e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e Council March if I got the right date March 13th uh Wednesday um while the mayor is absent I'm the vice mayor so I'll be conducting the meeting and I want to uh welcome everyone again and our council members and we will start with a pledge of allegiance and I am going to ask actually Megan Ebert Our council member to lead us please aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right thank you everyone and Madame clerk we're looking for a roll call please thank you good morning vice mayor roll call for Wednesday March 13th council member breus absent at this time dur here Martinez here eert here Taylor Reese here shivi absent at this time Madame vice mayor you do have a quorum of the city council all right thanks so much and our next item on the agenda is in fact public comment so Madam clerk back to you thank you uh Madame vice mayor 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 KS period r r e n o period G oov SL capital c o u n c i l 03 hyen 13 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 timer 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 disrup 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 and would like to make public comment please raise your hand at this time our first public comment is Mark marel followed by Terry Brooks followed by Bill Miller all right welcome Mark very well okay get so I can talking this thing is on yeah good morning my name is is Mark marel I'm a conern junor resident how are you council members uh city manager and vice mayor uh I was involed I'm here today to show people and warn people about getting in the car with a drunk driver uh back in 89 I was a passenger in the car and we rolled eight times and I was rejected land on my head I'm I'm I'm I'm not all there so I I I'm kind of goofball but anyways I I just want to I don't know I I know I what I I we rolled eight times I got jaed in landed on my head put me in a coma for a month and in the hospital for 5 and a half months more um I just want to warn people and show people what happens when you ride drunk drivers thank you okay thank you Mark appreciate you being here thank you madam clerk Terry Brooks followed by Bill Miller followed by Sharon Chamberlain good morning it's me Terry Brooks again and today I feel the responsibility ities to address discrimination against those with mental disabilities there are a lot of different kinds of mental disabilities some of which will make it difficult for certain capabilities but the impairment of some capabilities can actually increase the focus on some other capabilities if someone finds it difficult to focus on one thing it might direct their attention to focus more on another thing if someone finds a difficult to focus on what they hear it may be easier for them to focus on what they see or if someone finds it difficult to focus on quality their attention might be focused more on quality everyone experiences a different possession of a variety of all kinds of obsession some people are obsessed with what their mind occupies of which it is easier for them to memorize so when such a thing at the time applies it is easier for them to recognize and in some cases that really simplifies a situation where such people supervise some people are obsessed with things being alphabetized which can wind up making an inventory more organized some people are obsessed with things that rhyme that could or could not be a waste of time we are all different in our own mental ways so we are all valuable in a variety of ways I would like to thank you all for putting up with me today and for listening to me speak in my own obsessive way thank you all right thank you Terry Bill Miller followed by Sharon Chamberlain good morning good morning vice mayor dur council members St and fellow citizens I'm Bill Miller climate here and resident here once again representing the climate of Our Fair City first up as always is to acknowledge this Council for taking climate change seriously and to thank you for the many actions you have taken second to encourage you to do what you are likely to do when item D2 comes up for discussion which will be to accept the recommendations of the RTC for their 2025 plan this is all good but as you are aware nowhere near enough the global heating crisis is here now sitting right on top of us right here in Reno we are experiencing a weirdly warm W winter record setting warmer than last winter which was warmer than the one before so warm in fact that I've left the hose attached to my backyard faucet and all winter and be able to refill my bird bath almost every morning that should be terrifying yet we mostly go about our lives worrying about other things intellectually we are caught in a paradox of our own making with the internet we have access to virtually all the facts that have been accumulated over Millennia yet millions are choosing instead to believe absurd fact-free conspiracy theories essentially choosing Superstition over reality one recent Superstition that lingers in spite of mountains of evidence to the contrary is that all climate science is fraudulent even our own Governor has withdrawn Nevada from the Paris climate Accords citing no actual evidence in truth climate care climate doesn't care what we believe any more than gravity if I jump off the top of this building I can believe believe I'm flying but will crash into the sidewalk and die a very messy death same if I am pushed and although my experience of falling will be different the end will still be the same but if instead by using my rational brain I walk away from the edge and slowly come down the stairs I Will Survive and be able to prosper absolutely but how to get billions of have I run out oh how to get billions of people to do that simultaneously is the trick climate teers is offering an idea make it uplifting make it fun we are hosting a conab in April you'll be hearing more about in um uh to bring the climate concerned Community together and shift into a higher level of Engagement meanwhile Council keep up the good work our lives depend on it thanks for your time all right thank you Bill and I'm just going to add a parenthetical comment today ironically I posted um something about the topic you're speaking about and it's called spring is here very early that's not good and I just wanted to read a uh two paragraph well two sentences out of this it said while it's it's jarring emotionally this early spring deeply consequential for the environment and economically taxing for places that rely on cold weather activities such as skiing and snowboarding such as our area and I just said let's try to make the best of it pansies here we come but I did want to make a comment um at the beginning of their article they said according to uh Noah that 2023 2024 winter is the warmest one we've seen in 130 years that they've been tracking and per the University of Arizona National phology Network signs of spring in certain parts of the country like the budding of the first lilacs and honeysuckle leaves have emerged the earliest they have since since the organization began keeping records in 1981 so I think you're right on point and I'm looking forward to hearing about your conference thank you all right Madam clerk Sharon Chamberlain good morning vice mayor and uh esteemed council members nice to see you here Sharon thank you nice to be here um I am Sharon Chamberlain the CEO of Northern Nevada hopes and it's my pleasure to present today to share exciting news about the forthcoming opening of our new Clinic the Jerry Smith Community Wellness Center situated on East Forest Street adjacent to to the was County operated cares campus and across from hes Bridge housing community Hope Springs the center is set set to welcome patients in just a few weeks the clinic will serve 12,000 patients annually in addition to the 14,000 already receiving care from hopes with the inauguration of this Clinic hopes will broaden its range of services including Primary Medical Care Behavioral Health Care substance use treatment a same day clinic and additional wraparound services this expansion reflects our enduring commitment to addressing our community's most most pressing challenges a commitment that aligns with your advocacy and dedication to improving access to mental health addiction medicine and primary