opt not to have criminal charges but to seek Social Services to get linked to the shelter to get linked to substance abuse treatment to get linked to mental health it gives them that choice in lie of the prosecution in lie of being charged and finally on top of that if they should be charged they have the option of going to community Court which is diverse court so then they would have to follow what the judge says but in diversion courts if you comply with the court sentence those charges are dismissed there are multiple levels and tiers to allow someone to navigate through this without actually being convicted of this charge I will tell you is probably you really have to work hard to get arrested and just straight to jail Mr St thank you very much for that clarification um councilwoman I think that was a really good wrap up of what this is and what it isn't councilwoman Ebert you have your hand up yeah so I I I understand the intent with enforcement but if we have people that um perhaps might look like they're camping in an area how how would somebody be able to show that they are not unhoused like if somebody's in an area and the police say hey we're giving you a warant I mean do people need to carry a utility bill with them or do they just get up and move or how how do we know if somebody is unhoused they just have to get up and leave or I mean what does that look like Chief Nance for the record uh it's not about being housed or unhoused it's about being not allowed to camp in an area so if you have your tent your belongings a sleeping bag you're sleeping you're living in that space then we realize you can't do that because you're camping we would never ask somebody if they're housed or unhoused we would ask them do you need resources do you need to see somebody do you need a place to stay if they say no I have a house okay that's fine but you still can't camp in the park regardless of your housing status so if you decided that you wanted to go pitch a tent in the park spend a week sleeping in um you know Idol wild park that's where you decided you want to spend a week you can't do that either whether you have a house or not you just physically cannot I think that's pretty obvious but there's people that don't have uh camping gear and things like that that are just sleeping especially if they've they've been arrested and then they're back out on the street they likely only have you know their clothing on them um so I don't think it would be as obvious that they're camping or or living outside um just how how will the police determine if somebody's just laying down for a minute or you know living there I will say I've been in law enforcement for 28 years I've never been sent to a call in a park or done my own um you know investigation in a park and not known the difference between somebody laying down and taking a nap for 5 10 minutes an hour an hour and a half a working person is like I just want some sun right here and soak up some rays and I lay down for a few minutes and somebody who is a establishing that as their current living space okay um it it's very obvious um when you have I don't worry about our officers being able to differentiate that either by their own observations or a very easy conversation with those with the people that they're contact also we passed a ordinance about um railroad areas being trespassed has that decreased the amount of camping on the railroad areas it's allowed us to do additional enforcement in those areas and to take a stronger stance on people that were finding those areas um I think it's a little soon to tell what that actual decrease is because we're going to have to Compare the numbers year over-year and cleanups and different things like that as opposed to just a few months of time okay council member ree thank you Madame vice mayor um for my part I just want to share that as I've transition from being the atlarge member to being a ward member I have found the constituent requests to be a little bit different um and so I'll just share with you that in the previous six years that I was on the body uh a lot of the constituent requests came that were sort of policy driven questions and I didn't have a lot of constituent Outreach didn't have a NAB for example what I found in the last several months is that the questions are very different and they're unique and in my ward Ward five I have probably gotten 10 or 15 in inquiries uh a month uh from folks who are living in traditional neighborhoods just let's say in Ward five and will pick out the area around uh 7th and McCaron in a single family home and what they're finding is that um folks who are uh unhoused um unsheltered are essentially coming into those neighborhoods and finding areas where they can camp where they can take up some kind of residency it's not about NE necessarily the Wingfield Park where people are getting sun or anything like that I think there's a fair amount of that uh or it's near um you know the Veterans Park down here uh where a person with uh in obvious uh distress with uh belongings and uh shopping carts and uh camping equipment have taken up and post up residency those are the calls I'm getting and and the calls from business owners who are saying hey we're having a hard time conducting our business in this area because um folks are blocking the sidewalks doorways entrances uh Sometimes they come out to throw garbage away and and you know the garbage area has been set up as a camping area those are the things I think that this addresses for me um and and why I think that these are so important and look you had a lot of people in the audience this morning who expressed their concerns about um our neighbors who are um without adequate shelter um some of those um comments were so very spoton and and really did uh mag uh resonate with me um but I think at the same time there were lots of sort of sneers and Jers about the other side of that which are residents who are experiencing uh disruptions to their life to their children's quality of life when drug paraphernalia is left in playgrounds uh those kind of things and there's just not a lot of willingness to have empathy for either side and so for my part I I have listened to to uh uh the arguments raised for and against certainly have lots of thoughts about the housing first model and whether it is the Panacea that is made out to be and for my part I'll be supporting each of the ordinances that are identified here and believe that those are just one of the things that we can do to address some of the mounting concerns that our community has raised with me so thank you for that councilwoman dur yeah thank you um and I want to go back to say um for at least six or seven years I've advocated for expanding all the city's land along the river uh expanding it to be part of our Park system and to be a no camping Zone my focus has really been on the camping piece and where where I'm getting bollocked up is that no sitting line or sleeping so back on item four uh where there's an exemption under E I think it is it says sitting on a chair or bench located on a public place which is supplied by a public agency so they're trying to get at you could sit on a bench in a park and so on I just wish that this could have been drafted to say sitting on a chair bench towel anything making sure you know that you can use the park for all of its uses and I wish that there was less focus on the sitting which which everybody does and not everybody I was just at a meeting last week uh this week and there were all kind of people in suits sitting on the ground there were no chairs you know it's just I I know that may be ridiculous and our police officers would not um arrest those people but maybe what if they were having a sit in and they weren't very comfortable with have having them have a sit in in a public park uh to protest something so I just this is my concern I love the focus on camping I think that the camping is very disruptive to our community and in some ways terrifying and is already Outlaw outlawed um in our ordinances I have absolutely no problem with it but the sitting in line I mean it just and and only like only on this bench you can sit it really troubles me and I I I don't know how to vote for the good parts of this that I can support without also bringing along the parts that I can't and I just want to say this if we do pass this today it's going to be very important to me to get a report back from our police office officers during the first year of implementation uh at least the first year maybe 18 months to go through a a climatic cycle a seasonal cycle to understand how many times this is being used and what scenarios it's being used so that if we pass this and it's overly broad um and not very clear that we can roll it back to the key principles that we're trying to get at because this is a no- win issue I mean to council member Reese's Point earlier we hear from all sides uh on this issue issue and I just I want to give both sides or all sides uh due respect and so what I'm trying to do here is Target this a little better so that we're really getting at the issues and we're not calling sitting in line also equals camping and I don't think that's proper um and that um we we are more clear on our exemptions so people don't think it's just banned and there's no out you know they often only read the first words so so that's my Challenge and I don't know if our officers you're you're nodding Chief you know if you understand where I'm going on this chief chief n for the record I I agree with the concepts that you're saying to us and and I'll tell you the police officers aren't we they have no Des they have a lot of work to do they have a lot of things going on this is really in response to those uh people that have come forward businesses residents places where we are seeing excessive amounts of cleanups excessive amounts of uh uh debris like hypodermic needles um human waste things that are just not safe for our community and create this excessive amount of blight and it's another tool for us to make sure that we're not only able to do this enforcement in specific areas and there are some some places in the city where you might have a green space and a private business and city-owned property and a sidewalk and it's all in one area this big so the officers go out and they can't figure out what what to enforce where because the the ordinances are so convoluted and exceptional that they're can I enforce it here can I not enforce it here this makes it easy it sets a Level Playing Field on where you can and cannot be and what you can and cannot do um you know it is very different than somebody laying in a park not doing these things it is it is set up to make sure that we are creating safe spaces for everybody and these the parks are for their intended use providing data back on what happened that's an easy part for us we can easily do that I would like um you know this will take us a little bit of time to ramp up uh there'll be a time when this ordinance goes into effect but our goal is to spend the next month while we get training done to the officers explain how this is enforced explain how we do warnings figure out exactly how we document when warnings have happened and then start educating as we come into contact with people that are doing these behaviors before start that enforcement period say you can't do this this is you know this is what your options are this is what will happen to you if you continue to do this how do we stop and mitigate this because that's what our goal is our goal is not to take a lot of extra people to jail trust me that is not our goal the less people we have to take to Jail the more it shows that these laws are working and we're not doing that and we don't win anything Anderson actually has a question and if we could train the park rangers too because they don't get your level of training and if they come in and they start arresting people in Parks I mean or how whatever their role is that concerns me very confident with our roles with Park Rangers and the education piece council member Anderson thank you I don't have a question I just wanted to state that I intend to support these ordinances um none of them are perfect um Society we there are lots of areas that we have where we can improve the way we take care of each other I think that these ordinance have been drafted very very carefully with the utmost um care in mind for the quality of outcome for the people that we are going to be encountering with these ordinances and number one I want to say that I am going to support these ordinances because I believe in the Integrity of our police department and our park rangers and I do not believe that they are going to be encountering any of the people in our community in a way that has a spirit of wanting to take them to jail or not having the positive outcome that the entire Community wants for them so I intend to support this with the confidence of your department and all the people that are working in it thanks well said Thank You councilwoman Anderson um council member Ebert you have one minute okay just I want to call out the fact that we're out of arpa funds we've been relying a lot on um Karma box and other resources that we've been funding with arpa funds and we still have a pretty big problem on our hands so I I think it's going to get worse um you know very soon um and I don't think this is a problem that we can arrest our way out of um I don't think getting arrested makes it easier to get a job um and I I think again this is we're getting into dtor prison territory and um it has nothing to do with the um police force I know I've I've been around them they're they're one one ful people but um if this is the tool that we give them um that's what they have to use and I just I don't think this is going to get us to um where we say we want to be and that is getting people into Services thank you thank you council member Ebert um at this time we're looking for a motion Madam vice mayor I'll move to adopt second okay we have a motion in a second and um I'm going to ask for a roll call vote Madam clerk vice mayor Taylor yes door with some serious misgivings yes as long as we have the accountability piece Martinez yes Ebert no ree yes Anderson yes shivy is absent Madame vice mayor that motion passes okay thank you um we will move on to item number F2 Madame clerk do we have any public comment for this item we do not have any public comment we're just going to the city attorney to read the ordinance thank you Mr Hall thank you madam vice mayor ordinance adoption ordinance number 6695 and ordinance to repeal title 8 chapter 8.12 section River Corridor and other matters properly relating there too thank you I'm hoping we can move into a motion on this Council who to adopt second all those in favor I I all those opposed motion carries unanimously no wait this was repeal camping okay yeah are you good yeah sorry okay motion carries unanimously item um F3 Madam clerk do we have any public comment on this item we do not have any public comment registered okay Mr Hall thank you madam vice mayor ordinance adoption ordinance number 6696 and ordinance to repeal title 8 chapter 18.12 section 18.12.10 of the ROM missile code entitled prohibition against sitting or lying in doorways penalty and other matters properly relating thet move to adopt second we have a motion in a second any discussion all those in favor favor I all those opposed motion carries unanimously item F4 Madam clerk do we have any public comment on this item we do not have any registered okay Mr Hall ordinance adoption Bill ordinance number 6697 and ordinance to appeal title 8 chapter 8.12 section 812.015 of the Reno Municipal Code entitled sitting or lying down on public sidewalks in downtown Reno Regional Center and other matters properly relating there to to adopt second we have a motion in a second all those in favor I I all those opposed motion carries unanimously and we'll move on to item number F5 Madame clerk do we have any public comment on this item we do not have any okay Mr Hall sorry we do have one public commenter from Lily Baron okay hello there um I just I'm concerned about the lack of discussion here and listening to you zoom through these and I feel like a lot of questions are still not answered namely the one about the people who cannot perform their assisted daily living exercises There Are Places there are no places that these people can go that's someone who cannot put on their pants brush their teeth take a shower go to the restroom and if they are found in a park they will be excited and going to jail because there is no other place for them to go you also did receive a memo last month saying that even if you filled all 911 beds at par and all shelters you would still not have enough beds for people so we all know and you have been informed that there are not enough beds for the amount of people that are experiencing homelessness and and lastly just as someone who lives on the train tracks it absolutely has not gotten better since since the ordinance at the train tracks in fact I'm seeing people come to me in more distress than ever before I understand that you're intent on on uh on doing this but it's just it's a shame that we're going to have to waste our City's money that we obviously really need after that budget proposal um on these on these things that are really not going to work and they're going to kill people thank you do you have any other public comment M we do not have any additional public comment okay Mr Hall we're on item F5 is that correct Madam clerk correct ordinance adoption ordinance number 66 98 and ordinance to appeal title 8 chapter 8.23 section 8.23 90 the Reno Municipal Code entitled camping and other matters properly relating there too move to adopt second we have a motion in a second um do we have any discussion all those in favor I do just want to clarify um F1 was a vote to make it um camping illegal um the votes uh after that F2 through what is it F6 those are repealing exis um camping laws so I just wanted that to be clear I I think F6 is actual adoption of it okay sorry about that um hold on so we're on F5 okay yeah F5 is different but I know there was some concern I know I was just saying I know there was some concern from the the commenter that we're going through these quickly and I was just clarifying that F2 through F5 were repealing existing ordinances right so that's all okay okay all those in favor oh wait we had a first a second all those in favor say I I I all those opposed motion carries uh moving on to unanimously item F6 Madam clerk do we have any public comment on this item we do not have any public comment registered okay Mr Hall back to you again please ordinance adoption ordinance number 6699 and ordinance to amend title 8 chapter 8.10 of the Reno municipal code titled offenses against property prohibiting loitering when posted on private property and other matters properly relating there to I have okay sounds like we might have some uh questions or discussion on this item councilwoman dur yeah I just I think this is excellent personally I had a good chance to talk with our deputy chief about some of the challenges of waiting for Private Pro private property owners to call and then get permission to enforce on their property about Loy loing and I think this um facilitates the process and could you just explain it I think it'd be good for people to hear um it sounds like um you can pre-register for a authorization for the police to enforce could you just explain that yeah uh deputy chief yeah Chris Jacobson assistant chief of police or excuse me assistant chief not correcting you I apologize just give my title um currently as we know there's no loitering RMC so we experience a lot of problems uh we've been experiencing a lot of problems with our downtown nightclub some of them a lot of people congregating in the the parking lots private property there's nothing we can do we can't be proactive a lot of problems we respond to the problems after they become one we have to reach out to business owners Property Owners once that's going on we have to try to figure out who these folks are and get permission or have them come out and tell them they have to leave or get permission to make them leave um this would be an application a business owner a property owner all they would need to do is fill out the application so they fill out the application says yes I want to be part of the lawyering program once they fill that out they give us their name their contact information a backup name backup contact information for emergencies then they agree to purchase signs they put the signs up on their property and once they put the signs up our men and women know that they are participating in the loitering ordinance and we have the authority to go in and be proactive when we see some sort of a problem potential problem large gathering on private property we can ask them to leave and and enforce that I think this can really potentially help a pre be a preventative measure um whether it's uh loitering in a at a storefront downtown or whether it's in let's say South Reno which has been the site of a lot of street racing and um uh those type of activities to be able to break up with pre permission from let's say a Walmart Al Lowe's or a um technology business that has a big parking lot I mean this has been a special focus of mine and I've often heard well we couldn't get a hold of these people at 2 in the morning uh to enforce on their property and I mean that this seems to really address it so I I just thank you for being proactive I think this shouldn't um have a really a big impact on on House people I think this is much more targeted to criminal activity so appreciate it thank you thank you council members other questions council member Eber I just want to make a comment I agree um this is kind of more in line with protecting the businesses just you can't you can't go on people's property and I want to make it clear too that um although I don't support arresting people for sitting laying down sleeping um I do think it's reasonable to be able to say that I don't want people um hang hanging out on my property for whatever reason if they're being disruptive or loud or just you know you don't want them there um I support that so thank you thank you I think we're looking for a motion I'll make a motion to approve motion I made a motion to I said we have a motion oh okay I thought you said a motion we have a motion in the second all those in favor I all those opposed motion carries neously thank you Madame clerk um we are on to city clerk item um Madame vice mayor at this point we're actually I think going to go on break until our 6 PM hearings okay good we'll be back here at 6 o'clock do we need to do item H1 before we leave we can do it normally we do it at the close but if you guys would like to do it now we're you're more than welcome to do announcements do you want to do it now Council M I'm agnostic I just know that we have a very long evening let's do item H1 now and we will start with council member Anderson I just want to continue to um encourage people that if you're interested in serving on the NAB and W 6 to go online and put your application in we're doing interviews now council member Martinez H nothing for me thank you so much council member Rees thank you Madame vice mayor for my part I'll just uh invite all the colleagues and anyone across the city we have a a pool party on on February 15th in Northwest Reno uh love in full Splash for Valentine's Day at the Northwest pool from 3: to 5: and so I'm sure uh Lily the Llama will make an appearance council member doer no I have none today council member Ebert um no not at this time okay we will go into recess and we'll be back at 6 pm. thank you everyone e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e Madam clerk are we ready yes madame vice mayor if you are ready we can call this meeting back to order okay we will call the January 22nd Reno council meeting back to order and we are moving on to item I two I I won I won okay just for the record we're reconvening at 601 and at this time uh council member dur is absent and mayor shivi is present on the phone okay we'll open um the public hearing Madame clerk has proper notice been given Madame vice mayor proper notice has been given on item i1 okay and do um council members need to make disclosures start with council member Anderson none for mecu council member Reese council member Eber okay do we have a presentation a staff presentation hello good afternoon members of the council my name is Leah picotti and I am an associate planner with the City of Reno development services this evening I'm going to present the application for the plumis Redevelopment this is um the same applica the same application that was heard by the Planning Commission back on December 5th it was appealed and now I'm going to show it to you guys so here I apologize for my map being a bit off but this is the subject site this is located just south of McCarron Boulevard between plumis and Lakeside it is a 9.4 Acre Site today's request that you are reviewing is for a conditional use permit for a 273 unit multifam apartment complex and also a major site plan review for grading resulting in fills of over 10 ft the subject site which you can see there in red is in The General commercial zoning district Key issues that staff analyzed in this request were overall site design