care for the under resource our dedicated team at hopes immed intimately acquainted with this population understands the essential care and services needed to empower patients toward a better life through improved Health this involves extending dignity and kindness to every patient addressing their fundamental human needs such as access to Affordable medications Medical Care case management and housing patients at the Jerry Smith Community Wellness Center will have access to a comprehensive array of behavioral healthc care services including individual couple and family therapy Psychiatry trauma counseling support groups Stress Management and our intensive outpatient program this program offers a bridge between traditional outpatient therapy and inpatient hospitalization aiding patients and addressing emotional issues substance used or trauma to resume their daily lives admidst the rising challenges a substance used disorders and overdose deaths in our community and Nation hopes has provided support through medication assisted treatment or mat for close to a decade our expansion of this gold standard of care offers a personalized approach and treatment plan equipping individuals and families with the tools needed for a long-term recovery and success to further our commitment to the vulnerable members of the community the Jerry Smith Community Wellness Center will house a same day clinic this will support individuals accessing resources at the car's campus reducing unnecessary emergency support services and saving valuable resources reflecting on my role as CEO I often express my gratitude for the privilege of working with the exceptional hope staff their impact on the lives of our patients is truly remarkable creating a warm and inviting atmosphere while delivering high quality and expert care as our community uh expands collaborative efforts are crucial in addressing challenges hopes will continue to partner with private and government entities seeking funding to ensure our services are accessible to all in need together we can enhance the health of our community caring for one patient at a time thank you for your attention and support and and before you leave Sharon I just have to share um you know I had a chance recently this past month to tour both the tiny homes project The Hop Springs as well as the new medical facility and it was truly phenomenal I uh my tour guides were Mandy Larsson and Amy satof over at Hope Springs and then your project manager Pam silar who also worked with us on planting trees at um M tols Elementary School which was a phenomenal project in and of itself but I just wanted to say what I particularly noted was the thing you first mentioned about the mental health that you have an entire uh array of areas to interview patients keep give P patients dignity and privacy um I I understood about soundproof walls and all that and also the amount of um doctors that you're hiring doctors and medical professionals of all stripes and it sounds like a number from out of the area that you're bringing in yes is that that's a true yes that is accurate yes it it was really remarkable and I I do hope that the rest of the council if they haven't already um have a chance to tour both but most you know this new medical facility of yours is uh truly remarkable yes we would welcome that thank you all right well thank you thank you Madame vice mayor with that we have no additional public comment we do not have any hands raised in zoom and for the record we did receive 20 comments which were General in nature or not directly associated with an an agenda item prior to 4m yesterday March 12th okay these comments were voicemail Andor written correspondence 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 for SL meetings one in favor three in opposition and 16 letters of concern and with that we're closing out item A3 public comment moving into item A4 approval of the agenda all right very good um and then do we want to pull items at this time or do you want to uh well I just want to say that the applicant for C1 C2 and C3 is going to ask for continuance um without a certain date and so it will have to be Ren noticed it is the advice from the city attorney's office the juncture that we open the public hearing take public comment and then consider Grant the continuance okay thank you all right so uh would that make approve thank you uh can I get a second please second all right motion from Mr ree second from Mr Martinez to approve the agenda any comments all right see none all in favor please say I I I any opposed all right motion passes unanimously um we're now going to move on to uh approval of the minutes move to approve the February 14 minutes second is there a second second all right um again a motion by Mr ree second by Mr Martinez to approve the minutes are there any amends or concerns about the minutes all right seeing none all in favor please say I I I any opposed all right motion passes unanimously we're on to the consent agenda and at this point I want to ask anyone if they'd like to pull any item off the consent agenda and I'm going to start with you Mr Martinez nothing for me Madam Vice May thank you okay nothing for me thank you all right nothing Madam vice mayor all right and nothing for me all right I had one item let me just see and that was item um B6 and it's just because it's over a million bucks and I always want our people to know what we're spending our money on um so with that may approve the remaining items thank you second all right we have a motion to approve the items except for B6 and a second for Mr Mr Martinez all in favor please say I I I any opposed all right motion passes unanimously uh we're going to go to item B6 now and can you introduce yourself yeah I I do have a okay there it is oh there you go yeah my name is Jonathan Smith good morning vice mayor counc members name is Jonathan Smith Senior civil engineer at the public works department have a very brief presentation on this project um it's the 2024 cross connection project this Project's aligned with our strategic plan for infrastructure climate change and environmental sustainability some people may be uh familiar with what a cross connection is but for those that don't a cross connection is when a storm drain is connected to our sewer system the picture on the left shows a cross connection that will be removed with this project the great collects storm water and feeds it into the city sewer system to remove this cross connection this project will install storm drain pipe to reject flows from this storm drain to uh a storm drain network this project provides numerous benefits for the city directing storm water into the sewer system can overwhelm capacity during heavy rainfall which can lead to sewer overflows backups and Street flooding which could be hazardous by removing the cross connections it helps reduce this risk in addition by diverting storm water away from the sewer we avoid unnecessary treatment cost at the water treatment plant this project will remove 11 cross connections around Reno there'll be two at Fifth Street and Evans two at Fourth Street in moral four at Fourth Street in Quincy one at Fourth Street in Montello one at Vasser and one at Anson drive at Keystone Avenue we advertised this project in January we open bids February 15th and if approved today this would go to Construction this spring okay thank you could you go back to your uh picture again sure all right I just want to make sure everyone understands so what you're saying is that historically storm water it rains we have storm water that was routed into the sewer system and then it was treated and then maybe increasing the cap you know increasing the amount of water coming into this sewer system yes and then all of that gets discharged into Trucking it has to meet certain water quality standards that is correct yes so my question for you is is this going to then go straight to the river or is there a pre-treatment before this water goes to the river those will this will act like the rest of our storm drain system where it collects the storm water runoff during rain events and then it goes into our storm drain system and most of that does discharge into the water okay well my question is and I know I'm going to use a term most people probably don't know but it's our ms4 permit that's our Master storm water permit that I think it's issued by D MH is that right and then we have to monitor the storm water going into the river and so I guess my question for you is I thought that there was some kind of pre-treatment or some kind of treatment to take out n uh nitrogen phosphorus whatever uh but that doesn't happen or does that happen in some places I'm not super familiar with that to be honest I saw Trina here or Carri Carri maybe Trina yeah sure thanks krie kosy director of Public Works uh to answer your question uh uh vice mayor the pre-treatment happens at the with the with the sewer not with the storm drain so um only in certain certain cases where we like out here in front of City Hall we've got a storm scepter which you're very familiar with where we collect storm water goes into this big uh uh big storm scepter and then debris and that sort of thing is removed out of the um storm water and then then it goes into the river river but generally we don't have that sort of situation so in this case right here at City Hall we have something that intercepts the Twigs leaves and debris correct the larger materials correct keeps them out there and then you have to clean that out I guess correct maintenance and operations has a schedule on when they come in and they use their big back trucks and you've probably all seen that um happen here it I think they do it quarterly but I mean is that that's rare then most system it is yes okay all right well I guess I just wondered how we um keeping in um how we keep current with the ms4 requirements if we don't do anything how do how do we make sure the water doesn't exceed values I'm going to turn it over to tr magon like for example my understanding is the biggest storm drain is coming out of Steamboat Creek that's our biggest Point uh non-point Source do you want to just speak to that well sure good morning Trina magon director of utility services so in addition to the occasional storm receptor unit that we have on some of our storm drains at at particular outfalls we also have um sumps in our catch basins and maintenance and operations does come out and they VOR those a storm scepter unit um not only picks up the twigs and weeds and things like that it also picks up the first flush with some petrochemicals and other things that you'll find on the roadway system um with regard to something like Steamboat Creek that drains naturally into the trucky River and um is one of our most polluted um water bodies that we have here it does not have um a requirement in our ms4 at this point uh that may come at some Future Point um to help clean that up but that is that's really a CommunityWide it comes from the Watershed it's a very huge um Watershed that drains to Steamboat Creek but that does drain naturally into uh the tury river at so the point of this project is mostly to help our sewer plant yes exactly to reduce uh Peak flows during storm events that go to the Sewer well thank you very much are there questions from anyone else all right great job uh see none could you put up the recommended motion again move to approve staff recommendations thank you second all right we have a motion from Mr ree second from Miss Taylor any comments on the motion all in favor please say I I I all right any opposed motion passes unanimously thank you team for the good explanations in a very short amount of time um we're going to move on to opening up the public hearings on item c um and let me just uh get my script here for that um let the record reflect that the council's opening the public hearing I item C1 and C3 together C1 C2 C3 together um and I got to ask our Madam clerk uh this item was continued from another meeting and did not require Ren noticing so Madam clerk was any correspondence received thank you Madame vice mayor no correspondence was receiv received on this item well I think we did get some correspondence I believe that's the applicant's representative so if you'd like we can have someone come up for public comment okay well when we asked that question maybe it's a question to the attorney when we asked the question was corespondence received we received some correspondence I think asking for continuance is that correct we did receive correspondence um from the applicant's representative asking for a continuance not to a date certain okay so um before we go over this and we still have to consider that request is that right it's um you don't have to consider the request in terms of necessarily voting on it you can just postpone the item under 1808 306 okay all right well my understanding is um we shall open and we have to take an affirmative action by the body to postpone but I'm not sure but anyway let's just move forward uh before we take any other action um do any council members need to make any disclosures on this item okay seeing none um and then Madam clerk do we have any public comment on C1 Andrew D okay all right welcome Mr D morning Madame vice mayor and council members for the record my name is Andrew D I'm the senior vice president for Mel gaming we own and operate the Grand sier Resort which is located next to uh the applicant's site that's before you today um I would urge this body not to Grant the request for an extension today I'll hold off on what I was planning on saying in public comment until you make a decision if you're going to Grant the continuance um the applicants asked for a continuance previously which was granted by Council and it's my understanding that is within council's discretion on whether to grant that continuance it's um general practice to Grant one continuance but to Grant another one to a date that is uncertain in the future we just don't want to see this dragged out we would like to see some resolution today so thank you okay all right and would that apply to C2 and C3 as well correct yes okay thank you and then Madam clerk is there any other public comment we have none registered okay so um I understand we have the request from the applicant for a continuance so I'm going to open it up to council do we have any discussion or questions from Council Madame vice mayor yes please Mr ree so my um comments are really directed to the city attorney's office I have reviewed um the Reno Municipal Code I understand in the past our general practice has been essentially to Grant one continuance anytime one is requested right and and I think that many of us on that body including some who are long serving members have believed that that was the appropriate standard one continuance was always given essentially without question comment or pass but as minder saying that now the city attorney's office has reviewed um the section of Ren municipal code and believes that there is a different requirement that we have an obligation to provide a continuance when it's requested up to two times is that accurate I mean I we're trying to get some uh sense more about the procedure not about the merits of this particular inquiry but more about the procedure so that we are clear when things appear on our agenda the public is expecting to hear them people come out for them we as council members have prepared for those uh hearings by reading the material meeting with staff doing all the workups so I I want to understand what the city attorney's recommendation is for us in this instance uh jasine MAA for the record under um RMC 1808 306 BB it allows the applicant to request a postponement any time up to 5:00 p.m. before the day of the hearing which was done in this case it's it then provides that all other cases the public hearing shall be opened and affirmative action by the body needs to be had in order to postpone the item but in this case the applicant met the requirement for the the request to postpone um uh another section of that same um code says that it cannot be postponed by the applicant more than twice or the applicant or the application becomes invalid so that's why we've we've determined that no they get they get two opportunities to to postpone um because this was noticed for a date certain um our recommendation is that it be opened for public comment to be heard and then and then the council can vote to postpone it or they can you can just take it off the calendar but since it's open I would recommend that you vote to post you vote on the request to postpone well so it requires me to ask two questions one