design compatibility with surrounding developments and uses traffic access and circulation and tree preservation just to give you a little bit of background this is the site um of the former Lakeridge tennis club in 2019 there was a zoning map change from the club Lakeridge specific plan District to The General commercial zoning District then in 2021 a tenative map and conditional use permit were approved by the council at that time for 34 Condominiums and that's what you see on your screen right there is the site plan that was approved back in 2021 for the 314 Condominiums now that entitlement is still in effect so I just want to let everybody know that if this application gets denied this tentative map and conditional use permit for the 314 Condominiums is still valid if it gets approved tonight there is a condition of approval that would void that tentative map and conditional use permit um upon issuance of the first building permit so regarding overall site design this is what we're looking at tonight this is two buildings it's a 273 unit multi family apartment complex the buildings are between four and 5 stories tall 40 5 to 56 ft in height which is allowable within The General commercial zoning District which allows a maximum height of 65 ft the proposed site will offer 437 parking spaces far exceeding Reno Municipal Code which would require 305 spaces for an apartment complex of this size and also they are going to do an 8,000 ft dog park which you can see down at the bottom of your screen there the Great in um as I said requires a major site plan review because it's over 10 ft they are proposing maximum fills of 23.2 ft and while that seems like a lot it's actually because there's a giant hole in the ground on the site from when the Lakeridge tennis club and pool were removed um so I just want to be clear that they're not building this site up by 20 ft they're filling in an existing hole so regarding compatibility I know that there's been a lot of talk about compatibility and I want to open this conversation by talking about what the definition of compatibility is and the definition of compatibility is that two uses can exist and occur together with um without conflict so it's not that things look the same as those around them um just like anybody who's in a relationship and compatibil right it doesn't mean you look like your partner it means that the two of you coexist without conflict or with minimal conflict so when staff looks at compatibility what they're looking at is ways to mitigate any potential conflict so in this particular case we are looking at a high density residential which would be about 29 dwelling units per acre well up on that map there directly to the West you can see we have multif family 21 units per acre and multif family 30 units per acre so we have very similar densities in this area additionally it's surrounded by arterial streets McCaron is a major arterial and Lakeside is a minor arterial what this means is that those roadways provide access to other parts of the city so when we're looking at high density development we're looking at easy access to other parts of the city so it does meet that um we do have an increased height in this uh as compared to the 2020 one but we also have increased setbacks so along with that increased height we've moved those buildings that were proposed in 2021 back off of the site so setbacks are about 44 ft from plumis 112 feet from McCarron uh somewhere between 48 and 64 feet from the Eastern properties and 60 to 100 feet from those Southern properties additionally regarding compatibility um we have a front setback buffer to protect those existing mature trees um which will additionally mitigate that appearance of building Mass from McCaron so the applicant has proposed to preserve 155 existing trees everything you see on your screen there that's uh that's a green circle or a green triangle are existing trees that are being preserved plus they're going to add another 15 154 proposed trees for a total of 309 trees on site just to give you an idea renom municipal code require 219 trees additionally they are proposing about 26% landscaping again just for comparison Rena municipal code in The General commercial zoning District requires 15% and furthermore they are adding vegetative screening on the southern portion adjacent to the compactor and the dog park to just further mitigate any potential confli conflict and increase that compatibility all right regarding traffic access and circulation um anybody who's been by the site knows that sometimes the traffic can back up a bit there but I just want to talk about the numbers here for a second so with the addition of these 273 unit apartment complex the delay at McCarron and plumis will increase by less than 1 second the delay at McCaron and Lakeside will increase by about about two seconds furthermore um the Regional Transit Commission RTC um is has a McCarron widening project that's going to go through this specific area is expected in the next 5 to 10 years um my my understanding at this point is it's going to be sometime around 2030 and additionally the project this project will provide uh will'll bring in $96,000 in Road impact fees and those Road impact fees go to any Regional projects like widening McCarron um and increase the the better the trans better Aid in the transportation regionally additionally they're proposing a sidewalk with a partial landscaped uh Parkway along right there through those trees and I'll explain a little bit more about that here in a second so regarding the findings um what's on on the board right now are the general review criteria these are the findings that apply to all entitlements that come through so is it consistent with Reno master plan staff found that it is consistent with the plan goals policies and strategies is it compliant with Title 18 uh yes with the conditions of approval the project not only meets but it also exceeds several of those Reno municipal code standards does it mitigate traffic well the delays are going to be minimal they're going to be 1 to two seconds but the flip side of that is that it's going to increase the safety by increasing those setbacks adding a sidewalk along that area and adding a landscaped Parkway through there that's going to improve the environment for both pedestrians and people on bicycles as well so this set of findings right here are conditional use permit review findings so the first one is is it in in accordance with Reno municipal code and the purpose of the zoning District well the purpose of the general Comm commercial zoning district is quote is intended to accommodate a mix of higher density residential retail commercial and other employment and service oriented uses is the design compatible with surrounding development it is surrounded by residential uses in arterial streets we have increased setbacks we have increased percentages of landscaping we have an extra number of trees we have additional screening so staff finds that it will coexist with the surrounding development without conflict design is consistent with the development standards yes again it not only meets but it exceeds many of those Renown municipal code standards do we have available Public Services absolutely it's an infill project these are the projects we like to we like to work on we want to see um things being built in places where we already have the infrastructure to support that are the characteristics reasonably compatible with the types of uses permitted in the surrounding area characteristics or distinctive features of a project um will coexist with the types of uses permitted in this surrounding area and will it be detrimental to the public health safety and Welfare while once developed the noise smoke odor dust vibration illumination and other hazards that are associated with construction will all be mitigated so the Planning Commission heard this application on December 5th they unanimously approved the request 6 to Zer there was one member absent that Day staff's recommen recommendation is on the board and I am available if you have any questions that concludes my presentation thank you thank you Miss picotti um do we have an appellant presentation we do have an appellant presentation um she doesn't have a PowerPoint but she's welcome to I use the projector yeah and Madam vice mayor and Madam clerk um when do you want to take public comment you often you take it before but after we're do the yeah so city council rules outline that public comment comes after presentations oh that's good I agree when do you want our comment to miss picotti after public comment after public comment to miss picotti yes we're going to do all the presentations public comment and then we're going to do discussion and questions okay thanks sure and I did have a disclosure um okay let me think actually I don't okay actually it's on another one please come on up are you ready for me yes we are okay um just want to make sure your projector is projecting is that oh I see I got to do a little maneuvering Poss for the record I'm Terry rert I am representing a residents of lak Ridge Villas residents and property owners and also the uh Lakeridge community at large I want to thank all of you for hearing uh this appeal and I want to thank you for your service to the city of Runo I want to thank all of you for showing up because we all oppose this development hold your applause I want to remind all of you and I know that you care deeply about this community you are our guardians of our city you are here to protect our safety and our quality of life I feel it's important important that you hear from us your constituents the voters like myself many of these residents of people that have lived here I've lived here 45 years we have worked here we have raised our children here we have contributed to this community in a multitude of ways I am also a public servant I have been an ICU nurse in Reno and a teacher in waso County Schools we want to feel that our concerns matter to you residents are frustrated and angry about the approval by the Reno Planning Commission of the plumis Redevelopment project our deep concerns are fire safety Traffic Safety density and compatibility of a four and fivestory apartment building in Lakeridge and I don't think a dictionary definition of the ability to coexist is appropriate a dictionary definition does not take into account fires in the area traffic accidents in the area Etc the Indiana I got to get a sip of water excuse me the Indiana uh based company Thompson and Thrift want to use an existing one siiz fits all plan that is not designed for our community they will build and leave us to deal with the consequences this is our last chance to have an impact as residents The Guiding principles for the Reno master master plan gp2 responsible and well-managed growth gp6 safe safety and health healthy and inclusive community I will continue to follow the outline on my appeal there are many citizens here who are going to comment in regards to traffic I have read both traffic studies the traffic impact study for the plum development and the MCC Boulevard whoops upside down sorry about that uh Corridor study which was done in November uh November 30th of 22 um at the Reno Planning Commission the question that was asked was there a study done yes that was it I have many questions after reading these two studies and I believe that one to2 second delay I believe that is a an average number that does not accurately reflect the traffic at peak hours this project uses existing Ingress and egress the developers Representatives acknowledge the plumis exit is the primary exit and the Lakeridge exit is secondary this picture is of a truck and trailer trying to navigate the S curve that is considered one of the points of exit for this development can you imagine a ladder truck with people trying to exit trying to navigate this turn and coming out onto Lakeridge this will be a right turn only exit during Peak traffic um you will have to circle the block to go east on McCarron here is a list of all the developments sorry I'm getting disorganized here of all the developments that exit at the um the exit from Ridge viw Street to access the plumis McCarron intersection we are now adding yet another development whose primary exit is plumis and it is close to this intersection you can see the list I won't read it to you this is a copy of the crash report everything in yellow those are accidents happened during Peak traffic times you can see that is the majority so it is that information about uh Peak traffic conditions that is most important the Los or level of service status which ranges from a the best to F the worst at the plumis McCaron intersection excuse me uh is already an F rating at Peak am traffic and do like status levels to be losd or lower uh Emergency Medical Response times they are being infected by our traffic as an ICU nurse and my daughter is a careflight nurse practitioner I am well aware of the challenges of our Emergency Medical Response First Responders and let me tell you seconds matter and it could be any of you and any of us andot spoke to the lak ridge Villa's HOA Representatives about their study this map here shows multiple areas that need widened the widening of the McCaron Boulevard is a fluid decision at this point the RTC does not plan to finalize plans to widen McCaron until at least 20 26 and the widening plan span over the next 25 years we were told that our section by this development is not the top priority maybe that changes but as of now that was the advice or the information we were given the Ingress and egress that was present on McCarron from the Lakeridge Tennis Club has been eliminated by the developer and I understand why because there is no clear plan yet for the McCaron widening to approve project with questionable Ingress and egress before what is known about future Road expansion seems to be putting the cart before the horse what the most re recent traffic studies cannot address is the impact of multiple apartment complexes being approved simultaneously current data shows we have 8 to 9,000 apartment units coming on board in 2025 these projects will all be using our main arterials and McCaron is our main arterial other than I80 and 395 the Reno Planning Commission asked no questions about this the LA fires tragically have put fire safety first and foremost in everyone's mind this picture of Reno on fire speaks for itself the Reno Gazette Journal article dated November of 2020 is titled Wildfire prone West Reno Burns three times in less than 15 years we are West Reno I watch the house at top Windy Hill Burn in 2011 it was frightening how fast that fire jumped to that house crossed Lakeside into Bartley Ranch crossed Damonte into Anderson Park before it was put under control this house that burned is a half mile from this proposed development the eight developments that I just showed you uh they have only one uh and it is the ra Ridge View Drive to plumis as a fire evacuation rout they faced massive traffic delays during this fire and residents were seen riding their bicycles out to get away from this fire please remember that others will speak to fire danger but it is clear that government agencies are going to face litigation if fire evacuation and safety are not appropriately addressed I guarantee you there is not one taxpayer in this room that wants to see tax dollars used to pay for litigation and settlements including all of you on to compatibility I went to reimagine Reno to access the city Reno master plan I can tell there was a lot of work done on this and a lot of thought put into it and I applaud you I know the mayor has worked very hard and as sure many of you have um on this plan your guiding principles let me just read you ng12 on transition abrupt changes in residential density should be avoided unless they are part of an integrated plan lerage is a plan Community this does not fit with our plan n ncn 7 to extent to the extent feasible infield development should be designed to fit in the surrounding buildings incorporating similar Heights lot coverages and wits and design blocky and blank multi- silding buildings form of devoid of of architectural features should be avoided I just want to show this picture I realize my time is about up this is a development that was currently built be uh close to us next or behind Sam's Club is this the future of Reno there are so many structures like this being approved all around town is this what you want the face of Reno to look like thank you and you know it is public record that developers are major contributions to elected officials that is public record we know that thank you Miss rubert we're going to ask the respondent if they have a presentation you'll have 10 minutes opinions thank [Applause] you is there a presentation by the respondent you have 10 minutes just waiting for my presentation um uh bam Vice fa members of the council Andy derling withw Rogers representing the applicant for this project with me tonight gck Gordon as well as other members of our team to help answer your questions so as I stall a little bit while I what yep yeah it was on the website did you increase the volume on the microphone there it is thank you again um have a a presentation for you staff obviously did a very good job of giving you overview of the project um this is a conditional use permit for uh allowing more than 100 units in a General commercial zoning 273 to be exact the CL turn the clock on it also allows for fills uh greater than 10 F feet in height as as uh indicated this site is the former site of the Lakeridge Tennis Club it also is a site of a currently approved um 314 unit condominium development that could also be built um in L of this is master plan Suburban mixed use which the Suburban mixed use land use calls for uh provision of opportunities for broader mix of uses in a more Suburban context while also preserving the uh opportunities for higher density infield development and provides opportunities for higher density housing within a close proximity to services and employment further The General commercial zoning allows for a mix of commercial and higher density residential uses Thompson Thrift uh a nationwide apartment Builder multif family Builder um projects across the the United States um one thing I want to point out here is kind of they they understand their Market um their average renter is about 35 years old their household size is about 1.6 uh people per house in their their units um average household income over 109,000 and they attract a diverse community of young professionals mature couples and young families that are seeking this type of product they have a site criteria that really matches this and checks all the boxes for this site including high traffic thoroughfare uh proximity good jobs proximity to high-end housing in schools and other um high-end retail uh one of the things that came up at the Planning Commission was a question of their sustainability practices uh they incorporate a lot of these into all of their uh projects including smart home features LED lighting uh drought tolerant landscape and po pollinator Gardens low flow shower heads and fixtures uh as well as you know what we offered as a condition of a approval EV charging stes stations on this project uh to the tune of 5% of the required parking um the specifics of this 9.3 Acres 273 multif family units in two buildings um those buildings are four-story buildings I know it's been said there's there's a five-story um there is a five-story element to um building uh one which is the larger building on the left there really it's just a daylight basement on the on the right side of that building um so from that side which is up against the other building it would appear to be five stories but by Co code definition it is a four-story building um they're both 45 ft in height uh as staff mentioned we have a significant increase setback um both on the front the landscape along uh McCarron and plumis uh and then also further setting those buildings back from the street 2.4 Acres of landscape areas provided which is an acre more than what's re required by the code minimum 219 trees are required we were providing 309 of those 155 or existing mature trees that are being preserved uh there's a number of on-site amenities both in you know in internal club houses the pool area you can see there in the dog park uh this project has ample parking with 437 spaces uh for the 305 that are required uh for the tree protection really we're only required to protect trees that are within the 10-ft set back which is that red line you see along the street frontages and we have provided that ample setback to preserve more of those trees here's a look at some of uh the renderings for the project architecture just to give you um you know I I know um compatibility massing uh size of these buildings has come up and so we wanted to give you a comparison of of what that actually looks like so this is a mass in comparison this is the obviously an old photo of the exist or of the old Lakeridge tennis club which was a three-story commercial building had a 42ft building height and then it had it was a very large footprint it obviously had the gym and everything and then really large warehouses which were the indoor tennis courts uh the current approved plan for the 314 condominium um um tentative map uh is a four-story residential building and had up to 49t building Heights um and then the proposed one in front of you tonight is a four-story residential building with 45 foot building height very com comparative uh massing looking at that broadening the scope of this and looking into the the area which you know it's said that this is this area doesn't have that size of buildings that's not true Lakers Tennis Club as I mentioned three-story commercial building 42 feet high the lakd center which is directly to the west of this site on pluma street is a three-story commercial building with 45 approximately 45 bot building height Lake Ridge uh The Village at Lake Ridge which is just to the east on Lakeside is a three-story commercial building with 45 foot height and the proposed development is a four-story residential building with 45 foot height the difference there is commercial floor Heights are usually a lot bigger uh than a residential floor height so that's where the three story versus four story comes in traffic uh we did do an updated traffic study in October of last year the project utilizes existing driveways we're not um putting new driveways on uh and we're actually removing a driveway from McCarron so that will help with some of the throughput on McCaron by not having that friction uh in the traffic flow there uh these existing intersections will have some negligible impacts due to the proposed project however um looking at the rtc's 2050 Regional Transportation plan it identifies a widening of South McCaron adjacent to this that came out of and was born from a a corridor study that was done on on mccaran Boulevard a joint effort by RTC and endot a few years ago um we also will be improving pedestrian safety by adding sidewalk on McCarron now again another comparison looking at the existing current approved that could be built 314 condos um those generate about 2300 average daily trips compared to what's proposed now it's just 1,800 just over 1,800 average daily trips so that's about a 20% reduction uh of 458 uh average daily trips then looking at the delays of the you know the primary intersections here Lakeside and plumis on McCarron the current plan had a 4 and 10c delay in the morning and and afternoon the proposed plan at plumis uh has less than a second of delay in the morning and evening which is a reduction of 3 seconds and 9 seconds respectively in the morning and afternoon Peaks Lakeside had uh in the current plan a 7-second delay and a 4-second delay additional delay um the proposed plan has a 2cond delay uh for those AM and PM Peaks that's a five 5sec reduction and a two second reduction from the current approved plan that could be built um looking more at the comparison of these uh approved plan versus what you know what we're proposing now the approv plan had eight buildings that were really oriented towards the edge of the site um as I mentioned before those were up to 49 ft buildings um towards the edge of McCaron and to the adjacent uh multif family to the south and east there are four stories they had amenities and it was gated and they had driveways on plumis Lakeside and we're utilizing that existing driveway on McCarron we feel this is an improvement to that current approved plan it's two buildings that are oriented to the center of the site so we're pulling it away from the streets increasing the setbacks reducing that massing effect to the general public um there's still four stories uh and it has the central amenities and then as I mentioned before we eliminated that um uh driveway on McCarron and just have um utilization of existing driveways on plumis and Lakeside looking at more comparisons um General commercial zoning allows for a lot of highdensity residential products um it could have up to 45 units per acre or 419 units what is approved there is 314 units and what we're prop proposing is 273 units that's 14 6 unit reduction from the code maximum and 41 unit reduction from the app approved Plan Building height in General commercial can be 65 feet or five stories the current approved plan is 49 fet and four