is what if we cannot affirmatively vote to postpone it what happens to it um meaning no one moves for that I'm not saying they won't but if if no one moves for that then I think it would just automatically be postponed by the code okay and that that was really the question and then Madame vice mayor if I may yes please Mr Miss meta um I want to understand why and this is a general question but why do we have postponements of any kind and there is a due process element I suppose to any of our decisions that we make in the Appellate practice of what we do so is it because we're trying to give parties the opportunity to Marshall their resources their facts what what is the postponements purpose in a due process sense um I think there's it it's probably stemming from the fact that there are deadlines once an application comes in staff has deadlines under which to process those applications and bring them to council with a recommendation um often times more time is necessary for the applicant to work out issues perhaps with their neighbors with um you know neighborhood concerns Community concerns in order to um bring a package that would be um you know palatable for approval thank you okay I'm going to followup question so this particular application the way I understand it from the Planning Commission received a recommendation uh unanimous recommendation of denial is that correct um I don't remember if it was unanimous but yes that is correct it was a recommendation for denial okay and then my question is if if it is postponed is that just postponing our action or does it have to go back to the Planning Commission for example what if they come back in a year and it's been a year since the Planning Commission reviewed it it would all it would not necessarily have to go back to the Planning Commission if they amended their application and and the amendment was substantial enough to change it that they would have to come back it would it would essentially go through the Planning Commission again process okay that's interesting Mr ree did you have anything else anyone else I I did have one other comment and this is really for my colleagues um I'm not going to move for the postponement because I don't think it's appropriate meaning I would have rather have heard it on the merits today but I understand by not taking action meaning no motion that the effect of that is the postponement is that correct Miss meta under the code that's my understanding so again the reason why I'm concerned about um normally I am someone who has said If a person comes and request a continuance that is their essentially their right to do it um I I believe that's important but I also believe believe there's a balancing of interests with the public who has prepared to be here I I don't know who's signed in to speak there has been at least one opposition but not given us the full context of the opposition by Mr disc but I I think we prepare our staff prepares everyone's prepared but I understand what the code requires so thank you so much for your um ability to sort of highlight those nuances in the code okay and to confirm I mean you think it's uh approved by RMC that that in other words the applicant by asking for a postponement is basically saying they're not ready to discuss it with us that's a net effect that's correct and so they have um they are all but withdrawing in a way I mean they're saying we're not ready to talk to you and we may never be ready to talk to you but we don't want necessarily a denial given what the Planning Commission has said and that a good majority of the planning commission recommended denial is that um well I can't speculate as to what the applicant is thinking but um but yes it it their their uh request for a postponement is that you know they're not ready yeah got it okay let me ask um yes council member Taylor thank you madam Vice chair um Miss MAA can you just do you recommend from a legal perspective that we make a postponement or hear the item um from a legal perspective the code says that the applicant has the right to postpone if they've provided their notice their request by 5:00 p.m. before the day of the hearing and which they did so so I would make a motion or I would I would be happy to do that for discussion purposes and see where it happens mam Vice chair so so you're uh making a motion for what uh to continue the item to a date uncertain all right is there a second to that motion a second okay we have a second um from Miss Ebert so open for discussion Miss Taylor would you like to discuss it I just um thank you madam vice mayor I just don't see the harm in going for um giving the applicant a little bit more time based on the request they met all the requirements needed to ask for continuance and um depending on where this goes in the future I think it's good policy for us to Grant this continuance okay and then miss Ebert did you have anything I agree with council member Taylor that if it's allowed that we should allow it yeah in good faith for the applicant okay Mr Martinez anything yeah thanks so much Madam vice mayor I think um I'm leaning towards having all the resources that were already put into place to getting us to this point of the public hearing um it's hard for me to come to a place to support um the motion and I would rather hear it and make sure that we make a decision on this just because everybody's ready to hear it out and so I am coming I'm in a difficult place to support postponing this hearing okay so you would like to hold the hearing today now and I will Mr Thor um Miss MAA could you help me a little bit understand my understanding is that by by making the request the item is functionally already postponed is that correct yes so holding the hearing today is not an option that's available to us is that correct that is correct okay thank you okay so given that Mr Martinez any further thoughts on that yeah I guess I was misunderstanding it sounds at least from what I'm reading it's saying it's the public hearing shall be open in affirmative action by the bodies required to postpone a decision and so uh from my understanding I thought we had the ability to either hear it or postpone it at this point but it sounds like I am not in the right understanding of I think that that's the catchall or if they miss that 5:00 deadline if they make the request prior to 5:00 the day before then it requires an act of the body to continue the item is that correct I think it would actually be the reverse away like what if they made like we've experienc I'm sorry to interrupt but we've experienced people requesting postponements after 5pm not meeting this and and the council has voted to agree with that or disagree with that no that's right so if they miss the 5:00 deadline if they make the request after 5:00 or they make it um if something goes sideways uh during the hearing or they need more time to get more information they ask for continuance and then the council needs to make the decision should we grant that time or should we not but by meeting the deadline by making that request in advance of five o'clock yesterday there is nothing to hear today gotcha all right uh yes thank you m vice mayor I I suppose for my part um again I I don't really want to talk about the merits of the underlying request it is some procedural minutia that we're really talking about about how this body approaches continuances and I understand from the city attorney's office um that they have met the requirements by having requested the continuance by F before 5:00 yesterday and as a result it really is incumbent upon us uh not to um hear the item because it has functionally been continued by their action what I want the public to understand is two things one is that sometimes in government the procedural and legal minutia of a thing sort of swamps the substantive issues and it's hard to access I mean the public doesn't really understand why we have the procedural rules that we have but sometimes we have them um for my part I was interested in hearing the item today but understand that it will not be heard today and that's why I'm not going to support the most of continuent because I don't think it is functionally necessary um but I believe it will have the same impact the one thing I will say is there was in the second part of this was there were some new Nuance to it which was would we be able to set a date certain meaning they have functionally asked for a continuance is this body in a position to say it will only be continued to this date and I think Miss vice mayor der raises the important question like extending out the thought process which is what if they don't come back for a year well we know that the application essentially sort of evaporates into the universe but I don't know whether I agree that it does not have to be reheard by planning especially because you've said if they make a substantial Amendment it would have to be um I don't want to waste the planning commission's time either are we as a body able to affirm we say we would continue it but on the condition that it came back on a date certain meaning we picked a date in May and said it must come back then is that a condition that the code would allow I think Mr Williams has uh some input on that question thank you Carter Williams associate planner for the record I just wanted to put on the record that there is a time frame uh a a a clock time clock that starts tell us about it so there's a 90day time frame that they have to bring this back for to the the city council in order to be heard or it automatically invalidates okay and Mr Williams first of all thank you for your work up on this this because I think in the discussions we've had uh in our staff briefings they've been outstanding um and I think the staff report really shows your excellent work in this area where is that time 90 days requirement where where do we find that it's within the postponement section of so the same so the same code 18.086 correct okay thank you so much all right so what you're saying is it would have to be a meeting of the city council that would occur prior to 90 days because after 90 days so I guess just should clarify so the 90 days is is um they have to re it says in code that they have to reactivate it so it could be that they schedule it before 90 days and that that satisfies the reactivation requirement um but from staff's perspective we want to we want to get these on I mean as soon as possible so again the moving so essentially I use the word withdrawn but really what it is is it's a pause correct it pauses all the time clocks yes is that right except this 90day time clock that they have to schedule it but what if they I mean if they come back in and say we're quote reactivating our application um would you then schedule for the next council meeting following that I think yeah I think that would as soon as POS I mean within our usual time frames Yeah the code gives us the the ability to invalidate it if they aren't able to show them a meaningful um meaningful directionality or or the like the if they're not if they're going to say oh we're going to schedule a six months from now that's not reactivation for us it would be fairly immediate that we would want to see it gotcha okay all right so we have a a motion and a second uh I'm not seeing any requests for a further comment are there all right everyone in favor please say I I I anyone oppose please say no oppose no all right motion Dives uh 2 three or 32 gu would be the way to say it okay but what that means for everyone listening is that the application um does continue on um it is on pause um they must reactivate the application within 90 days and schedule it for a timely hearing with the city council if they make a change to their application that's significant it would need to go back to the Planning Commission and you at the planning staff would make that determination okay all right well that sort of settles it for me is there any further comments or questions I think we've summarized where we stand thank you Mr Carter appreciate it and Madame vice mayor we've taken no action then on C1 two and three and so by operation of our rules we would move on to then C4 cor4 okay thank you so much yeah all right so we're moving on to C4 um which is um the casa day Ray let me make make sure I got this Casa del historic resource designation and who on staff is here to present that do you want to come up Madame vice mayor may I ask we have seen a number of historic uh designations in the last several weeks uh both of these continue to be in the historic W one neighborhood um I do not require a presentation for either Charlie 4 or Charlie 5 and am prepared to make a motion if you so desire well I would like to have our staff come up if you wouldn't mind um I was just going to ask you to speak on the fact that we have had quite a few of those and is there a change in our process or why are we suddenly having more of these than we have historically had so Jeff Madam vice mayor if I would can you open the public hearing before apologize yes thank you thank you we jumped right in so let the record reflect that the council is opening the public hearing on item C4 uh Madam clerk was proper notice given any correspondence received thank you Madam vice mayor this item was properly noticed and we did receive one letter of support um which has been included in the record okay um one letter of support and then any um council members need to make any disclosures anyone all right so Madam clerk any public comment on this we have none registered all right um any discussion or questions from the Council on this item I've simply asking a question um I just wanted to know I'm I'm thrilled why we're having so many of these come now so Jeff Foster associate planner for the record I'm going to defer to Megan burner to speak to that okay good morning uh Megan burner arts and culture manager for the record um so the reason that we have had more of these local designations recently is that um a little over a year ago we hired a person for our historic preservation to kind of be that point person Melissa hay in our arts and culture department and she has really made an a concerted effort to do Outreach to owners of historic properties that are eligible wow and through that Outreach we have received interest from owners and she has helped them through this process and so that's why you're seeing that's a great explanation and then further could you just say what it means to be uh put on um the essentially the historic yeah explain what we're doing here today in far as a historic one is a Historic Landmark overlay and I think the other one is something different so can you I thought it wasl same thing excuse me both are Historic Landmark overlay yeah so in our code in Title 18 when we designate something as a local resource there is a a zoning change to put that historic overlay over the the the property boundaries um what that does is that um it gives it some Protections in regards to historic preservation uh it will trigger depending on what kinds of modifications are being to made to the exterior of the building the idea is to preserve the historical Integrity of these architectural resources or other resources that get put onto this local register and so um what happens is if the owner decides that they want to do something say replace their roof or Windows and those are part of the historic Integrity of the building it will trigger a certificate of appropriateness which will go to the historical Resources Commission and so anything that is on our local register will get reviewed by them if there are these sort of changes happening so that we can make sure that those upgrades Renovations are in line with the historical Fabric and then um can you may not know the answer so I apologize for putting on the spot but if a home is actually moved or a building is moved um Can it still go on on to the historic have a Historic Landmark overlay does it have to be a building in place or can someone apply for this designation if a building's been moved so uh the answer is yes they can apply it depends though whether the majority of that sort of historical integrity and context has been preserved so um I believe that there is a I don't know actually if this one is on the register but there has been there have been historical properties that have been moved that have been placed on the register to my knowledge okay good to know let me ask open for questions comments on the item mam vice mayor Miss burner thank you so much for the explanation I think um vice mayor dur is being very gracious because uh she's not indicated that she really fought to have the budget augmented to