stories uh a lot of this is getting redundant I apologize uh the proposed plan is 45 uh 45 ft in four stories so that's about a 10 foot reduction from code and about a 4 foot reduction from what's approved front setback is minimum of 10 feet um the approved plan had 40t to the buildings we've got 40t to the parking and then an additional 80 to 100 ft from those um streets to the actual buildings themselves uh parking uhu which was a concern that was raised during the the um U entitlement process for the current approved plan uh it was required to have 325 stalls we had 392 at that time um this plan because of the reduction in units has a requirement of 289 stalls however we've gone above and beyond that and provided much more parking with 438 stalls so that's 149 stalls more than the code requires and 4 six more stalls than what's required in addition to the reduction of units some of the appellants and concerns that were raised we try to uh tried to kind of um compile here into into General theme so they've they've raised concerns about Community character and compatibility this Project's located on M mcaren Boulevard that's this is our Region's uh primary major arterial this is where we want more intense development uh it is a similar scale and height to the surrounding commercial buildings as pointed out earlier in my presentation as well as to the former Tennis Club so saying that there you hasn't been this type of building there is just not true the tennis club itself was a very large building uh and and was three stories tall and the use is compatible with the numerous surrounding multif Family Properties traffic sa safety as we mentioned has some negligible increases to level of service uh We've eliminated the driveway of McCarron and has the future widening of McCarron Boulevard uh that's in the rtc's hands uh Wildfire danger which is brought up there are numerous options for emergency evacuations from this site in particular obviously being on McCaren there's Lakeside plumis and then all all multitude of kind of other routes P once you get past those intersections uh and we also meet the current international fire codes for the site uh increased crime um T you know it's difficult because really this is this is a similar type of use to what's uh around the neighborhood already uh the land use mix was thrown that you should be a mix of uses General commercial allows for a mix of uses but it doesn't require it we can have just multif family uh the tree count we have a tree preservation plan that accounts for the existing and dead compromised trees unlike what they have proposed or what they've asserted uh and we our tree preservation is well above and beyond what code requires uh finally thear apartment demand and vacancy uh we did we looked actually at what local um U Brokers and what you know uh locals are saying about the vacancy rate JN Johnson Perkins Griffin uh which is a local estimator um they do a quarterly report of vacancy rates and in the third quarter of 2024 their last report it was at 2.7% which is a very low um vacancy rate for the region and actually does indicate that there's there's room for more multif family growth with that I will be available for questions thank you Mr derling we will move into public comment Madame clerk Madame vice mayor we're going to go into public comment at this time um and it should be noted for those in the audience that um any disrespectable disrespectful behavior in accordance with Council rule 6.3.1 one um while while in this room please be respectful disruptive behavior from audience members like clapping yelling whistling Etc which impede the meeting May result in a warning issued by the presiding officer and if the behavior continues you may be removed from chambers our first public commenter is Kim bakis followed by Janice schaffers followed by Megan Schuster Madame vice mayor and council members thank you for allowing me to speak tonight I've spoken before on this issue and I probably will continue to speak on this issue I am a resident Kim Backus from Reno Nevada and I am a resident of lak R Shores lak R Shores is just down the road from plumis I have repeatedly speaking to the issue of traffic I not well prepared I'll tell you that speaking to the issue of traffic um I will tell you that uh traffic has backed up many times to my entrance on Greensboro especially if there's an accident um with more traffic that we're seeing without adding this new building I can't imagine we're going to get any less any fewer accidents or any fewer backup traffic my concern has also been for the pedestrians on those intersections walking across the streets especially if they find that they there are more than 1.5 people in an apartment and they need to have two or three cars those cars will be parked most likely North because the southern south of McCaron the sides of the streets are already lined with cars parked there from the the uh existing Apartments so I think that there needs to be a consideration for safety of the people who are walking across the street I don't really understand what the um Public Services what the gentleman said about public services being similar similar use to surrounding uses in the neighborhood Public Services we don't have buses we don't have a police precinct we don't have a fire department we don't have any of that stuff that's going to be um impacted by this building that is to say we don't have any of that so for him to say that it's similar kind of caused me to pause in my thinking about that um I I don't think compatibility means that whatever is good in Indianapolis is good in Reno Nevada I think that Reno Nevada has a has a flare of its own and a buildings like this that are being built all over Sparks all over Reno residents do not find to be something that reflects our uh basic appreciation of architecture I think the architecture needs to be examined as well as uh anything else and I think that even Madam mayor was concerned about the traffic backup the last time around when she voted against against that project so please keep in mind that the people who live there are the people who are going to be impacted and those are the people here in this room thank you very much for your time Janice schaffers followed by Megan Schuster followed by John creger thank you members for uh providing me with the time to speak at this forum um I reviewed the traffic impact study for plumis development um my colleague Terry rert who uh presented earlier referenced that I got a bunch of notes on it so I won't put on there um one thing I didn't find I did a search on the document for the word environmental and I got a no hit so it would have been good and I don't know if there's an environmental impact review or study that's been performed but it's not listed in the traffic impact study from the developer or the developer's contractor um the other thing I wanted to mention briefly is when the Davis fire happened this past fall um I'm California Native I've been around fires a lot but that was rather disturbing and even more so when I watched the presentation at a public forum I think it was at a a school by the um professional fire people and um some of the political members were there maybe some of you folks were there but they gave a three-day um prognostication on how that fire which was at that point still running and roaming around uh over by um the Mount Rose highway but their 3-day prognostication show different levels running from the highway almost all the way to Interstate 80 and I'm a resident of lak Ridge Villas I'm at mccaran and Lakeside and that was like a Tuesday night and they were projecting 70 M 80 mph winds at the Ridge and then they were showing as it would come over the ridge down into the valley and those professionals uh were extremely concerned that was close to everyone else and so that was I think a Tuesday night and on Wednesday uh the evacuation had been uh a warning set for mccaran and Lakeside and I pecked up my three dogs and went back to Sacramento because I could not see in that short amount of time that they were projecting that would happen for that many people to get out of all those communities once that level was raised from a warning to a mandatory Evac and and so as my colleague Terry alluded to it's a great concern there's massive amounts of traffic massive amounts of people and I'm concerned for all of them and I'm sure you are too thank you for your time Megan Schuster followed by John creger followed by Nancy chontos good evening my name is Megan Schuster I'm a resident of the lak Ridge Community Living about one mile from the site of the proposed plan um although I could speak to many reasons against this proposed plan such as the density and the risk to Public Safety as plumis is the main Fire Escape Route or I could talk about the intersection of plumis and McCarron and how it's already rated an F I'm going to address the building height and density of this proposed plan um the proposed plan is 45 to 55 fet tall so a four and fivestory building um the single and multif family units that surround 6,000 pluma Street are one and twostory buildings the twostory buildings immediately south of this development have a roof height peak of just 22 feet so this proposed building will be three stories above the surrounding building the former Lakeridge tennis club building was only one story taller than the surrounding building it was only 36 and2 ft and when McCarron is wi in 2030 and the width for the third or a fourth Lane will likely where do you think it's going to come from it's going to come from the setback that they're talking about is so vast right now so you're going to have these massive buildings of 45 to 55 fet feet potentially being just at minimum code of 10 10 ft from McCarron that's a safety risk in the winter when you're going to have the the possibility of um the winter months and the ice on the McCarron roads when those buildings could be shadowing McCaron just think about the potential of that at 273 units it's at 29 dwelling units per acre okay this development is almost three times the density per the areas immediately surrounding this development which are 10 and 12 dwelling units per acre then you have the majority of the units within one mile where I live with the density of three dwelling units per acre so we're talking putting a building within one mile where it's basically going to be 10 times the density of the surrounding lakeood lak Ridge Development at this height in density the proposed plan is not consistent with the requirements of finding two of Title 18 of the Land Development code as it does not fit the scale and the infill of the established Lakeridge residential Community any Redevelopment of the site on the former Lakeridge Tennis Club should not exceed mf14 which would put the development at 126 dwelling units that is the size that is consistent with our neighborhood I ask that the council appeals the planning commission's approval of the proposed project in place place of a smaller development that would be in keeping with the established Lakeridge neighborhood thank you John ker followed by Nancy chontos followed by Cindy Chandler Nancy chontos followed by Cindy Chandler followed by Tor Benjamin good evening vice mayor city council members and all of you in attendance tonight thank you for coming I'm here to provide some concrete reasons for you to vote no tonight on the development plan for the three Parcels on the corner of plumis and McCaron now it looks like two Parcels I'm suggesting you in representation of us send the plans back to the developer for modifications in three key areas first the look and feel second parking egress and traffic and third safety look and feel this design is out of conformance proportion and character for this older unique and stylish neighborhood the proposed buildings are taller and not in keeping with the look feel and environment the development should fit in not stand out City of Reno infill requirements are not being met nor is it in conformance with the Reno reimagine master plan this is a cookie cutter design not one designed for this Old Southwest Reno neighborhood the Planning Commission could not find one comparable situation anywhere in Reno because this is a very unique and special place parking egress and traffic the effect of this development on the parking situation egress and overall traffic impact will be extremely negative is there enough parking allotted for the potential 400 to 500 vehicles of the residents I question that the plan accounts for 1.5 spots per unit is required however many of the three-bedroom units will have at least three drivers overflow will be on the streets plumis and Lakeside which will make access for school buses and Rapid Transit vehicles that much more difficult than is current since there are no pullover spaces egress has planned on both plumis Lakeside right near the corners of mcaren these two intersections are extremely congested especially during the morning and late afternoon commutes this development will severely exacerbate this situation traffic issues at plumis and McAn right now are rated an f as in fail mitigation efforts such as widening of the streets and revisions to the egress need to be completed before development begins and I won't even begin to address the 1 to2 second increase in time safety this development is currently has potential safety risk for pedestrians school children and the average driver The increased traffic to an already overcrowded area at two key intersections would also impede evacuations in the case of a natural disaster therefore I'm asking that you have the developer one make the design and conformance proportion and character with this neighborhood while meeting the mixed use designation two fix the negative impact from the egress and parking and three create a plan that addresses the safety risks change in the form of this development is not our issue the issue is due to the change in the proper way thank you Cindy Chandler followed by Tor Benjamin followed by Margot piskov good evening it is my hope that you listen carefully to the residents tonight that are presenting information that address the Reno master plan and Public Safety regarding the proposed plumis Redevelopment project though elected by voters in your ward you now represent every resident in Reno when you cast your vote I represent the residents of Carriage House a community in the Hills above pluma Street who oppose the planning commission's approval of the 273 apartment unit four five-story project we objected in 2021 to the previous proposal of 314 condos because of traffic congestion appearance four five-story buildings and Public Safety to name a few now four years later the previous concerns have only magnified and intensified just in the past 30 days there have been two car accidents in at the intersection of plumis and McCaron the traffic study presented by the Planning Commission inadequately focused on the impact this project would have on McCarron and ignored the traffic on plumis Lakeridge and rid viw Public Safety exists and I have this does that show there we go public safety of existing residents can no longer have a low priority when voting for infill and density projects the proposed 273 apartment units with the main entrance and exit located on plumis with one lane in each Direction creates a public safety issue for all current and future residents that live in the Hills above plumis Street and the current apartments on plumis Carriage house is only one of four communities on the hill and has one main Escape Route to plumis in the event of a fire since plumis is a deadend street drivers can only go in One Direction on plumis and that is in the direction of the proposed 273 unit Apartment project Pacific Palisades fire in LA county in which I'm from Southern Cal so I know fully well where residents had to abandon their cars because their only access road was gridlocked with cars should be a wakeup call for all elected officials regardless of the state or the city it is not only a tragedy but also a public safety disaster that will undoubtably be litigated near the in the future the over 100 Evans Creek residents also exit on on Evans Ro to lak Ridge or Lakeside the only alternative we have is to go down plumis and here's the example of where we were head and you have this in writing so you can look at it we understand that something will be built on the old tennis courts but I ask that you look at this project from a public safety perspective and vote no on the conditional permit of this of the two units revisit the zoning and what project best meets the public safety needs of the surrounding communities as well as future residents your vote will determine whether you support the interest of Reno constituents or the special interest of developers please do the right thing and vote no thank you Tori Benjamin followed by Margo pesovic followed by Patricia Evans hello my name is Jory Benjamin and um I've been a um resident of Reno for over 20 years and for the record I have submitted uh to the mayor and each council member number four pages of signatures of people that were unable to be here their signatures against this proposal and just because these apartment buildings have met the commercial criteria guidelines does not make them right or neighborly some council members passionately agreed that a safe healthy and vibrant neighborhood are cornerstones for a good quality of life in Reno this infill project is opposite of this statement it does not bring quality or V liany to the neighborhood the intersections been talked about a lot uh it's highly congested uh people drive I'm sure you all drive it we it it's busy busy busy um I think we should know when the street widening is happening before this is built and what does that look like because as Megan said the setbacks are uh going to be those really nice sidewalks taken away from this new building um shouldn't we citizens that live um contribute to the city coffers be aware of this plan before you vote on it does our neighborhood not matter to city planning this is an older neighborhood we are not afraid of growth we are about what the outcome of growth looks like and I won't use words like compatibility because they will get misconstrued I will say this apartment building could blend in better and I'm not quite sure what all the blue paint is on all these new buildings but we'll just let that be according to traffic studies there is only one to two uh seconds added to the Daily commute I can hardly believe that it common sense says it's not true I spend lots of time trying to get out of my driveway as it is um and there's 130 patio homes uh that exist on plumis north of McCarron uh it's already difficult for these residents to get out of their property uh and it's a it's currently frightening and dangerous for pedestrians using the crosswalk we have red light Runners yellow light Runners people talking on their phone not paying attention when they make the turns onto plumis it's an accident waiting to happen yall you see how people drive these days the Reno master plan States in part quote infill development should be designed to fit in with surrounding buildings incorporating similar Heights lock coverage and wits in its design end quote the Wells Fargo BS building is has been used to compare height to this apartment building Wells Fargo building is on a hill and it Blends in with the neighborhood as well as The Village at lakid retail mix it Blends in we ask that you know if this is built we can't take it back it it what's done will be done done we implore the city council to keep the Integrity of the master plan thanks for your time it's appreciated sorry you have to listen to all this but thank you Margo piskov followed by Patricia Evans followed by Diane bman good evening I'm Margo piskov I own home at Lake Ridge Villas reimagine Reno's master plan for not only the city but the county does not fit the developers plan page 146 of the master plan States quote in instances when designed principles specific to a particular type of neighborhood conflict with these General neighborhood design principles the location specific design principles apply end of quote this means the developers design of more than two stories does reply does apply to the Lake Ridge 92 Acres the plan is not compatible for this residential area it is not compatible with the master plan Two five-story Towers cannot be found in Lakeside anywhere furthermore there is no Ingress and egress to get in and out of this a reach the traffic issues do not consider the planed architecture density or the ability to evacuate we have had two major fires in Reno my remember my memory is two as 2010 2011 and a 9-year one later it took me over an hour to evacuate from my home to lak side and that's probably less than a quarter of a mile my concern is plumis it's a dead end there are neighborhoods to such such as Lakeridge and there's so many I mean Carriage there's there's probably seven of them plus Apartments Reno has no evacuation plan plan if you plan to vote no then why is there no plan it's because for the last 10 years nobody's put an interest into it or even tried to have one now we have no money and we're 17 million in the whole an important issue is our insurance ratios the ratings are important the response time is linked to Insurance the ability to get insurance for fires there are people in Reno who don't have that ability today the January 6 16th 25th Gazette Journal States quote fire chief said Reno is not immune from disaster end of quote goes on to say we get 80 M an hour winds in the past two years we've had less precipitation we cram homes into what used to be where homes could spread out the prox the probability of La fire cannot be ruled out according to the winds and the and the condition in Reno as a practical matter a short response time is not possible in this area I've already told you my experience people were literally bike riding to get down this project needs to be denied I have no problem with having people build homes there it's fine but the bottom line is it's not compatible and we need to make sure that everyone is covered the Patricia Evans followed by Diane Bachman followed by Maryann Miriam good evening and thank you for hearing my comments my name is Patricia Evans I live in Lakeridge Springs which is up Ridge View Drive about a mile and a half from the proposed Development I've lived there for almost 33 years my biggest concern is Public Safety I was present during the 2011 fire where we had Mass evacuations from that area in the middle of the night I've seen many fires we've been evacuated three or four times since I've lived there and this density of this project is my biggest concern it's been stated very clearly what the traffic congestion that occurs is today on plumis and on Lakeside and we have three routes to get out if you come down Ridge View you've got all of these developments you go straight you dump into plumis you can cross uh plumis and go to Lakeside and then you're going over Windy Hill or you're heading straight to McCarron and all of the traffic so um when we have the next disaster and I suspect we will um I am really concerned by adding this amount of additional density in this project that we are just going to exacerbate the ability for our residents to evacuate safely and um get out of Harm's Way thank you very much Diane Bachman followed by Maran Miriam followed by Clay Adler good evening thank you very much for allowing all of us to come council members community members residents of the area in concern I'm here today or this evening to voice a really strong opposition to the proposed high-rise multifamily condominiums in our residential neighborhood while I recognize the need for growth and development we must really assure that aligns with the character of our community and the capacity of our existing infrastructure our neighborhood was designed for low density residential living in mind and the introduction of these high-rise structures would place an overwhelming strain on our already limited infrastructure our roads schools and emergency services are really not equipped this time to handle the significant increase in population that these projects would bring traffic con congestion will worsen and response times for emergency services will be impacted not could be but will be and our schools are are already at capacity that will face further strain Beyond infrastructure concerns for these developments threaten to alter the really the very fabric of this part of the community the whole Community our neighborhood has long been a place where families can enjoy green spaces a sense of belonging in and high-rise buildings are not in harmony I guess you'd say with this environment and could negatively impact property values privacy and overall quality of life for existing residents furthermore it's crucial to consider whether our utilities including water sewage systems can sustain such large-scale development and overb overburdening these essential Services could lead to costly repairs and long-term consequences for both new and existing residents I urge the council to take a step back and consider alternative growth strategies that prioritize the needs and well-being of our community thoughtful planning rather than rapid expansion is what will ultimately serve our city best thank you for your time and considering the voices