add the additional person who would be able to conduct This research so it it is true that in the budgetary process we don't have um sometimes the ability to make huge changes but sometimes small changes are very worth it and viice mayor uh derer I thank you for making and helping advocate for this position resource because as a result we now have the Outreach going on to be able to make the designation so each one of these are I think a lasting Legacy to the HRC and to vice mayor der so I'm happy to move to uphold the recommendation of the historic Resource Commission and refer for a second reading and adoption okay and that would be item C4 we're actually going to take these separately um and uh do you need anything okay so may get a second oh sorry before we do that we need the City attorney to read the bill number into the record thank you C3 we're on C4 I'm sorry oh sorry about that this is ordinance inter production bill number 7261 case number LDC 24-39 casad Del re historic resource designation ordinance to amend Title 18 chapter 18.02 of the Reno Municipal Code entitled zoning rezoning a plus or minus 0.12 Acre Site from single family residential 8 units per acre sf8 to plus or minus 0.12 Acres of sf8 with a Historic Landmark HL overlay zoning District subject to it's locate subject is located at 990 while Kean Miller Drive in the Newlands historic district and has a master plan land use designation of single family neighborhood SF W one all right is that satisfy yeah all right we so we have a motion from Mr Reese and I'll second it for uh discussion um is there any discussion no all right hearing none all in favor please say I I I any opposed all right motion passes unanimously congratulations to our team another house on the Historic Landmark overlay zoning district and then Mr Foster for item excuse me not Mr f um yeah right so for item C5 we're going to open the record reflect that the council is opening the public hearing on item C5 and again Madame clerk was proper notice given and any correspondence received on this one thank you Madame vice mayor um public comment or proper notice was given and we did receive one letter of support okay and I'm going to go to council disclosures does any council member have a disclosure um seeing none um I'm going to ask our City attorney to uh read the ordinance this is another ordinance introduction bill [Music] number 7262 no 63 case number LDC 24-4 Garrett Humphrey house historic resource designation ordinance to amend Title 18 chapter 18.02 with the reenal code entitled zoning rezoning a plus or minus 0.11 acre side from multif family residential 14 units per acre mf14 to plus or minus 0.11 Acres of mf14 with Historic Landmark HL overlay zoning District subject property is located at 655 South Arlington Avenue in the Newlands historic district and has a master plan land use designation of mixed neighborhood MX W one all right um and then Madam clerk do we have any public comment we have none registered all right any discussion or questions from Council on this one um just I'm going to just say Kudos again and and to Mr Reese's Point earlier if it were not for Melissa hay we would not be here today um I mean I'm so so thankful that we authorized the position Mr manager you know I did push really hard for this for eight years in a row I think um and I'm so glad we got such a good person who's very committed to her craft and her her uh you know her area of expertise um so with that um we looking for a motion Madame vice mayor I mov to uphold the recommendation of the historic Resource Commission and refer bill 7262 for a second reading and adoption all right and I'll second again so we have a motion from Mr re second from myself any comments on the motion all right seeing none all in favor please say I I I any opposed all right motion passes unanimously um the next item we are looking at is uh [Music] D1 did did you want to come up there any public comment we did receive sorry one letter of concern that has been distributed to the Reno city council we do not have any public comment registered at this time okay and it says supplemental supporting materials so additional materials were added just the presentation okay thank you do you want to give us the presentation I know this is a big ask so I want to make sure absolutely that uh and just so folks know I guess the next step if we do approve this is to go to the debt management commission yes all right and I think uh okay Vicky van beeren Director of Finance um good morning vice mayor and council members before you today we have a resolution for approval to move forward to the waser county debt management commission to propose General obligation sewer Bond issuance and it's for a very large sewer project that the city's working on right now so I'm going to move forward this this aligns with the Strategic plan that Council has under infrastructure it also in aligns with climate change and environmental sustainability as we get into this and fiscal sustainability as well and so this project is uh just to give you a summary of it it's an indirect poble reuse project in the North Valleys and it does recycled water produced by the Renoe Water Reclamation facility and it'll be treated to drinking water standards and then as you can see on the the slide there um it's piped about 7 miles north to be injected into the groundwater aquifer and eventually it becomes available as drinking water and that's what this project would do once it's built out um it's a partnership between the Reno City of Reno and the Trey Meadows Water Authority and the project uh cost is anticipated right right now at $221 million for this project it is a very large project H the cost for this project is split 70% City of Reno and 30% trucky Meadows Water Authority so that ends up being around 154 million for the City of Reno and what's before you today would be a bond for a portion of that would be $70 million to move forward with with uh going forward with the bond the remaining portion of that would be avail able from cash we have cash on hand for that um there has been a $3 million grant that has been approved already for a portion of that and then a $30 million Grant is in the works as well we have not received notice on that as well but if those were received that would reduce the amount of cash that we would have to put forward out of the pot for that but we do have the money set aside for it um the operating costs on an ongoing basis would be 50% Reno and 50% trucky Meadows Water Authority so if you remember we originally came back to C we came to council ask with this same ask back in August of 2022 so it's been almost two years originally the estimate was $8 million um today's estimate is $221 million and really that's an 87% cost increase and the reason for that is we the cost for materials have gone gone up over the last three years from the point that this started the design process and where we actually are today it's just it's a long process and it's a huge project and so what's happened is that 70% increase in the water materials and Wastewater costs over three years just in building these type of projects so that's really the big bulk of it there were a few things that have been added um the past treatment process was added from the original um design the public education and enhancement Center was added and then some enhanced piping and pumping capacity as well has contributed to that but the the the bulk of it is the materials are costing more and we're just at that point in this phase so when you look at the existing debt this would be debt that would be paid out of the sewer fund the sewer fund itself right now has two bonds associated with it has a 2016 sewer refunding bonds and these bonds were a refunding of bonds that were originally issued in 2024 and 2025 I'm I'm sorry 2004 and 2005 um these bonds when they were reissued were $41 million in that issuance and they actually pay off in July of 25 so they pay off in about a year we have the 2020 sewer bonds which were issued for the uh rzw Warf expansion that for MGD expansion that was done there and that was the 55 million issuance that's the last issuance that we've done as far as sewers been related so really once that one Bond pays off in 25 we will only have this Bond the 2020 plus this new one um if Council approves that