of those who call this neighborhood home my final comment would be um I would say most of the people who would reside in these two new structures are probably going to be full-time workers and just that parking area alone will increase traffic and congestion tenfold and it's way more than one to two second difference because I do it almost every day so um the people who live there I think understand that but we very much appre appreciate your time tonight thank [Music] you Maryanne miam followed by Clay Adler followed by Steve toppel honorable mayor shivi and City Council Members my name is Maryanne Mariam I live 2 miles south of the proposed project and urge you to vote no on it first access on Lakeside Drive must be for emergency vehicles only the existing driveway is too close to McCarron Boulevard and adding more traffic will worsen congestion there must only be a fire department controlled access locked box on a gate at Lakeside Drive second the site plan does not reflect the planed widening of McCaron Boulevard you must request a more accurate site plan that shows the ultimate configuration third this development ignores mass transit access to encourage sustainable commuting it should promote bus and bike lane use with sidewalks connecting the project to nearby Transit fourth the proposed architecture is not compatible with the neighborhood it should include more roofline variety stepped floor setbacks material changes and usable balconies architecturally it looks like a tilt up Warehouse an enormous solid rectangular box with some windows and a two-tone color scheme fifth Reno must demand sustainable construction materials and methods using lead certification standards to promote environmental and health performance in building and site design surprisingly outof state devel unsurprisingly outof state developers want to build here because we seemingly allow anything and everything to be built six fire safety must be a priority let's learn from the recent fires in Southern California where the niite of City County officials might now be categorized as willful criminal negligence given the height of the buildings we need to ensure fire department ladder trucks can reach the building that there are backup generators for the elevators and that residents can safely evacuate from higher floors when not if power is cut you must mandate that buildings be constructed from non-flammable materials and developers must pay to put utilities underground a ladder truck from Lakeside Drive could not possibly make the S turn into that project especially with the vehicles trying to flee a disaster in summary this project is entirely incompatible with the heightened character and is in conflict with the adjacent surrounding neighborhood thus I urge you to limit the project to preferably three-story Condominiums not rental units Reno needs entry level for sale housing rental properties are overbuilt and vacant even without the Thousand still under construction buildings taller than three stories will overtax our infrastructure and fire fighting capabilities we can't afford another paradise lahina or Pacific palisad Disaster to drive this point home do not fail to prioritize Public Safety policies know that Thompson Thrift does not have our community's best interests at heart they answer only to their investors building cookie cutter buildings across the US from only three floor plans please vote no on this project until another Builder comes forward with a proposed that addresses our grave concerns calling it compatible does not make it so thank you clay Adler followed by Steve toppel followed by Dennis Dolan good evening my name is Clay Alder uh Adler was the name of the planetarium that I grew up near outside of Chicago and I I grew up speaking of Chicago I grew up in a really nice old Victorian home and I moved here in the early 70s and I've kind of watched the architecture in this town go from interesting homes throughout Southwest Reno and walking areas to kind of a sea of stucko boxes and to the point a lot of people have made um cubism seems to be taking over these large buildings and I I don't think it's aesthetically appealing and I think we should kind of take a look at that when these developments go in as as far as the the seconds that are added um I roughly did some calculations of the number of homes and apartments in that area west of pluma Street and currently right now uh an average person person probably makes about five trips a day maybe more maybe less but somewhere in that area and with the number of cars that it's going to be there this project just roughly calculating is going to add about 3,000 trips a day and I can't for the life of me figure out how that could equate to one or two seconds so maybe the developer could explain what the weight time is and what that was calculated on I agree uh really vly with what everyone spoke today and I thank you for taking the time to listen to me thank you Steve toppel followed by Dennis Dolan followed by Ken Hubbert hi everybody my name is Steve uh toel and I live in Laker Shores I've lived there since 1978 um uh my family was the original developer of Lakeridge Apartments Lakeridge tennis club uh my sister-in-law Jenny is here was married to my older brother Nate she lives in the area um and uh I've been Ned my whole life and I've seen the area basically maintain its integrity and its style since day one we started building in 1972 and most of the buildings are still there I mean they're they're they all look the same uh the character is basically the same um and uh this project uh that they're if you my concern is if you approve this project that's presented to you remember that it's that that's going to be the Hallmark of what's allowed in lerage again now lerage is a was a is a planned unit development and it was that way from day one and I have the original U sales brochures from lak Ridge from Mr jaxi and it says in here Lake and this is from my my file is 1978 lerage is a 900 acre residential and recreational Community located on the historic Dan wheeler Ranch at the base of the Sierra Foothills the Southwest Reno area is tra is traditionally the city's finest neighborhood and natural setting for Prestige neighborhoods lerage has been developed in strict Accord with balanced and creative Master plans rigid controls are maintained for all phases of development and architecture that's exactly what's gone on since that day that we Mr Jackson put out put this all together it's been developed according to rard rigid standards and and it's and it's been basically the same thing since day one now if we approve this project Lakeridge Apartments Phase 1 and two have just been sold um to another developer I think uh I saw it in the paper for like 90 some odd million dollars they bought lak Bridge departments Phase 1 and two which is 128 units plus they bought lerage uh across the street which was lerage Apartments phase three and that's 320 units so there's like four or 500 units that are there that are now two uh apartments and they're not making as far as I know it hasn't been a successful Venture for them to the best of my knowledge I don't have any inside information but I can see from what's going on it looks like it's a tough go these guys that have just paid $90 million for these for the lerage Departments they're not going to keep them as an apartment they're going to want to build something different they want Condominiums they want cash cash flow they want to improve it what you what you approve here is going to be aha well you did look what you did over here uh for at the old lerage thing you you approved this project now how can you stop them from wanting to add three and four stories and tear down the existing uh lerage apartments that are there twostory and and [Laughter] goodbye and by the way the most of the people that are here have been in Lakeridge forever they're all old people I smell nothing but I smell nothing but benay and and uh and all kinds of things ointments for the people that are being here so they they they've been here and they want it to remain the same as do I thank you Dennis Dolan followed by Ken Hubbert followed by Linda cross ladies and gentlemen of the council ladies and gentlemen in the audience I thank you for your time many people have spoken tonight about the objections the concerns of the development proposal at the intersection of inter of McCaron and plumis I'm not going to reiterate all of those but I will tell you that I agree with them what I am going to ask you is that we have voted for you to represent us as citizens of Reno and I have yet to meet a citizen of reeno I'm sure there are a few there but other than City officials and other than Developers or contractors I have not heard one speak in favor of this proposal you behind you behind me there are countless people who love Reno and love lerage and not that we want to protect it from other people coming in those strangers that's not the issue the issue is that we wanted to remain in the same character with the same quality of life and the same amount of safety Provisions that it has now and it's not going to do it with this thank you for your time Ken Hubbert followed by Linda cross members of the council the audience and those that are outside there are plenty that are outside they couldn't get in this this evening I want to thank you for your time I know it's aous I'm not going to mention too much about the safety issue other than the figures you saw in yellow those were 36 accidents in a matter of six years six six accidents at the corner of plumis and and McCaron so and if there was two just recently we're well on our way to doing six again I like to T touch upon a subject that hasn't been mentioned too much during the um uh course of the summer spring and summer there's a rationing that goes on of water water you can water three days a week from 11 to uh from 11 to 6 um at night uh that now you have the addition of apartment units this apartment unit will conservatively use at least 12 million gallons of water a a year 12 million now you add the 1300 gallon uh 1300 apartments at Red you add the 330 at helion you add the 581 at Anova you add the 20 37 at the Ballpark pretty soon you know you're working on over a 100 million gallons of water what is it do we have a do do we have a water problem I think no we will if we don't now but why are we rationed so that to me is a major concern another concern is the the the um I sat at the r i I represent 14 uh owners at Lake uh at Lake Ridge green and I sat at our exit for five minutes to get out um on onto plumis street now that was a that's a serious problem you add another 400 cars or more to the to uh plumis and McCaron you've got a problem it's more than two seconds and I'm I'm I was insulted to hear that it would only be two or three seconds added to a commute I want to thank you very much for your time Linda cross followed by Beth Dory good evening everyone uh nice to see you all I'm not going to identify you because I'll lose too much time thank you to all of you and everybody outside oh let me take these off because they hurt but it's hard to hear back there when everybody's facing this way um many of you know me already you all know that I don't want that anything on that corner anymore once you took down the what was already there um the first thing is and these are issues that have already been brought up to fire evacuation I have seen in the afternoon when there were functions going on the my home and my mother's home both back up to Lakeside that the line is all the way back to the hill and also when there's fireworks or something because people found out you could go to Windy Hill which I really regret that they did because I used to go up there and sit and watch peacefully and now you can't even get into the pull off and the cars are parked all the way down the hill but when those people leave it's a mess but I'm not going to go all into that the density of the project is is intolerable the this area is being overbuilt as it is and I blame the council not all of you because you all weren't here but I do blame the council I I feel that people are are more concerned with getting money in in here than they are with the people people that already are here who put them in business and who are taking care of it and I think it's time that you start to think of who put you here why you're here and what the people want because I talk to people all the time there is anybody that I've ever talked to that likes any of these new apartment buildings that tenement that you guys call Base Camp which is really disgusting since I was in the Air Force and it looks worse than a Barracks uh area uh so they're all ugly they're all right up the thing and this city is the hottest city in America now how would we like to have that distinction and why because we've got buildings all over just like J Resorts and all of that where are the trees where's the grass where is the recreation area for all these people they're going to all be in these buildings crammed in together and that's why people I think got so mad with each other during the pandemic cuz they had no place to go you need a yard you need to be able to have access and the fire department when my mother's house caught on fire there were three trucks on on uh Greenbrook and uh it uh nobody else could get around and when they had that fire before I was I was over on Stone Creek then and all the fire trucks had to park on Lakeside so if the fire trucks have to park there then where are they going to park if we're all on fire that other fire came very close to coming over the hill to that area the one that was just recently down to uh South that came up through uh South um where the summit area so alls I can say is once approved the uh well once this is approved I want I think once anything is approved the people need to stick to the plan I don't agree with the fact that you can come in here and approve a plan and show pretty nice things and then and then the next day say well we've got the height approved but we're going to change it instead of 250 we're going to have 500 and I'm sorry I know I went over I usually do talk to oh no I still have to sorry anyhow I always tell you know tell me you're over but anyhow but you you just got to look at it Lind the master plan was meant you went over cross you're over you're over you're over your time oh oh oh I'm over I'm sorry that's okay [Laughter] Beth Dory I'm just doing a visual so I won't be speaking hopefully you can see this oops there we go political theater thank you let you all read that finished please correct me if I'm wrong about the political donations from this developer four out of the seven collected money from the developer if this project was so great why did the developer have to donate this thank you please hold your applause Madam clerk do we have any more public comment Madame vice mayor we do not have any additional public comment for the record we we received 25 comments associated with this item 18 in opposition of the project and seven of concern okay thank you very much we'll turn it back to the council now for questions I'm waiting for my screen to refresh so I can see I'm gonna start with councilwoman D I know you have some questions thank you um first of all I want to let the audience know that we just have two two times to make three minutes of comments or ask questions um I went through this project extensively the last time it came forward and had a lot of comments and questions at that time um we held a NAB meeting a few weeks ago about a month ago and we had about 40 to 50 residents there both in the room and online and those residents uh made a lot of comments a number of those comments are in our packet and my main concern today is that I don't see where uh the new development has addressed the issues that were brought up at the NAB which the reason is to provide early awareness of what the concerns are and then to have an opportunity to address those concerns so when we reviewed this before um my main concern was traffic um it's already been mentioned that uh it was an F intersection here right at plumis and McCarron I live uh very close to this area this intersection and I've experienced it myself almost on a daily B basis one of my concerns with traffic are twofold one is McCaron um is planned to be widened and the devel ER has left a a distance between um the proposed new development and McCarron and said they went over and above and left more trees uh then required but the problem is is most of those trees are going to get cut down when uh McCarron is widened so I think at the end of the day uh they may only be at the minimum of what's required or even below I think that the site plan should show McCarron and the proposed changes and the proposed impacts um so we can see the buildout um the other traffic concern I have is that um I believe many residents testified that there should be no left out from the project onto Lakeside and the reason is is that lakes that entrance is less than 100 feet probably about 50 to 75 feet from McCarron and there's a free right so people are allowed to turn from McCarron uh freely onto Lakeside uh potentially interacting with um traffic trying to exit the development I think this needs to be addressed more than half of the people brought this issue up and I think it's imperative that this issue be addressed I think there should be a write out only I want to be clear I know that there will be something built here so there should be something built here it should not be an empty hole um it should be something that adds to the community but I think um reducing the number of um units down by 40 um is not sufficient it was rezoned to U General commercial because there was a Comm commitment and a request to put a restaurant on site but we see no restaurant on the site in fact the general commercial's been used to use almost unlimited density we had lots of conversations this is for the benefit of our newer members about what is appropriate density here um and how to be compatible with the density this is actually outside the McCarron ring instead of in and I'll have some more comments I I'm making comments rather than asking questions because I've reviewed the application I attended the NAB meeting I heard the comments I heard the comments tonight I I just want to finally um commend the people that came out tonight I'm so very impressed with our articulate residents who have narrowed in on key issues fire traffic um congestion um and compatibility and I appreciate that so thank you councilwoman dur council member eert yeah I had more questions on this area being um a planned Community do we have any more information on that is is that a plan use development are there any thank you council member Ebert this is Leah pakati for the record um so this was uh an SPD it was a specific plan District but in 2019 um a zoning map change was approved to remove it from that SPD and make it General commercial so it was due to a zoning change and it nullified whatever plan was correct it was REM the SPD overlay was removed and The General commercial zoning was applied was the community notified of this was there postcards or how how was the community notified yes um it would be consistent with the notification procedures that are required by Nevada revised Statute um basically everybody within 750 ft would be notified the signs would be posted legal ads would be put out we send out courtesy notices before we send the hearing notices so people actually receive two notices there's the legal notice um they attend the NAB meeting and the signs are posted on the property so did the notice say that it would be removing this parcel from the um plan Community or did it just say it would be rezoned it would say that it was a zoning map Amendment from specific plan District to General commercial okay and was there any comments received during that time I I'm not sure and you said it was in 2019 it was 2019 yes do you know what month I can look it up for you just I'm curious because that's when things started to shut down during covid I'm just curious if people maybe had other things on their mind when notifications went out on this um if you give me just a couple minutes I can tell you exactly when it was done okay I don't know if anybody else has any questions council member ree thank you madam vice mayor I have questions um probably for Miss picotti first um I I want to understand the compatibility to conversation that happened in the Planning Commission the Planning Commission voted 6 in favor of the project and the compatiability concerns there were based on land use zoning designations right so I'm trying to understand that versus the concern that I've heard here tonight about architectural styles for example what what is the compatibility standard that we are asked or tasked to evaluate the specific finding is that it is compatible with surrounding development and surrounding uses so as I as I said we don't don't Define compatibility within renom Municipal Code so when I was looking at you know these the the statements of compatibility I just looked up the definition and um when we're looking at compatibility we're looking at can it coexist with the surrounding uses without conflict and again so I just want to be clear that this is a conditional use permit So a multif family is allowed by right in this zoning District the density is allowed by right there's nothing exaggerated about this request it's just that within code when you're going to put in a 100 units or more we require that the conditional use permit is done to look at if there's any additional mitigation that needs to be done in order to make that compatibility finding so in this particular case we look at what additional mitigation could be put in to to to make it compatible with those surrounding developments and generally that's additional screening additional setbacks Landscaping amenities things like that but not architectural style no we have very specific building design guidelines um both vertical guidelines and horizontal guidelines we have facade guidelines and uh this meets and exceeds all of those uh there are uh communities within the within Reno that have overlays that have addition additional requirements for AR architectural standards but this is not within one of those overlays and what is an example of that um uh any of the neighborhood community overlays so you're saying pounding or Newland yes exactly that sort of thing okay my other questions I think are related to the traffic study and I don't know if that's Mr Michelle or if that's okay probably but I'm I'm I guess out of time on my round but Mr Michelle if you'll be ready because I'll have some questions there I see council member Anderson's hand up yes Chief Cochran would you mind coming up hi Chief good evening many people in the audience um express our concerns about fire safety the ability for engines and trucks to access this property and the ability to evacuate in the general area during emergencies can you give your perspective on whether or not engines can access the property trucks can access the property a truck could actually put a fire out at the top of this five-story building can you address those issues please absolutely thank you Dave C Marino Fire Chief so those issues that you just that list you just ran through is a non-exhaustive list of the exact things that we're looking at to ensure that they comply with the fire code in Ingress and egress um both in this case two separate um Geographic ingresses and ingresses we can one of the things we're looking at of course is that can we get the ladder trucks in there because they're very large or 70 ft long of course we have professional drivers that you're well aware of that manage those apparatus we have confirmed that this does meet all the requirements of the fire code in addition to the question about being able to reach the the upper stories our letter trucks are the largest that are deployed literally anywhere in the US and they can reach up to seven stories that's well above the height of these buildings thanks Chief sure I see Madame mayor you have your hand up I do thanks so much couple things um Leah will you just confirm there's no driveway on McCarron is that correct from what I'm seeing yes madame mayor the driveway on McCaron that's currently there is being is being eliminated thank you um okay first of all I think Council Mur you're exactly right there's going to be a project here I think everyone's going to probably have to realize that I would say first and foremost um I hope did any of these residents meet with um the representatives I guess Mr derling Mr Gordon uh I I usually always always encourage that I think um this project has has come obviously a long way I think um there are some things that are really still they don't sit well with me and one of those is I would like to know is RTC in the room Madame mayor I do not see RTC in the room okay what about endot I do not see OT in the room I do see their traffic Eng anyone that can speak on traffic we have our city engineer and then we have the applicants representative and mik Michelle and you know we went through this last time and I wanted someone there that could talk about traffic extensively I guess um and it's always good to have our probably the regional Partners who are at the table especially I think this widening we're putting the