when you look at net pled pledge revenues this is what we would be bringing forward to along with a whole package to the debt management commission and so this shows you a history of where we've been as far as net pledge revenues for the sewer fund so it Compares total revenues to operating expenses it does not compare it to Capital it's just ongoing operating so your net pledged revenues there show an existing coverage in the prior years of anywhere from in 2019 we had 6.76% uh times coverage and in the current year we have 4.3 times coverage what is actually required uh to move forward is one times coverage I would never recommend that but we are well above that so if you look to the Future this table shows you the future of net pledge revenues and this is really a very conservative look at it because if you look at the net pledge revenues for each year there we just take the current year that we anticipate and we do that going forward we obviously know that those revenues will increase because we have a the the sewer fund increases their fees by CPI each year for their user fees so we know those are going to increase but as far as building this table this is the ultimate conservative build on this so you'll know that um it really shows that we have coverage that's well above what's needed to go ahead and make this um move forward to issue this debt in the $70 million um the middle portion shows you this new debt and it'll be about $5.6 million um in payments each year and then the coverage is 4.3 and then you'll see when that new debt kicks off in 25 out there it goes back to the 4.3 and stays at that steady going forward so that concludes my presentation thank here thank you so much that was great very fast very detailed but great um questions on this this is a big decision $70 million uh in bond and debess repaid by the sewer fund yes um and with the benefit if I understand it from this Advanced purified water of unlike all other sewer projects which are then the water is thrown away either either basically into the river yes or put or reused you know in a application um this one is scheduled to actually create new water it is it's it's a true resiliency project so create new water and those of us on Tuma have had a chance to go on some trips to see other projects that have done this and uh it's been fairly remarkable I got to see I think five at this point others I think I've seen even more um but it is really a incredible technology the question I have is once we get through this piece uh will we what will we have constructed at that point well and I think this is a technical question uh good morning vice mayor um Joe k um senior civil engineer for the record triny magon director of utilities for the record would you restate the question yeah I was knowing after the expenditure of the 70 million that you're asking us to move forward into possible debt issuance what will we have we're still in the design phase so we are moving toward a 100% design and then advertising the project for construction early next year so I don't know if that answers the question so well what I'm trying to say is what is the project hi training M director of utility services again thank you um we're actually here to request um that we move forward to debt commission uh it would go through that process then it would be back brought back to the board for the first guaranteed maximum price by the semar contractor for the project once constructed which we'll we'll take that to about the end of the year to get to that point when construction starts early next year if we move forward uh construction will commence through about 2028 middle of of 2028 at that point we will be able to accomplish a couple of things we'll be able to uh move our effluent water from brw Warf the Reno stad Water Reclamation facility to this new Advanced purified water facility it would then be pumped up to the existing American flat Farm pardon me where we would irrigate with that effluent uh cleaned up effluent water uh the existing American flat farm for a number of years while we proved this up to the to our regulator the ND um and then once that's proved up to them um it it's injected into the ground ultimately pulled out of the ground and then at that point it is a new Water Resources you mentioned before I guess I'm asking I'll try a third time sorry what I'm trying to ask is uh is this money going to pay for advanced treatment at our resw Warf is it going to pay for piping is it going to pay for a well to P pull it back up what physical features will we have uh as part of this project I understand go ahead I'm going to pull up a figure while yeah I'm I'm happy just to address some that so the fun the capital will largely pay for a site adjacent to the renosa Water Reclamation facility which is an advanced purified water facility that's the bulk of the cost another large portion of that is for the pipeline up to the site where the injection will occur so it's the pipeline to the site north of the airport okay and then do we need a well to pull this water back out and that's right so at that site there's injection Wells and extraction Wells there there is also some um past treatment that's been discussed before Council previously that'll be incorporated into the project okay and then I guess my question to part two and I don't mind waiting if other people have questions yes so I'll come back to me uh Miss Taylor uh thank you m Madam vice mayor for me I want to um understand I'm today we're looking at the financing of this project there is a project but I my I'm going to keep my questions to the actual financing in the bond so Vicki if you want to come up please um so has tomwa committed their 30% of the financing for this project yet Tomo initially was going to pay for all of theirs with cash okay so we don't need if we commit 70 we we're sure that we have the other 30 are and they're still committed to do that they are actually looking at the srf financing like we are now too they don't necessarily need it but it is a good alternative because the rates are so low so they are looking at it as well but they don't need it they are committed at Cash either way my second question is I understand we're going to drop off 55 million in debt in 20125 when we repay that but how does this bonding impact us for other Citywide projects are there things that we're not going to be able to be considered for or our rating or was this always planned I know we have some things coming up with maybe a public um a fire station those other projects well this particular bond is based on the sewer Revenue so it's backed by the sewer revenues to pay for it which would be a different fending Source than like your fire station which would be just out of General obligation um general fund funding so it would not be impacting that because it's separate to this it's separate to this SE F okay and then my third question or fourth question I can't remember you had on the screen something that said coverage and I was wondering if you that there was a number on the far right what that actually means when we're looking at the see if I can get back to yeah so what that coverage means if I go back to this other one right here this one shows net pledged revenue and the definition of net pledged revenue is the total revenues minus the operating expenses so operating just means salary wages benefits service and supplies does not include Capital just to operate so it takes that net pledge revenue and Compares it to our debt service so that's that ratio that you're going to get so you'll see here on the side we have 40 million in net pledge revenues and we have 9.5 million in existing debt so that ratio is 4.3 um we're only required to have a one times ratio which I would never recommend but that is the requirement is just one times so on the next slot or the next Slide the same calculation but this one you can see is is prior years 2019 showing where we've been this is showing how it would be impacted in the future if we add this debt so we're still at 4.3 now and then going forward we would be at 4.3 once that one drops off next year okay perfect thank you so much thank you madam Vice May yeah absolutely any other council members Madame Vice May yeah please Mr Reese so miss furan I like council member Taylor sort of separated this into two things one