C before the horse this widening should happen before a project happens um I have always had some very very big issues with uh you know the traffic mitigation over here particularly because the emergency um exits in and out of fire so maybe you can talk about that Mr Michelle Mike Michelle engineering manager for the record tell me what the rating is right now um the the traffic rating at this site is currently currently at the intersection of Plumas and mcaren it's an F currently okay that's a problem that's a problem okay okay good that's all I wanted to know I wanted to make sure it's still an F it was an F last time we saw this project um so I just wanted to make sure that something had not changed so and then confirmed that the widening would not happen until 2030 it looks like correct correct and and and and the plan would be to widen it from from four lanes to six Lanes okay um I guess my time is up correct vice mayor Madame mayor um the applicant wanted to respond to one of your questions I believe briefly thank you um Madam Vice chair for the record Garrett Gordon representing um the applicant in response to the question about working with the appellant as in any appeal um we always uh reach out to any appellants and I did personally um leave a voicemail for the appellant on January 7th I left an email for her on January 7th and I also emailed her again on January 9th to see if we could sit down and work out any of these issues and there was no response thank you okay thank you I'm glad for clarification I I can't tell uh Madam vice mayor I'm out of time correct um yes you'll have another round Madame coun I would just ask before my next round I would like to call up Margo pich so whenever my next round is I would ask her to come to the Das thank you you okay councilwoman or council member der okay um let me just didn't know you were calling me on me next so I I already mentioned traffic and those issues and no improvements at the intersections um which are currently f um my concern about Public Safety at the intersection of Lakeside and uh McCarron which hasn't been discussed in detail um as far as compatibility I mean since we've heard from our staff that there's no uh strict guidelines on that I really think it's one of those you know it when you see it and it's in the eye of the beholder what what people have beheld is that we have what I call for lack of a better term prison Chic it's a very concrete buildings very little articulation Windows I'm not questioning that people can live in them successfully um but there was a comment about balconies and articulation and colors and so on and I think an effort should be made to fit with the neighborhood more effort not just uh a cookie cutter um replication of what's already been done and let me ask is Thompson Thrift here uh are there any representatives of Thompson Thrift or maybe online you are you work for them okay um in could you come up for just one second and while you're coming up um my other issues really have to do with fire evacuation um we had the Davis fire and I was absolutely stunned when a fire that was 6 to 8 mes mil away resulted in calling for evacuation 6 to 8 miles north which is this area up to McCarron and absolutely floored where are these people going where are they living uh where are they going to reside there a lot of the areas that have been identified were um middle schools and so on there was very little place for hundreds and hundreds of residents to sleep and we've seen this recently with the LA fires um and what is your name ma'am uh yes uh Joe Ryan I'm a vice president of development with Thompson Thrift residential Ryan Joe did is did was any thought given to the design of these buildings um what were you thinking yes a lot of thought was given to the design um one of the major um constraints here is the the site Falls 35 ft from east to west or west to east so we had to step do a lot of stepping of pavement and buildings um moving all of the density inward to protect and buffer the surrounding area the tree preservation on McCaron was huge um and we can see that when you're at the site you can see the retaining wall you know the root zones are you know would be compromised if those trees were not preserved well thank you for being here um I think it's important that you meet your residents sure and um another thing on fire that I'm concerned about is more and more in Reno um insurance is declining to insure properties um we've seen it in Northwest Reno um it is coming across the river now into some areas south of the river and I'm very concerned because uh there's more and more proactive power outages uh there's more and more threat of fire we've already had two fires start in this very area so what I want to make sure is going forward that we have a fire evacuation plan and that there's thoughts about insurance would these residents even be able to get property insurance in their Apartments versus homeowners insurance if it was a condo and lastly I just want to say for the record that when I ran 10 years ago um I pledge to consider existing residents as a priority uh I don't know the people have yet to move here but I do know the people that are here and I've lived amongst you I've moved here in the 70s I pretty well understand Reno and our our mentality and our ethic and our culture and that is um a priority while we deal with growth is to try to maintain a quality of life while we grow to accommodate the new so thank you for being here thank you councilwoman dur um council member Martinez I see your hand thanks so much mam mayor I did want to bring up our traffic engineer Mr Michelle if you could answer some of those questions that have been coming up I was interested and curious to learn more about how uh the traffic study was conducted it looks like obviously the levels of service already failing and just wanted to understand from your perspective if you can address some of the concerns that were brought up I think council member ree had some questions as well that weren't addressed during his comments yeah I think we um Mike Michelle engineering manager for the record again yeah we we've talked about the level the level of services at at these intersections and and and it's e and and it's f um so there is congestion there um there is a plan to widen uh McCaron once that is done it'll be it it'll drop down to a d which will be within an acceptable level of service um council member der brought up the left turn um my thoughts on that is that um the reason why it wasn't restricted was that 80% of the traffic um that's exiting this site goes to uh plumis not Lakeside and so so so that's the primary uh way that you get to uh McCaron is from plumis um also we need to remember this is an existing driveway and existing residents use it so if we restrict the left turn that's going to affect them and you know usually you don't want to take stuff away from people so um and then um lastly if if we did restrict the left turn we'd have to put a physical barrier out there because signage isn't going to work right which means you have to widen the driveway um which means that this developer would have to acquire fire right away from a neighbor so safety first right okay that's all I have for now yeah okay Madame mayor did you want to move on to your second round of questioning with one of the public commenters sure that would be fine thanks so much um okay so I believe Margo pvic had some comments on the record she actually read verbatim about the fire concern so um if she has those I would love for her to read that again but in the meantime I'm going to ask Chief Cochran um can you address what fire station would come to this location thank you Madame mayor Dave Cochran Mareno fire chief station three located on M Moana would be the one to respond to the station it's about 1.4 miles away um the estimated response time is about 5 minutes about five minutes and then what about um I guess I assumed the one at Horseman's Park they would probably be the second or third in for a larger incident okay let me ask you what would trucky Meadows do I can't speak to what trucky Meadows would do you can't why not um they make their own decisions they're separate jurisdiction I don't have any Authority or Direction on how they would respond now are you asking would they respond to this incident no I'm just asking where they would come from what fire station you don't have any idea because it's a different jurisdiction am I correct I didn't understand that that was your question um we probably would not call them because we have a depth of resources that would not require us to call in an outside jurisdiction but you're telling me you wouldn't know what their plan was correct if you're asking for what their closest station was it would probably be station 33 which is down off of South Virginia but you couldn't tell me because it's a different jurisdiction and you have no control over that different jurisdiction am I correct that is correct a different jurisdiction that I cannot dictate how they operate yes okay thank you so much Chief I appreciate that let me ask Margo Margo you read some comments into the record could you please read those they were from I believe an R J story am I correct correct am I correct Margo you are I can't hear you yes okay um would you like to read those again sure the January 16 2025 Gazette Journal States quote Fire Chiefs meaning more more than one um you know what I need my glasses I [Music] apologize that's okay Margo I do too so no problem but I believe it speaks to the extreme danger of fire service and also everyone knows we just went through the Davis fire councilwoman D touched on that fire the predictive model I want to remind everyone was seven miles into the City of Reno first of all I want to commend all the firefighters that were on that fire uh we were incredibly fortunate but there were many that were not as fortunate as you know we would be very naive to think that that would not affect where we live now and if everyone has turned on the TV they better watch what is happening in areas such as La go ahead uh Margot please read that first of all I was asked to evacuate from the Davis fire and I did um the the article says on January 16th 2025 Journal States quote Fire Chiefs say say Reno is not immune from disaster end of quote it goes on to say we get 80 mph winds p in the past two years we've had less par precipitation we have we used to have cram homes we're now cramming homes into what areas were homes spread out the probability of an LA fire cannot be ruled out now now that's my paraphrasing but that's what they said and then my reaction is we don't have a a a short response time in this area we do not I mean I've been in it too long mad may we have a couple other hands up yes you also I want to remind you that you just heard your fire chief talk about he is not sure what the plans would be for trucky Meadows there is uh and so I want to also remind you Margo you have a friend uh her name is Candy green and along with um uh the TM fire chief who believe otherwise that this uh there is really probably no need for a collaborative approach uh regionally I just want to remind um everyone that you just heard your fire chief have no idea what the other jurisdiction would do in the event um of a fire we're going to assume uh but now more than ever I'm going to make sure I raise the alarm so people understand uh that this is very very real and very serious um unfortunately this project is just in that area where we have seen uh things happen very rapidly so I don't mean to use this project per se it's unfortunate that it's it really is right there at the crossroads and it is um but it is it is very very very concerning and alarming when it it comes to uh that evacuation right there particularly on that area concern of McCarron whether this gets approved or not I will ask that this gets on the board at the RTC for widening um because I don't think that we can wait till 2030 regardless if there's a project there or not but thank you Margo I appreciate it I just wanted to bring it to everyone's attention uh because I find it really disturbing to hear these comments um from Candy green and from the trucky Meadows fire chief thank you madam mayor can we move on to council member anything about candy green and the other we're public comment on this time so I don't know what they talk about can you turn off the please um go ahead councilwoman Ebert um yeah um yeah I I know that a lot of people would like to see a consolidate fire I think it would be a good use of of our resources too but I feel like this is kind of using this project to kind of push um something that that's this doesn't really that conversation isn't really yes they're very prone to fires over there so you're going to Dum more people on those Road through the city of reeno okay we need to have some order in this conversation councilwoman Ebert has the floor for the next and that it's not part of this discussion um any anyway thank you Madame mayor um was there any flexibility with the developers to talk with the community members and find out if they could make exterior changes that they would find acceptable for these plans to better fit with the feel of the neighborhood yes for the record Andy derling and if I can get my PowerPoint back up just as use some visuals are always helpful um yes so to to councilwoman D's comments which I think you're you're kind of talking to that you know when we went to the neighborhood Advisory Board um we had two dimensional elevations that we showed um which unfortunately you know for for for Layman are you know can be difficult to um visualize what the articulation of the buildings look like and things like that so what what we did is um you know we we up up the game in the in the actual materials that we provided to staff and in the presentations to Planning Commission and so that's what the images that are on on the screen now these these better demonstrate because they're more in a three-dimensional kind of visualization uh demonstrate the richness of materials the the you know the the movement of the building with the articulation um you'll see a lot of you know patios um fenestration with the build you know the um uh Windows Stone on the bottom different color you know variations things like that so we did we did take that comment um to heart and and necessarily didn't make you know significant changes to the buildings themselves but presented it to the public better uh at the Planning Commission through through these these images and so when you see here you know there is a u um you know a variety of of um materials that are used here this is a more contemporary design we are seeing this um you know across Reno and Sparks right now this is kind of a uh you know AR architectural style that's popular across the country um and you know this area is you know it's older 1970s architecture that's in the area um smaller you know pitched roofs and things like that so this is part of the evolution and and you know maturation of the community okay so sorry we cannot have comment during deliberation and questions from the council it makes it extremely difficult to hear council member Ebert yeah so I I appreciate like that explanation but is there a willingness to change the appearance and I don't mean the quality of the materials used but to change the way these look the roof line things like that I don't know if the community found the um condo um development the appearance of that more acceptable I mean there is likely going to be a project here so there needs to be a place where you guys can come together on some common ground so where is that area where you guys can come together is it with the a Aesthetics of the building um what is that that the community is looking for and is that something that you guys can accommodate sure so I think you know um taking into account you know Garrett and I in particular have been involved with the property for a number of years um were involved in the current approval that's on the on the site um and so what we took and what we advised what we consulted Thompson Thrift about is you know here's the concerns we heard last time when that was approved um and here's things that we think you could incorporate into this project so some of those are you know consolidating the buildings more to the middle because we had heard that you know the mass of the buildings you know because they were four-story buildings that are currently approved there that having those buildings closer to McCarron closer to the existing residences that wasn't as compatible so okay we heard that we heard that public comment from our past experience and and utiliz that to consult uh the client here I think when you look around the area there's an Eclectic mix of architecture there's a there's a mix of of roof types there's flat roofs there's pitched roofs um there's different colors the the apartments to the the south of us are kind of a bluish color so you see some of that you know Incorporated here so we we took a lot of that neighborhood characteristic and Incorporated it into a more contemporary design um fitting it into you know an area that's that's older thank you Mr derling I uh Mr re or council member re you have your hand up I do thank you so much and I apologize my computer is acting up this evening so I apologize it's not a able to log in every time um I wanted to sort of uh ask and build upon a theme Miss eert raised um and and Mr um derling if you can come back again um and I know that there were some conversation earlier about what Outreach had been done and I am someone who believes very strongly that it is important for both sides in the dispute to be able to communicate with each other and it's not necessarily like we exchange email and that it was all good and so I'm trying to understand because if I agree in principle that something will be built here likely multifam um because that seems to be both the iteration of the condo product which was for sale but still the same kind of a thing and apartment and if that's what is the best and most compatible use here I think there's some acceptance of that I don't know if I think the density is right or if you've gotten it right um but I don't know because I don't know what efforts have been made to work with the community to do that um I also am someone who's very skeptical about trying to be an architect I I don't have the ability to say I like this building but not that one I I also find that as I travel all sorts of communities have different kinds of buildings you find a 18th century church next to a skyscraper I mean it's just different things happen um and so but what I don't like is the constant nashing of teeth when one side digs in and then you all dig in that is not what we're hoping for we want our project to be um well received and that people are good neighbors and so I don't know if that's yet here for me and so I'm trying to figure out what willingness there is to have those conversations um because I think Miss Ebert is right that maybe it's articulation or design standards maybe it's lowering the height maybe it was more smaller broken up buildings so I help me understand that sure so um you know just as part of sorry Andy derling for the record um as part of our you know design process right we take into account context of the neighborhood um and so what I tried to kind of demonstrate in in in my presentation I've got the slide up again to kind of remind us you know this area in particular this site had a very large building with a lot you know three stories um 42 feet tall U with you know as you can see the picture here you know essentially very large expansive flat roofs um so taking that and understanding that that was acceptable right the community in the in the past um looking at further context of other commercial buildings that are in the area um on the right side of your screen there The Village at Lakeside three-story commercial building flat roof located much closer proximity to adjacent residential to the South there so we tried to kind of take these Clues from the community uh and incorporate those in addition like I said before right in in addition to the input that we've received kind of over the years um so as as U Mr Gordon you know mentioned we did reach out to to the appellant um didn't work work successful in connecting with them um but it doesn't stop us as design professionals from taking into account what we're hearing in the community we're members of the community as well um you know we understand kind of what the context of different neighborhoods are um and we take all of that into consideration when we design these projects vice mayor may have some additional time yes and then we're gonna move on to council member Anderson I think part of the concern I have is and I think it was framed well by Mr toppel and perhaps Mr Dolan in their public comments and please hear me I am appreciative of everyone who showed up tonight but what I am concerned about is that there is some insistence that Reno will always stay what it was in 1973 when this project was originally built Lakeridge I was a member at Lakeridge for 15 years played tennis there five times a week was heartbroken to see it go away um and there there was this funny moment where Mr toppel said no one in this room is any you know younger I think they're all older people right I also have joined the over 50 crowd this year um but the people who are not here are people who are struggling to find housing so I do think there is a place for housing on the site and I do think there is a place where young people do not pack this room because they're out there working they're raising a family they don't have the same free time and they certainly have not lived a long time in this area and so I want to sort of balance the competing needs against people who I think are in the room and are passionate about their neighborhood and people who might want to live in that neighborhood if they had the opportunity that's why I think you're not entirely answering my question Mr derling about um what work has been done in the community to figure out what is the most compatible thing there so again I I'm somewhat reluctant to go along with just what has been presented and I'm just trying to be honest with you there are significant concerns of course about fire danger which I could be addressed in another uh round of conversations I have not yet had that conversation with the fire chief but I I am concerned that you haven't truly answered my question not intentionally but maybe I'm not phrasing it as well as I could I just want to make sure that we have had those conversations and we built the best project we can build there not just the project you thought there were clues about the community interest in no fair fair enough um so we we're going to get you 30 seconds and then I'm going to move over to council member e um branders uh council member Anderson 30 second answer yeah 30 second answer yeah so you know there was a considerable amount of Outreach that was done with the the current approved project so we utilize that previous Outreach to inform our decisions now so that was um we had neighborhood meetings we had large Zoom meetings um things like that that you know we took that information um planning commissions you know multiple planning commissions multiple neighborhood advisory boards all of that is cumulative to you know um Thompson Thrift in this also knowing their their profile of of who's renting and and that's why I pulled this slide back up you know understanding the market that their renter is 35 years old on average um you know probably you know a young professional doing pretty well and that this is the type of thing that they want to see in the community so to your point that silent um what I would say the silent majority um is not represented here and that's what our job is is design professionals to understand that Community input thank you Mr jley council member Anderson yes thanks so I just have some comments um the dichotomy of the audiences in this Chambers today is I'm really struggling with it I don't know if any of you were listening to the council meeting this morning but we spent two and a half hours listening to very concerned community members about the fact that we don't have inventory for housing for people to live in um on the flip side I understand the unique um qualities and history of this neighborhood infill projects are always always emotional um it's the priority of the city council to bring more housing in to the interior of this community um in the year of City Council meetings that I have watched I haven't seen one infill project not create a lot of concern for the current neighbors and um for that I'm sorry that this is so difficult for everybody um um I have a really really hard time if we know that we can get in and out of this property safely I have a really hard time limiting the housing in this this area every time we slow down new units of any kind whether they're rentals or um mortgage homes it makes them more expensive and the cost of living in this area right now is driving people out of this Market people can't keep their kids here to live live and delay delay delay over if what is trying to stop this project and Margot I know you and I had a a discussion about this over the weekend and you were after we talked through the data points your main concern was how it looked and um I I can't slow residential projects down because of the way they look it's just not something that I can live with in the time that we're living in this community where people don't have a place to safely lay down and be warm at night so that's those are my comments on this project and I truly truly appreciate everybody in this community that came in to share your concerns with us tonight I just wanted to make sure I got that on the record thank you councilwoman Anderson um I have not had an opportunity to um weigh in yet it looks like everybody except for council member Martinez has exhausted two rounds um besides myself and then we will be moving into to uh the time where we're looking at trying to get a motion for my for my comments I could not have said it better than what you said councilwoman Anderson we spent two and a half hours listening to people talk about where are they where are they going to live and um I I look at the appell I look at the concerns and it looks like they have been mitigated to the best that they can this has been going on since 2019 I was actually on the Planning Commission when the zoning Chun came in and it has been a tough project ever since then um the city the city of Reno put in some trash cans downtown and I was talking to one of my neighbors and I said what do you think of these trash cans and she said you know what Kathleen they're great but I can't my kids can't afford to live here the this is the number one concern of people is affordable housing and housing we had an expert come in the city paid for a consultant to come in and they said the number one thing you can do is provide more product to provide more housing so I I like I said I couldn't have said it better and I feel um you know I heard the the fire chief said that yes they can service this area I heard Traffic Safety um yes there will be a project coming unfortunately we don't build infrastructure before we you know roads and stuff until we have the the need for it um I think it's it's just part of the way the the development goes to build the infrastructure um so so you know I think that the applicant has um done a lot of work since 2019 and um they've they've tried to go above and beyond on the tree preservation the um land use the setbacks and um that's that's where I met councilman Martinez did you have any other questions I want to make sure that you have all your yeah no I appreciate the opportunity I don't have any questions I think I'm sort of in the same boat as council member Anderson where obviously we've spent the last full day discussing housing housing needs the house population and our region and having walked war three in the last year I understand that the cost of living obviously is a huge concern for a lot of folks and that presentation that we got from I believe Dr Smith from UCLA um gave us that request right to be able to fill and provide more product and that was what was going to bring the cost of living down in affordability here and so I am a little bit torn I hear what you all are saying as residents living in the neighboring areas uh of the development that is going to happen here I'm just considering and weighing the options of providing more units into our region and making sure that we try to help with the cost of living that folks are experiencing in our region okay so we will have one more round of one minute each um of questions or comments and that's if you want to get an answer so um our councilwoman dur I thought I saw your hand up did you want another minute I requested I was going to try to make a motion okay you are going to try and make a motion but there may be other yeah I have a comment before a motion but I can't enter the chat okay uh C we'll do we'll start with council member eert you have a minute for question comment I have a question for legal actually City attorneys so what what can we do as Council I know we can't um say that we can't approve a project because of the way it looks so outside of that if there's no fire safety issues I mean as far as access the fire chief has signed off on accessibility and our Traffic Engineers are saying that the widening of McCarron will um increase the level of service at those intersections um what what kind of [Music] um findings would we need to make to say no to this project I mean is there is there anything outstanding that we could say let me try to answer this is for the record John ship and for the city attorney's office let me try to answer answer that the way I'm understanding the question there's a series of findings that you you're what what you are doing as a city council at this point in time is you're taking in evidence from the applicant from public commenters from professionals Who provided opinions as to things like traffic as to things like fire um accessibility evacuations everything and your what your job is here is to weigh that evidence and then to weigh the evidence on the other side and what and that's up to you to determine what you believe is the evidence on the other side and then you then you take that evidence you match it up against the findings and so if you if you say for instance I think can't make the finding as a as it as it relates to compatibility whatever that means um then it's I think it's incumbent upon you to say here's the evidence I heard here's the evidence I didn't hear that I need to see so to get me there and that didn't happen but um so I I hope that that's helpful because ultimately you're the decider you're taking the evidence you're weighing the evidence and then you're making that those decisions thank you Mr Shipman um councilwoman D are you had a minute yeah um I'll do my minute and then it'll be the prep for the motion okay I think councilman ree has a qu a minute too I meant I won't make the motion I'm just going to give okay um when we're looking at a motion to Mr Shipman's point that he just made we look at the general review criteria that are listed in the report and the conditional use permit criteria and today right now as it sits I cannot make three of the um five findings in general review criteria consistency with the Reno master plan mitigation of traffic impacts safe environment and then three of the conditional use permit requirements such as project design is compatible public services and Facilities no the road is not available today and Public Safety uh it will be material detrimental so when we think about the findings that's what I'm going to come back to but I do think I have a Way Forward I do think something deserves to be built here something that the community can get behind so I'll leave it at that council member ree thank you madam vice mayor uh I find myself um sort of torn between the good comments by my colleagues to the right which have all said our children can't afford to live here anymore people are moving away I have children in that same age range and I think that that's part of what their decision-making process about and at the same time the findings I think probably miss Ebert is right that it's going to be very hard to not make the findings based on the technical widgets of each one of those but for my part my concern is more about whether or not this is the best project that could be designed for this spot today whether you call that compatibility or lack of good neighbored this I I think that what should happen is likely that we should try to um maybe we could make a continuance of a period of time to try to have those deeper conversations I'm happy to facilitate or participate them or not um but that is the difficulty because I I think we have had evidence about fire we have had evidence about um roads and the traffic impact all of which uh warrant approval I think but perhaps not uh capable of being done tonight and I believe um now we're moving to council member derer for a motion okay very good um informed by what council member ree just said um I think the best path for forward is to do a continuance and to allow the applicant the time to modify their design and that is particularly directed to our representative from Thompson Thrift who really have it in their hands and I haven't heard them weigh in on what their hopes and dreams and vision and ability to be flexible and work with our community because I do believe there's a project here for you so my recommendation or my motion would be that we continue this item for 120 days um to give the applicant time to work with the um the appellant and the larger Community uh if you want to take up council member ree certainly I would be happy to participate and um come up with a design and a uh let's call routing and I've I've listed out a couple criteria just to let you know things I think should be addressed come up with a more accurate plan for counc member just you're asking for a continuance is that your motion I am I would like to ask if the um appellant or the sorry the um applicant applicant is interested in that at this time for the record Garett Gordon um if it's the will of this body for a continuance um we would be agreeable however we think four months is extraordinary we'd like to be back here in 30 days yeah well I don't I think there's a compromise there um Mr ree suggested 120 days to me because we know this going to take some time especially for new drawings um and a really thoughtful approach so I perhaps a time in between um can work but I don't think 30 days can get it because I already know it has to be scheduled in two weeks I mean that is two weeks it's not 30 days so um perhaps something like 90 days would work um which is you know from today which brings us to um Mid April could be the first meeting second meeting but it just gives time for Tom and Thrift I want to be respectful of their time and their energy their Engineers their designers to come up with something and deal with the traffic issues too so so that's probably what I would recommend I mean um I'll second for discussion okay I'm going to um we leave it at 90 then okay but first of all that's my recommendation Mr Gordon are you okay with a 90day continuance for the record gar Gordon um I I guess so um however I would state that as the as the applicant we would have to write to come back sooner so we're not date certain it it's up to that point of time you have to schedule that hearing no later than that dat but if we work something out or have a stalemate we have a right to come back assuming we've properly noticed the agenda okay so we have a motion in a second I have discussion we will have discussion next starting with council member re thank you Madame vice mayor um so I I guess I would be speaking to the applicant Mr Gordon your clients and and Mr derling uh again I think that there are some compelling reasons why some of the issues have been addressed so for me I'm not as interested in knowing about the architectural style right someone described as prison Chic that maybe that's somebody else's modern Taj Mahal I don't know but I'm interested in things related to density I'm interested in things related to Traffic and I'm interested in things related to fire safety right those are the things that are of importance to me and my hope is that you will quickly try to meet with maybe it's some group of four people here tonight will be appointed to the meeting group or you'll meet on Zoom with many people um I it's close it's just not quite there and I wonder if it will ever get there if there isn't some greater good neighbor Le us about it thank you council member ree um m madame vice mayor if I may real quick I just want to point out we we were looking at the council rules and there is a rule that talks about Council should have the ability to designate a different date at other than its next reg regular meeting if it obtains the concurrence of the appellant and the respondent so I think you you have potentially the concurrence of the respondent but I think you still need the um concurrence of the appellant thank you Mr Shipman um the appellant are you are you agreeable to a continuance of 90 days thank you I am agreeable can I State why I did not respond to your I was not at this time are you agreeable okay yes thank you and we will go back you you get a minute or you want to have some discussion just real quick yeah um I just I I know a project is going to happen here and I know everybody wasn't happy with the apartments before and the developer thought that they were bringing you something that you would like better with lower density and larger setbacks and things like that and um it's still not something that you guys are interested in I hope that you guys can use this time to work together and come up with something that everyone can live with because the city does have a plan to work on infill and we do need housing so I think it's um great that we have a developer that's interested in in making changes based off of community feedback so I really hope that everybody takes the opportunity to kind of come together on this and and um there's going to have to be compromises but hopefully we can get to um a good place for everyone thank you council member Ebert um I'm gonna weigh in and then council member Anderson we're going to go to you you have your hand up I did but I oh okay I just some of the concerns that I heard from my colleagues were uh density you needed to work on density and traffic and fire the current approved plan this proposed plan is less than the current approved plan as far as density it lends itself to less traffic and I doubt I'm hopeful in compromise but you are going to get RTC to and endot to come together in the next 90 days to White in McCarron from 6 to 4 so um I will support a continuance I don't know what I expect to see council member Anderson okay so um we have a motion Madame vice mayor if I can just ask for a date and time instead of Ren noticing this um that would be great and so the two meetings in April which are apparently 90 days out would be April 9th or April 23rd so I'm not sure if the appellant and April 23rd is today is the 21st so 90 days is so is the April 23rd I just want to make sure that the April 21st date is the 23rd as you said sorry that they're agreeing to is April 23rd agreeable to both parties yes yes gar yes okay okay could just apologies Madame vice mayor but if we could just have that on the record so come to the microphone and say that you are agreeable to and state your name that April 23rd is yes Terry rert I am the appellant um yeah yes and yes I'm agreeable to April 23rd G Gord yes thank you we have a motion on the table do we have a second second okay we have a motion in a second can we please do a roll call vote vice mayor Taylor yes council member door yes Martinez yes Ebert yes Rees yes Anderson yes shivi yes Madame vice mayor you have a unanimous vote great thank you we will see you back in April okay we're going to take a 5 minute break and then we'll be back with our second appe e e e e e e e e e e okay folks we're going to get ready for our next uh appeal so we're going to ask you to move out please or sit down and let us conduct the business of the city folks we need you to please clear out we have another appeal thank you I app e okay e okay Madam clerk we are going to move on to item uh I2 and open the public hearing was proper notice given Madame vice mayor we're going to reconvene the meeting at 8:30 and just to note for the record uh council member Anderson dur and eert are absent at this time you do have a quorum with council member Martinez yourself council member Ree and mayor shivi is online uh proper notice for item I2 was um completed we did not receive any correspondence on this item thank you uh Madam clerk sorry I'm running a little bit a little bit slow here uh do any council members have any disclosures that they need to make okay seeing none we will move into um staff presentation thank you Miss picotti for the record associate planner with City of Reno development services this evening I am presenting another application that was um seen by the Planning Commission and appealed this one is for a project that we're calling 2400 West 7th Street this is a tentative map and a major site plan review so the subject property is located just south of 7th Street and just east of the intersection of 7th and Everett this is a 3.72 acre site and the request is for a tentative map to allow for a 28 lot single family detach sub subdivision and a major site plan review for cluster development which basically allows them to have smaller lot sizes so the subject site is located within the single family residential 8 unit per acre zoning District as you can see there on the map the parcel and question is highlighted in blue and you can see that all of the surrounding uh residential zoning is that sf8 with properties that uh are between 6 and 7,000 square feet in size key issues analyzed in this request were the overall site design compatibility ility with surrounding developments and uses master plan policy guidance P public utility infrastructure drainage and tree preservation so here you can see the overall site plan um this is flipped so what you're looking at is is the Western Property boundary is pointing downward so lots are going to range between 3200 and 5,000 square ft the are proposing a approximately 8,000 square ft of landscaped open common space they are proposing four parking spaces per unit for 112 parking spaces and that includes the two parking spaces in each of the garage uh an HOA or equivalent will uh be created to maintain Landscaping in those common areas the applicant has proposed that these two common areas okay over here with highlighted with the red stars there um will have benches there they are proposing a landscaped Parkway along 7th Street they have requested to wave the internal landscaped Parkway which we agreed with and there are some viable pine trees on the property that we have asked that they preserve um overall site design again these are twostory 28t height maximum houses ranging from 1,800 to 2300 square ft uh what you're looking at on your screen right there does not meet the Reno Municipal Code ground floor interest uh or standard Street image features we worked with the applicant on this and they've said that they would add some windows into the garage doors to increase that ground floor interest and uh they'll incorporate two of the following which would be varied setbacks enhanced Landscaping front door path or structural articulation in order to meet those standards that it doesn't currently meet um regarding compatibility they are proposing a 16 to 22 foot buffer adjacent to those lots 1 through 10 um they they did modify their plan a little bit but uh unfortunately that was submitted at a time that was after the staff report had gone through so staff hasn't really had a chance to look at those modifications um they are going to fully landscape those rear yards uh they're going to add some additional Design Elements to the rear facades of those properties 1 through 10 to increase the compatibility with the houses behind them um and we will limit hours of construction findings on this uh project would be I'm sorry let me go forward um tenative map findings public services and utilities are available yes it's an infill project all services and utilities are available does it comply with the master plan Reno municipal code and Nevada revised statute yeah for the most part it does uh major site plan review findings design is compatible with surrounding development the design of the subdivision is functional uh the product does differ from surrounding development kind of like the last one design is consistent with development standards it does meet the minimum Mareno municipal code standards is it compatible with surrounding development as conditioned yes as conditioned additional mitigation has been recommended in including a buffer additional landscaping and enhanced design standards uh just like the last one it's not going to be detrimental to the public health safety or welfare as once it's developed all of those hazards will be mitigated the Planning Commission was unable to make the finding that's on your board and in order for them to have cluster development which allows them to have reduced lot sizes so they're cutting the lot sizes about in half of what would normally be required here we have to be able to make these fine ings and so this one says the clustering proposal compared with a more traditional site development plan better attains the policies and objectives of this article such as providing more open space preserving existing trees and vegetation coverage preserving view corridors and preserving sensitive environmental areas such as stream corridors slide areas Wetlands or steep slopes staff reviewed this and agrees that increased buffer ering on the West Side May preserve some view corridors better than traditional development with no buffer second cluster development finding is that the clustering proposal will have no significant adverse impact on adjacent Properties or development or that the applicant is agreed to adopt appropriate mitigation measures such as Edge matching Landscaping screening illumination standards and other design features to buffer and protect adjacent properties from the proposed clustering development uh the applicant has agreed to adopt a buffer I believe that now that's going to range from 16 to 22 feet plus the rear 20ft setback but just for comparative if this was different densities of single family residential they would be required to do 30 ft plus the 20 foot rear yard setback so it's a little less than what would normally be allowed in differing densities uh the clustering proposal meets all other applicable requirements set forth in the art Le or in other applicable ordinances and regulation um again it does mostly comply with the master plan policies minimum RMC standards and complies with NRS what you're looking at is the Planning Commission decision which they heard this item on November 21st the Planning Commission was unable to make that first cluster development finding and they denied the request 5 to one with one person absent staff's recommendation is on the board that concludes my presentation and I'm available for for questions thank you thank you very much do we have a presentation from the appellant good evening again uh still for the record Andy derling with wood Rogers representing the applicant um we are uh in opposition to um the planning commission's decision on this and and are requesting that the plan the city council uh reverse the decision and approve this project um it is an existing 3.72 Acres site located as as Leah mentioned on the south side of West 7th Street um there's a 88200 ft uh church that's there and as you can see from the um overhead here um the majority of the site has remained vacant for many many years since 1967 when the church was built there's an existing bus stop adjacent to the site um and some major features such as Highland ditch which surrounds the south and east sides uh this is an infill site um it's currently served by City of Reno uh services and utilities 28 lot subdivision is requesting cluster development to allow reduction in the lot sizes essentially code is written such that the 6,000 ft lot minimum you could never achieve the actual density that is allow afforded to you in code so there is a a a hole if you will in code uh that doesn't allow for uh achievement of of those densities this is zones sf8 uh and we can't get there without using a tool such as cluster development um we do have 085 Acres of common area about 23% of the site is common area uh that's key to this um this issue at hand U there's a crosswalk that we propos across 7th Street to serve that bus stop um there's a 15 minimum 15ft buffer uh we'll get into more detail and then we have offered to uh additionally Grant a 10- foot sewer access easement that we'll get into more detail as well smas plan and Zone uh sf8 as is all of the surrounding properties here uh the project could allow up to 29 units we're proposing 28 um the minimum lot sizes as I mentioned is 6,000 foot and and just cannot be achieved uh with that density um the master plan as you as you well know uh encourages infill development as staff mentioned during the last presentation infill is a major priority for the council uh you have stated that and we are here to try to help you achieve that um here is where we had kind of differing uh opinions uh on on the interpretation of cluster development finding a states that cluster a clustering proposal compared with a more traditional site plan U Better attains the policies and objectives of this article such as giving you options here providing more open space preserving existing trees and vegetation uh preserving view corridors um and preserving other environmental features such as stream corridors we have a number of conditions that are in the that were offered and worked through with staff conditions 7even and8 um dedicate that common area so it includes landscaped amenities um those Retention Ponds uh and private drives condition 12 uh requires the the retention of of viable pine trees uh getting to that preservation of existing vegetation condition nine reduces the building height uh allowing for um you know greater compatibility ility with the with the homes to the West in addition to some grading that further lowers our building pads to make that less um less intense to them uh and we have the required on-site retention um this property uh due to the nature of it um cannot discharge storm water even though nature is Flowing that way we can't discharge storm water to Highland ditch because the city uh has adopted ordinances in the past that that PR preserves the storm water drainage that is in there so that you don't further inundate um um properties Downstream with with flood water that's also key to this matter um when looking at how this compares to quote more traditional site development um as you can see on the the table on the left the things that we're changing it's we're changing the minimum lot size we're changing the minimum lot width but we are still adhering to the minimum setbacks that are required for a comparable 6,000 foot lot 10ft front yard 5 foot side yards 20 foot rear yards so even though we are reducing the lot size we are still maintaining the same setbacks as the adjacent properties and we have uh smaller uh conditioned um homes with only a 28t I want to point out also you could have other things here that would be quote unquote traditional site development which could include duplexes triplexes fourplexes um Town Homes all permitted by right that we wouldn't be going through this cluster development and they could have much smaller setbacks adjacent to the the existing residents to the West some of those unique unique site features that led us to um the conclusion that cluster development is the appropriate tool here um the properties to the West as you can see the Contours here they drain this property slopes from uh west to east from left to right on your screen uh the properties to the West on Everett Drive um you can see the Contours there there essentially there's a lot of uh daylight basements there so their backyards actually drain onto this property that's something we can't do currently because of state law and and city codes but this was an older development and so their their storm water comes on to our property so we have to deal with it um the the site then drains into Highland ditch and even though nature is pushing water that way we can't buy Co um outlet that water into the ditch so what that forces us to do is retain 100% of the water on site so that we have to um we don't have an option to to send the storm drain anywhere else there's not even storm drain facilities in West 7th Street so that is dictating a site plan design that ultimately makes um for larger basins in this um uh on this site and and thus um you know creates additional common area for that beneficial use so accounting for this we've got a proposed Swale along the western boundary catching that storm water coming off the adjacent properties we've got the two Retention Ponds which are you know oversized than what you would typically see for just a traditional detention Pond um we can't have any of those offsite flows going to the Highland ditch that's a unique feature environmental feature because um that is forcing us into a situation where we can't send additional storm water that would further inundate properties Downstream so that is that is a that's a key aspect here uh and that increases the water quality so looking at um uh cluster development findings again um cluster develop proposals um compared to more traditional design um better attains the policies and objectives of this article such as providing more up space we do preserving existing trees we do preserving view corridors we do and preser and preserving those sensitive areas as we had said uh in addition we are proposing uh quite a bit of buffering along that western boundary um so we've got a proposed minimum 15ot buffer uh as we sent in uh these additional um um voluntary conditions on the project um lot 11 there that's highlighted we increase the buffer there to 15 ft the rest of lots 1 through 10 that are highlighted there have a 16 to 22t buffer um the required buffer as stated by staff it's zero right there is not a requirement for a buffer here um what they what what Leah stated is far as other situations where you may have a 30 foot buffer that's for situations where it's like one acre lots adjacent to sf8 lots and we would have to match those one acre lots on our boundary all of this is zoned sf8 that uh portion of code does not apply um so we are not required to have any buffering here but we do have a 15 to 22t buffer um there's additionally then greater distance between the homes because we are maintaining the the the required setbacks we have a 20ft side yard or 20ft rear yard adjacent to the existing home so that means we've got the obviously the buffer plus the 20ft setback uh equaling you know 28 to 43 feet um at you know again attached homes here Town Homes could be as little as 5T uh we have proposed a 10t access easement uh this is a pretty unique feature here because again that subdivision to the west of us was developed uh in the 1970s I believe um they have a sewer M that's about 20 ft deep I believe that goes through the backyards of those homes and there's no way for the city to maintain or access um that those sewer Ms those manholes so what we have tried to do is be good neighbors here for the public good for the city's good to offer a 10ft sewer access easement along that buffer there um that would allow for greater access uh for the city that if they did have to go in and dig up that sewer main it wouldn't be as impactful to the neighbors to the West um finally we offered an additional condition to uh propose um crosswalk and and uh rap rapid flashing beacons for pedestrian safety to allow for folks that are living to the to the north of this to access that RTC bus stop it wasn't something that was required by RTC but uh something that came up through you know discussions with the residents and and planning commissioner members the landscape screening which again buff not required but we do have uh significant buffering built into this um both in a common area as well as a requirement in condition 13 that we landscape the rear and the front and rear yards uh under single family zoning we're not required to landscape the rear yards um but we have to have uh one tree in six shrubs for every 300 Square fet um we've got over two acres of Landscaping on this site on this 3.72 Acre Site um condition 13 will also maintain a minimum of 117 trees um some of those uh will be existing circulation it's a it's a simple culdesac design uh one access point that aligns with the intersection on 7th street to the north of us9 spaces provided for per per unit uh the crosswalk as I mentioned um there's a traffic stud is not required for this because of how small this is we only have 27 uh morning peak hour trips 32 afternoon peak hour trips the church itself currently generates about 150 peak hour Trips Trips on its Sunday uh and the that bus stoper remain so we did do public Outreach um August 13th went to the NAB September 10th we hosted a neighborhood meeting took a lot of that input work with staff on this cluture development can meet all of the findings and supports many of the master plan policies especially given this infill site um conditions uh that of approval that are listed there exceed code requirements uh and the additional conditions that we're offering we further um bolsters our our argument so just in conclusion I have very little time but um this does meet cluster development applicability the common open space on its own uh provided you addresses those unique site features and qualifies this for cluster development does support a number of Master Plan policies and especially addresses the city of Reno's priorities for infield development uh and a diverse housing options uh in our region this is that missing middle that we talk so much about uh IT addresses broader Community if I can just have this is my last slide yep addresses broader Community needs increased uh which include increased housing options in this infill location provides additional access to that sewer main provides increased pedestrian safety and increases um buffering for those adjacent homes thank you Mr available to answer questions I believe we are moving into public comment now Madam clerk thank you madam vice mayor our first public commenter is Barbara carosa followed by TJ Harvey followed by Ashley Harvey my P comment is and some of this has changed based on what the developer has now said he has changed within his application but I want you to hear what was prepared the proposed development has been a concern since the initial presentation of a NAB meeting relative to the designation stated in the application of a cluster development which this application clearly does not meet this application does not meet the municipal code plain and simple it has been repeatedly stated at the NAB and Planning Commission meetings this fact alone negates the development application this glaring inaccuracy is a concern that this designation was ever used to begin with but rather was trying to make something fit that does not legally property owner signed a petition identifying this information and was included for the planning commission's review opposing the development concern by property owners for the proposed development has been very vocal in Prior meetings as well as well as their appearance at these meetings to show support in demonstrating their objection relative to the lack of adherence to Municipal Code this can't be stated any more clearly I attended the Planning Commission this agenda item was discussed for two hours the Planning Commission gave every opportunity for their review and question the applicant for their clarification and information the appeal document and I quote subjective and arbitrary of the intent of code holds no merit incredibly derogatory comments addressed to the Planning Commission in bullet items is inappropriate and shows total lack of professionalism I want to point out two planning Commissioners personally visit the site as they question the viability of the development they did their job they know the law that is what they deal with serving on this commission anyone can submit an application following Municipal codes is required and with the vote of five to one not approving the application doesn't get much clearer than this this application did not follow Municipal codes from inception at NAB and Planning Commission meetings property owner stated how the application does not meet the definition of cluster development in the municipal code there Remains the question of partial of parcel 11 with the legality of ADA compliance that becomes a concern on the federal level and was stated to the commission this has been addressed several times and the current application would need to be totally redone to address this area are and other areas addressed which means a new application to go forward in Planning Commission review as this changes the original application there are several areas needing to be addressed besides the specific Co the real question is why would a company submit an application clearly not following Municipal Code did they think this would be overlooked and go forward you either follow Municipal codes or you don't I respectfully request denial of this appeal and the council supports the ruling made by the planning commission you appoint this commission and they understand their role for this community and that is exactly what they did TJ Harvey followed by Ashley Harvey followed by Tim Smith good evening my name is T.J Harvey 2605 ever drive speaking in opposition to LDC 25003 while I'd like to thoroughly address how this development negatively impacts the community in adjacent properties 3 minutes doesn't nearly uh provide enough time um I would like to address the view sheds that he says he's pres preserving because that's completely inaccurate and also drainage there's some uh definitely some things lacking on that instead though I'll focus on why this project does not meet city code and why the intent of law matters wood Rogers claims this project was denied due to misrepresentation or arbitrary interpretation of the codee's intent that's simply not true Miss picotti with years of experience has provided a detailed and comprehensive analysis of this proposal her presentation was far from arbitrary without said the intent of code is just as important as the code itself intent guides decisions when laws can't predict every scenario scenario the project is owned sf8 by calling this a cluster development the developers proposed to reduce lot sizes by nearly 50% however they fail to meet the fundamental criteria required for approval as a cluster development a cluster development by definition must protect some kind of kind of sensitive natural resource or provide significant Community benefit such as common open space to the Planning Commission wood Rogers claimed they were protecting viewsheds it's clear the development neither preserves A View From the lot itself nor from for neighboring properties their second justification is that they are providing open space this is where their argument falls apart and is muddied by intent the code requires cluster development to provide shared common open space space that is accessible usable and benef the community specifically the code states that a cluster development must provide more open space than a traditional development would offer this requirement exists because cluster developments by definition are intended to protect something whether it's environmental features natural resources or enhanced public use let's examine the claim of more uh open space traditional sf8 zoning requires minimum minimum lots of 6 to, 6 to 7,000 square ft if this site were developed traditionally the the leftover open space would be likely equal or exceed the open space proposed in the cluster development in contrast this proposal uses reduced lot sizes to pack in more houses offering leftover fragments of open space that are drainage buffers or mainly unusable land can anyone honestly conclude that this cluster development provides more meaningful open space than a traditional sf8 development the pl the Planning Commission did not by definition a cluster development must provide more and this project simply doesn't both the letter and the intent of the law require this development to to either protect something which it does not or provide significant benefit through more open space it does neither in conclusion this development does not meet the letter or the intent of the law it fails to provide meaningful open space fails to meet a single criteria outlined in cluster development and fails to justify the DraStic reduction in lot sizes I urge you to deny the proposal thank you Ashley Harvey followed by Tim Smith uh Ashley Harvey for the record good evening city council two things all humans hate the way things are and change right um I am in opposition of the proposed development on 2400 West 7th Street I'm going to go a little off script here by saying that um when we talk last time with the Commissioners uh they asked if there were any comparable developments as cluster developments it's not a new thing for the area but do we have something that matches this project the answer is no so I'd like to start with that um so first this proposal relies on the cluster development provision which does allow reduced slot size in exchange for functional and meaningful open space the open space here does not meet the code's intent and the argument that the intent doesn't matter is just outlandish of course int matters in everything we do from code to law to daily life what's offered in this project is 085 Acres of open space which truthfully is just the undevelopable areas on the lot um a cluster development must provide more open space than a traditional development and in speaking with some developers in the area it's usually closer to the 40% Mark um second this development will have a permanent negative impact on the viewsheds the argument that they're protecting viewsheds is only if you take into account that the owner on the Western border would be standing on their rooftops to look over the other rooftops and I don't you're not we're not standing on our roofs right um so these proposed view sheds are not just an aesthetic right they do significantly impact property views once these views are lost they're gone forever I trusted as a homeowner that code would uphold my um property and my investment this project will also remove an important Community Asset the church that's currently on the site the church is more than a building it's serves the community and provides public services and is open to the neighbors for the congregation who meets there its loss will leave a significant gap on those who rely for their resources replacing it with um replacing this open and accessible Community institution with a four- property rental does feel like a step backwards I know that everybody here probably always complains about traffic but sth street is actually a very dangerous place to be driving we have tons of drunk drivers and if this development were exactly as is uh there would have been and a driver who would have gone through I believe it's house one finally the intent of the code should guide your decision the cluster development provision exists to balance growth with neighborhood enhancement not to prioritize density at the expense of the community this project prioritizes profit over thoughtful design it offers minimal open space no meaningful amenities and no clear benefit to the surrounding area and I argue that approving it is going to set a dangerous precedence signaling to other developers that they can sidestep intent of the law while meeting the bare minimum requirements thank you for your time Tim Smith uh Tim Smith for the record uh first off just want to say I'm not anti-development maybe you can figure it out from the vest but I make my money off development it's how I provide for my family um so I just want to make that clear initially when I first saw this project I was blown away uh in my review of the plans with the density of it the first thing I thought was oh this is all about the bottom line we are cramming as many properties onto there as many houses onto this property as possible rather than working within that sf8 zoning so I want to bring up again the cluster development you've all seen the definition of it there a lot of it is subject right what is a view quar what is common open space is it usable is it not usable is it just to see right there well everything on this property that is common open space doesn't appear to be usable at all and then also they mentioned that they don't have to follow the adjacency standards for transitioning from one type of zoning to another which ordinarily would be correct right if you're going from sf8 to sf8 you would expect all the houses to match well however they're having the sizes of these Lots increasing that density there should be some sort of mitigation effort done and the standards within those uh transitions for buffering is 30 feet fully landscaped 100 feet if it's not landscaped uh when I first bought my house at this location I did initially look into the zoning because that was one of the concerns I had before I made an offer we've got this lot behind this with the church who owns it what's going to happen with it in the future I see that it's sf8 I see that the church owns it okay and the unlikely event that the church sells it they're probably going to build a neighborhood that looks a lot like ours which that's something that I can live with and that's a risk that I can take when I see that there's this clustering development that's unlike anything in the neighborhood which I want to make that clear this is unlike anything in the neighborhood you drive up and down Seventh Street a lot of it is single story homes it's fine that they're doing twostory but they're cramming them in there it's going to stick out like a sore Thum it does not match the neighborhood whatsoever um one thing that Leah brought up she was asked by the Planning Commission is there anything like this in Reno that we can compare it to and the only neighborhood that she well she said there were two neighborhoods but the one that was most like it was a cluster development that is down on the corner of Moana and plumis now now when you go to this neighborhood what you'll notice is across the street there's apartment buildings next to it there's a senior living facility and next to it there's open space and an empty lot this area was in a transitional space it made sense to put it there in our neighborhood it's in the middle of the neighborhood it will stick out like a sore thumb so again just to conclude I'm all for development but I'm for responsible development and what this is this is irresponsible this is about the bottom line and that's all it is so again thank you guys and I hope that you choose to deny them and stick with the planning commission's uh Finance thank you do we have any other public comment Madam clerk we do not have any additional public comment on this item okay we're going to close public comment and we will move to um Council questions and discussion it looks like council member ree you have your hand raised uh thank you Madame vice mayor this is um or five I've lived in this neighborhood for 38 years um so I know it well um Miss picotti I have questions for you and thank you so much for being here so late I know it's been a long day for you um I suppose I'm not uh this is the first time I've seen a cluster development project um and one of the claims was is that it's not similar to any other projects anywhere else so I when I am in that neighborhood there's a couple of things that it sort of reminds me of one are closer to the Keystone and seventh area there are um both apartments and duplexes mean the density is higher there and then on the back side of seventh as you get closer to McCaron on the top side there's cluster homes meaning Courtyard homes that are all built together like four attached to each other are those not um are those just a different definition of what um type of development is allowed I think there were quad plexes duplexes and triplexes um I'd have to take a look I know on the side that's closest to uh Keystone that that's a different zoning District that's that's MF over there so multifam it's not the sf8 I'm I'm not sure on the other one but I don't believe that there is anything along there that has recently used cluster development to reduce the lot sizes okay so it's not that they don't exist it's that they haven't been used to reduce lot sizes in the way that this applicant has proposed correct this is um not what we would traditionally see for cluster development understand um and then I there was one um discussion point on the applicant slide about a crosswalk um what was the concern there what the the lighted crosswalk we had Mr Malin here this morning he was talking about a different crosswalk further down um on Keystone what is the issue there so I don't know because when they submitted those requested conditions of approval that include that crosswalk that was only like 10 days ago maybe so we haven't had a chance to vet that at all okay and and so that you know I I've been out to the site and I was wondering about the crosswalk myself that's why I asked okay that makes sense thank you so much council member dur yeah thank you thank you for you miss picotti um it seems that the the point of contention here is about this clustering and does it or does it not meet the city's requirements so I have just a few questions for you when you originally wrote up the application or the report the staff report um did you recommend approval or denial of this application um in in when I wrote the staff report we were at the point of an approval okay so you when you went to Planning Commission you recommended approval because I heard you kind of waxing positive about so so I'll just say to you the same thing that I said to the Planning Commission is that initially we were not supportive of this request we didn't believe that it met the definition of cluster but in working with the applicant we determined that we could potentially condition it so with the clustering they have 28 units right and then it sounds like that if without clustering it' be 6,000 square foot Lots is that correct yeah it' be six or 7,000 7,000 on a corner how many units would that provide well there's there's a difference between density and and actual lot sizes so if you take the square footage and you divide it by six or seven uh you end up with like 29 29 but if you actually tried to lay out the Lot 29 yeah you're going to end up with like 13 okay because you have required widths on those lots uh for the 6,000 squ foot L 6000 under sf8 does that does that make sense kind of I mean I think you're just saying it doesn't lend itself to a good layout like if it's more rectangular or something it might fit but there's angles and topography and within the sf8 zoning District the size of the Lots doesn't exactly match eight units per acre so so theoretically you could do 29 just based on square footage but actual layout would only lend to maybe and you said there's 2 and a half acres I think it's 3.72 what is it 3 .72 3.72 okay so that would lend itself to roughly 24 units I guess what I'm I'm struggling with it seems like if they could abandon this cluster concept and just go to they'd get most of their units maybe but but you said 13 that's not near 28 but eight units per acre is like 24 and that's pretty close to their number so yeah maybe if they got creative or did something like a an SPD to modify those PD we love them because it gives a lot of flexibility know um but but I think that the reason that they strayed away from that is that triggers that that buffering area of the 50 feet because it's actually changing the density whereas in code I don't know if it's a loophole or what it is but they can get away with doing cluster development and not meeting the the the the buffering or the I the words getting away from me but basically well bottom line it sounds like there's there's a project here and it sounds like the dispute is just about how many units and it sounds like there might be something in the middle if they were a little more creative on this SPD or something to get close to the 28 without stumbling into these cluster development requirements and so on so thank you maybe yeah um council members I'm I'm not seeing other hands just let me know if you'd like some to say something um council member ree go ahead Madame vice mayor I'm prepared to make a motion uh let me see I do not see Madame mayor's hand up none okay council member eert um yeah never mind Madam vice mayor regarding the appeal of LDC 25-32 2400 West 7th Street based on the council review of the staff report the record on appeal and information presented at the public hearing I move to affirm the appeal reverse the denial of the tenant map and major site plan review by the Planning Commission directly approved the tenative map and major site plan review based on the on my ability to make the applicable findings and the changes noted in the presentation materials the city clerk has instructed to prepare and file an order have a motion I have a second you have a motion and a second do we have any discussion I have a question councilwoman door um can we get Leah again thank you Leah um I know it was read into the record and and showed on the screen a number of changes is there a way you could capsulize the the key changes since this was denied well there's there's three um requested conditions of approval that the applicant brought up here right so I'm hearing in this motion that those three conditions would not be part of this approval gotcha okay is that true you wanted to do well no I just wanted her to explain ask that you want no I understood the applicant had three additional conditions of approval uh one was and and perhaps Mr derling can come forward and identify them but right I would like to make sure that those conditions are approved yes so if you reverse the planning commission's decision and you directly approve it it's going to be the conditions of approval that are in the Planning Commission staff report without those three additional conditions of approval if I'm thinking of that correctly so what's the other alternative to modify yes I thought they were part of the presentation they were not those we don't those conditions of approval are have not been vetted by staff or reviewed can we have Mr derling can you come forward please yes thank thank you um council member ree so yes we we sent in a letter dated January 10th um to the to the council um stating that the applicant would wishes to voluntarily offer three additional conditions that we would like included um there was buffering yes so those would include if you'd like me to read them or I can put them on the screen on the screen is much better for us okay can't read that but so they would include can we zoom in I'm so sorry uh is it the three bullet it's the three bullet points so it would uh the conditional conditions would read to the approval of the administrator applicant shall install a crosswalk with rapid flashing beac on West 7th Street at the intersection of Rhode Island Drive the proposed entrance to the project site to provide safer pedestrian Crossings to serve the RTC bus stop located on the south side of West 7th Street additional condition two the applicant shall Grant a 10- foot wide sewer maintenance easement along the western boundary of the project site to provide the City of Reno access to the Sewer located on the adjacent single family properties and additional condition three uh the applicant shall modify the tentative map plans to reflect a 15t contiguous buffer of common area landscape along the western project boundary my intention and my motion was to include those items so to modify you're going to modify and consistent with the presentation okay does that change your second I think it was Randy second okay we have a motion and a second so just to be clear um I was asking the question so were there Leah were there other you you said you did not review these conditions but were there other ones that you said mitigated some of the issues um I didn't recommend any additional conditions from what was originally presented to the plan to the Planning Commission yeah thank you okay we still have a motion in a second all those in favor real quick I just have a question with is is are the conditions included in his motion the way it was stated okay all right okay third times a charm all those in favor I I I all those opposed okay motion carries we're moving on to our we're going to give it a couple seconds we'll move on to our next appeal e okay Madam clerk are we ready we are all set okay we are going to move on to item I3 and we'll open the hearing um Madam clerk was um proper notice given proper notice was given and did we receive any correspondence we received seven letters of Correspondence five in favor of the project and two in opposition of the project that has been distributed to the Reno city council and do council members have any disclosures that they to make I do not see any we will move on to a staff presentation hello Mr Foster hello good evening uh council members Jeff Foster associate planner for the record tonight I'm bringing you the appeal of the web data center project and that's LDC 25-14 this project is approximately 6 acres in size uh comprised of three vacant Parcels on the north side of North Virginia Street about 1170 ft east of its intersection with stead Boulevard you can see it's uh near the Amazon distribution facility that is visible from Highway 395 the request is a conditional use permit uh the request that was approved by the Planning Commission is a conditional use permit that would allow the development of a Data Center and business operations between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. there were two appellants and I also want to point out that the Planning Commission previously approved a case in March of last year uh which was for a request for a conditional use permit to allow 24-hour operations grading resulting in fills greater than 10 ft and disturbance of a major drainage way associated with an industrial Warehouse development that request included the three subject Parcels along with a fourth parcel that contained the major drainageway please note that that approval was not for the current data center project instead it was for an industrial Warehouse development and involved a fourth parcel that the current project does not this will become important when we get into to the summary of the appeals uh zooming in here you can see that the area is clearly Industrial in nature uh you have an industrial use to the north to the South and to the east you also have a vacant parcel to the West I also want to point out that there are three non-conforming mobile home parks in the vicinity the master plan land use is industrial and here are six goals and policies from the master plan that are in support of the approved project the Appeals uh to summarize the Sierra Club toyabi chapter uh appealed the administrative interpretation that that was not noticed or agendized to allow for public input that there are differences between data centers and warehouses that the previously approved project from March of last year was for a data center instead of a warehouse as described That Power and Water Supplies should be evaluated that the 1218 planning uh Planning Commission hearing was uh conducted improperly and that the project should be evaluated after data centers are formally added to the Reno Municipal Code through the zoning code update which as you know this body did two weeks ago today uh the applicants also appealed to preserve their right to judicial review and to modify condition 15 to correct a drafting error on that note staff is recommending an updated uh condition of approval number 15 to correct that drafting error as shown on the screen here there are three potential motions before you tonight the motion to affirm the Planning Commission decision which would be to deny the appeals and to approve the conditional use permit there's a motion to modify the Planning Commission decision which is to affirm one of the appeals and to modify the conditions of the conditional use permit your third possibility is a motion to reverse the Planning Commission decision which would be to affirm one of the appeals to reverse the Planning Commission decision and to deny the conditional use permit that's all I have for now I'm available for questions when you have thank you Mr Foster uh do we have the appellant presentation you'll have 10 minutes thank you okay thank you all for having me uh my name is Olivia Tanager I'm the director of the Sierra club's toyabi chapter uh my contact information is on this first slide um briefly I'll go over what the toyabi chapter is for folks who are unfamiliar we are the largest Grassroots environmental organization in the state of Nevada we represent sent 40,000 members and supporters across the state uh we work on issues pertaining to energy and climate Justice land water wildlife conservation and Urban Development and Transit uh we achieve our values through legislative action Grassroots organizing and legal action um and and we I would also like to note that we we have outings that run throughout the state of Nevada including an a program in uh Reno in Las Vegas called inspiring connections Outdoors where we work to get underserved youth outside um okay and there is the slide pertaining to everything I just stated um so our concerns that I'll be going over today pertain to the energy uh associated with this project um and the impact on rate payers uh I wanted to make a note about the economic development because I I believe that council is unaware of some of the economic impacts uh or lack thereof associated with data centers uh with this project in particular particular um I will make some notes regarding the water availability and sewage capacity and the Bas in that this particular data center is uh cited in uh and then lastly we'll talk about the process associated with the perming of this data center thus far um so to be quick because I I've talked to many of you already uh recently the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada approved the 2024 IRP from Envy energy uh that's something that Envy energy is required to do every 3 years uh you might be wondering why I'm bringing that up um but what was interesting about this IRP is that there is a huge load growth that is projected for the state of Nevada over the next few years and as a result of that load growth the pucn approved two new gas peaking power plants at the vomi coal fired uh Power Station um and that is projected to cost rate payers about $573 million so it's a very substantial amount uh of rate payer investment that is going to the energy Association with data centers um and having to procure uh energy for data centers in Nevada uh particularly Northern Nevada um so as a result there's going to be a huge cost shift onto rate payers with the infrastructure associated with the rise of AI and data centers um this is not super unique to Nevada although I think that nevadans are particularly disproportionately impacted but this is something that we're seeing Across the Western United States with rates going up as a result of the infrastructure Investments required to power data centers and AI um I will note too that I I know that the applicant uh has stated I believe that the applicant has stated that the web dat data center uh the footprint is equivalent to about 4,000 homes um and and that is a substantial amount of energy at face value in and of itself but I I would like to knowe that that is by my estimation quite a conservative estimate um if you look at the approximate um average home energy usage in the state of Oregon for example which is comparable to Nevada um I had an analyst estimate that that would be equivalent to uh almost 22,000 homes um so we could debate that number all day but regardless uh 30 megawatts is a very substantial amount of energy and as a result of that rate payers are going to have um cost shifted onto them uh and so that gets me into the economics um and I I wanted to talk about this briefly I recognized that I didn't bring it up in great detail uh in my appeal uh after talking to several council members and realizing that there's some information I think that has not been shared with this body um namely that there is a 75% property tax abatement um I have the NRS uh listed there but that's that's 75% tax abatement for data centers here in the state of Nevada um you can find that on the goed website I have the screenshot included there um so that's that's a huge huge tax abatement that data centers are getting and so you might say well uh perhaps we'll be getting sales taxes I know that the the developer uh has has told you all that they'll be buying their equipment Etc in in the City of Reno um the tax abatement also applies to sales taxes and would reduce the sales tax to 2% uh if if the developer complies with the things associated with the tax abatement namely that they have to have a certain number of employees and um and have to pay those employees a certain amount Etc but broadly most uh data centers would meet those those very lenient um requirements associated with the tax abatements and therefore I find it unlikely that the City of Reno is is going to see a substantial amount of tax generation as a result of this development um I know that we we might not have exact numbers on on the jobs associated with the web data center past construction uh but it is very limited uh generally with data centers um and so there Economic Development concerns associated with that and a tradeoff that I think this body really has to consider going forward as it relates to Data Centers uh if you are to permit a data center here as opposed to something that might have more permanent jobs um in the long run um this is just a a brief thing for this body to consider but I I don't know if you all saw that there was a um a call service down in Las Vegas that recently has been transferred over now entirely to Ai and so I I think that we should all be considering the impacts of um of jobs being automated and the loss of jobs in addition to the very few jobs that Ai and data centers are going to bring to Nevada um and I I know that it is noted in the master plan uh you know looking at the unemployment rate in Reno the unemployment rate uh in Reno is a little bit higher than the standard unemployment rate in the United States and certainly the unemployment rate in the state of Nevada is higher and so we really need to be considering what kind of businesses we're bringing here how many jobs we're bringing here and what that's going to look like in long term for uh for the state and for Reno um briefly I I recognize that this data center has less water demand than certainly other data centers uh but there is still a sewage capacity limitation in this Basin um and I know that there are other folks here tonight who are likely going to bring that up uh but I I do think that this body should be very careful in the way that they proceed with permitting in the Swan Lake in particular there have already been numerous issues associated with The Limited sewage capacity uh and certainly development associated with something that could be very water intensive um is something that that should make you all take pause uh before issuing a permit um and so lastly I'd like to take my few my last few minutes to talk about the process associated with how this data center was permitted um I our biggest contention I would say is that the the the the administrative interpretation that was issued about a year ago associated with data centers was never noticed or agendized so the folks who live nearby this data center never had an opportunity to comment on the way that code was interpreted to allow for the permitting of data centers uh under the same ordinance as warehouses certainly my organization which is a public interest organization was never made aware of that because it was never noticed or agendized or made public uh and we had substantial concerns about that uh the first time that we believe that this administrative interpretation was applied at least so far as we know was at uh the December Planning Commission meeting uh and therefore was the first opportunity that this uh kind of came to light and allowed for public input um I recognize that you all uh had a conversation about this two weeks ago today as Mr Foster brought up um with an after the fact code change um uh but I would like to point out the NRS sections that are listed up there uh only provide zoning authority to the city council not an unelected and unapp pointed staff and I believe that staff's actions violates these principles listed under the two NRS codes um or the two NRS Provisions uh listed out there on the slides so no notice or opportunity to be heard was provided staff action sidestepped public notice and participation as well as discussion and debate among city council members and citizens uh there is no power under NRS to deleg at zoning code amendments to staff um and staff amended uh the Reno Municipal Code use table adding data centers as a use and did not interpret code to allow use under some other category uh so the the process associated with how this particular data center which as you all know would be the First Data Center within the City of Reno um was was very concerning to us and I know was concerning to Residents as well um and so that gets us to I I know you all have to make your determination um you know after my appeal today uh we believe strongly that the web data center is inconsistent with the Reno master plan with the different provisions and the master plan pertaining to climate and sustainability uh and certainly pertaining to Economic Development and incentivizing job growth in the City of Reno we believe that there are compliance issues with Title 18 um again talking about the way that the the administrative interpretation came about with the after theact code change in the Min ministerial cleanup process and how uh how it was interpreted and put into code uh in Title 18 um we believe that this does not provide a safe environment for residents because of the concerns associated with power outages um and with the water and sewage capacity limitations um and I I guess I'll stop there but I am available for questions thank you thank you very much do we have a presentation from the applicant you'll also be given 10 minutes thank you come on up um hello my name is David Hardy uh I'm with Ellis Partners we're the owner and developer of the project um want to thank you all for your time tonight um and also thank you all for meeting with us um over the past two weeks um for the thoughtful discussion and detailed questions uh during those meetings um so Jeff uh Foster talked about the zoning conformance and the findings for approval on the project um so I'm I'm not going to focus on those instead I'm going to focus on the Project's importance to the Reno's to Reno's growing economy um first a quick introduction Ellis Partners um we've been in business for 32 years our Core Business is actually mixed use development residential commercial and office um we also have a deep history in Industrial Development um and our success really comes from partnering with cities and delivering projects that meet communities needs Kore is our tenant and they are the data center operator um they're founded in 2012 and they are the industry leader in energy efficient collocation data centers their Flagship facility in Santa Clara was awarded the ashray technology award for reducing carbon emissions by 50% versus the industry average um this will be their fourth location and their third with Ellis Partners Reno's master plan sets a goal for Reno's economy to evolve into a technology Center by fostering growth in high-tech Industries and facilitate facilitating Advanced Telecom Communications Technologies data centers are a fundamental component of such a modern economy collocation data centers which Kore operates are particularly important to a high-tech ecosystem because their customers are startups and small businesses who rent serers space within Kor facility and receive cost efficient energy efficient and scalable computing power a data center like this is a catalyst for Tech growth because users want to reside near their servers in order to reduce latency and improve user experience so without a collocation option those startups and small businesses would need to build their own in-house server rooms which may be prohibitively expensive and will be much less energy efficient so developing a collocation data center is essential to Reno fostering a high-tech economy so as Jeff mentioned this project is is compliant with zoning and building code and it meets the cup findings um the appeal that we he that we are here to talk about today does not dispute that at all with that said we understand it is important to all of you and it's also important to us as the developer that um we set an example and a standard for sustainable uh development of data centers moving forward so the good news is that this body has already established the criteria IIA for sustainable development aro's master plan um sustainable design standards are provided in section 2.5 of the master plan and our project supports all of them due to our short time here I won't read all of them um but I do want to highlight a few um first is 2.5c for drought tolerant Landscaping we're going to have 175 drought tolerant native uh trees and plants on the project and that's four times the number that is required by the indust by an industrial zoning um the second is 2.5 e renewable energy we have committed to four to a 4,000 ft solar array uh over the front of house roof which is the maximum that the project can support um the entirety of the roof however will be upgraded to support solar if a different use comes into the building in the future um that can uh allow for additional solar over additional areas of the roof so the neither of these are code required at all and they were added um prior to the Planning Commission approval uh 2.5 G is energy and water consumption so our project has no evaporative cooling whatsoever and no water is used uh during the operation of the cooling system there's extremely low water demand for an any type of industrial use on our project we've committed to having lowf flow Plumbing fixtures on site as well um Kore as from an energy standpoint color's existing facility has won awards for carbon reduction and also I want to point out that the computing power necessary to drive Reno's uh growth into a high-tech economy will be run with optimal efficiency by Kore versus those inefficient in-house server rooms here is a a summary of all the sustainable elements that uh we have on the project uh We've we've met with you and gone through these so I won't go through them again but I just want to point out the seven that have check marks next to them um those um are all voluntary features that exceed uh code requirements and I'll hand off uh to my colleague Dean rubinson for the rest of the presentation thank you Dave for the record Dean rubinson director of development for Ellis Partners as we've shared with you and we shared at the Planning Commission hearing this project is estimated to produce $165 million in additional tax revenue for the City of Reno during its 30-year lifespan that's comprised of sales tax revenue of about 2.8 million franchise tax revenue for utility usage of approximately 1 million per year 1.7 million for additional real estate and personal property taxes totaling five5 million dollar per year that's about 10 times more than a typical industrial use um in addition this will create 17 full-time jobs of a variety of pay scales uh in addition to those jobs it will create a huge domino effect of other jobs in the area for maintenance of the landscape the mechanical the the electrical the Plumbing Systems and the security systems the construction project itself is anticipated to generate 1.7 million in sale in tax revenue for the City of Reno this is all in addition to money for the county and for the state as well as a half a million hours of on-site uh construction labor the vast majority of that will be local community members we're joined by our contractor who will be hiring those members those those um labor um constituents again this is over 12 times what would be anticipated for a typical industrial use uh as was mentioned the administrative interpretation there's a lot of confusion about this um we came in [TRANSCRIPT TRUNCATED DUE TO EXCESSIVE LENGTH TO PREVENT PROCESSING COSTS]