was the budget impact what it meant in the financial services t uh sense because of course the very first thing that we're all charged with is the safe resource planning and to Shepherd our resources of our taxpayers well and I think your um entire presentation proves that that's absolutely something that you and your team have done to allow us to make the decision about the project so I am absolutely satisfied about the financial wherewithal of the sewer fund to handle the debt obligation and believe that when you go to the next commission that you'll be required to go to that they will similarly see it I assume their primary issue is coverage right they will look at that last column and say clearly you have sufficient resources I guess four times the resources and I understood your hesitancy to go down to one I suppose I don't know that we've ever been at that level um but fortunately you have also increased our you know Bond ratings our cities uh wherewithal to leverage the type of resources that we need to make the commitments financially so for my part I am absolutely satisfied with the financial analysis that you've done and council member Taylor um I do have the privilege of serving on Tuma and Tuma has also made the similar commitments their ability to pay for it in cash or decide to finance it that's something that we have not crossed that bridge yet but the commitment is there um so I'll leave that alone for my piece about the financial side of this I do think it's important to talk about the project a little bit because um what we do uh and what we budget for and what we prioritize our spending on is a reflection of our shared value as a community and as a council and so I just want to uh sort of highlight um council member or vice mayor do and I have attended a number of advanced water purification facilities uh with the team looking at them and it's incredibly uh uh scientifically amazing and all inspiring to think about what's being done but I'll say the potential project benefits have been highlighted but it obviously provides a local reliable drought prooof water source right that is something that in the desert we always obviously talking about I also believe it's important because it reduces the amount of reclaimed water that is being discharged into rorf into the flood prone Swan Lake by up to 2 million gallons per day so this is part of our continued commitment to the north Valley's Community to reduce the impacts that happen when um flooding does occur there obviously it also improves the quality of the remaining reclaimed water that's discharged in this one Lake because this facility would be A+ water right so that's an exciting part of the component I think it just vastly increases our resiliency and sustainability in the regional water portfolio because as Council vice mayor der said it is um new water right it is producing something um I think it's an Innovative treatment process that's certainly tailored for West Coast uh communities because uh it'll be an important part of our decision to move forward so um we it's been demonstrated to be viable I'm excited about it I think we should all be honored because it really is Legacy defining project for this community all right thank you anyone else Madam vice mayor um Miss V I know that you have a flare for the dramatic and you were probably saving this for Monday but um do you have news that you'd like to share with the group related to our bond rating thank you okay thank you manager Thornley I yesterday we actually received notice that uh the city's Bond rating was upgraded so it's very exciting news we were upgraded from an A1 to an a A3 and then our Outlook was upgraded from a revised from a positive outlook to a stable Outlook and this is really big news for the city so we're very excited about that okay fantastic so going from A1 to a A3 is that a one step it is okay it is and then after aa3 what would be next uh I'm not sure um I think aa2 but I'm not I think so um but we haven't had a ratings increase for at least about 2 and a half years or so so this is a this is a really great step for us um and we met with Moody's and you know we we spent a lot of time with Moody giving them information giving them financials talking to them about the city you know where the city's going so it was a it was a really great process and to see this come to fruition it's really you know a great thing for the city great um I do have a question still about the actual project if you could bring back our staff um and you may know too I was just wondering there was um we alluded to the Tuma cost share could you just go over the total expected cost and what the cost share breakdown is yeah the total expected cost presently is estimated at $22.9 million 22.9 that's been informed by an independent cost estimator also working with our semar which is our contractor who's not not for construction but to advise and preconstruction servic they've come together on that cost so that's that's that's good they're Hing in on this cost and the 7 that's a total that's a total project cost that's not construction cost so 70 million would be about a third yeah right and then you mentioned Tuma and then what's their share supposed to be 30% yeah as a percentage is 30% and then the other 30 would be sorry TR magon director of utility services County uh no so this is split between the City of Reno and Tua City of Reno will pay 70% of The Upfront cost Tema will pay 30% of The Upfront costs of the city's 70% that equals about $154 million and 84 of the 154 will be paid by cash from the sewer fund 70 million would be bonded through srf or with you that was my missing piece so I think it's important to say that that the total projects 50 we're going to pay for part by cash and part by uh credit through a bond okay and it's about 5050 cash and bond a little bit more Cash correct okay I so that's a very nice blend and mix and I think that's important to say too you know what is the total cost of city um coffers and how are we going about that and that's excellent news that we have $84 million in the sewer in cash that's great um and then my other thing was just about the timing um so you say we' got to do phase one and then we have to get full costs and so on and so forth um so how long is Phase One and when would you think we would actually be constructing and does is this all the money we need for construction yes uh again Trina magon director of utility services so we are looking for we we approaching 60% design currently we are looking to be at 100% design uh near the end of the year and December uh we're looking an early probably January February for an early procurement package for um long lead item equipment and then construction is slated to begin this is from our recent in the well construction early next in 2025 right spring of 2025 with completion in mid 2028 okay I got you 2028 yes so in 20 28 we may have new water or would that just begin the beginning of um recharging that aquafer correct and would we have to wait a certain amount of time then to pull it back yes correct that is when the project construction is complete and at that point we begin irrigating the American flat Farm uh working through that process with our regulator in approving the process we will then begin injecting it there'll be another approval process before we can then pull it out and put into Tas water distribution system okay but let me ask this I mean we want full approval from DP before we go build this thing right I mean we don't want to build something yes we want certainty that we're spending the money wisely corre so that's why we've gone down this permit Pathway to get a permit that's got conditions built into it we don't have that but that's that's the vision for where this is going before the construction occurs okay I think that's important too right we don't want to go build something and DP has some last minute concerns right we we share the same concerns okay okay well that anyone else Miss Taylor yes thank you madam vice mayor I just want this is more of a comment and this is on the project side of things the 87% cost increase that we have seen in this project is is concerning understandable I understand how we got there but I would just ask that during the process with the cart and when we're getting to a GMP if if there is something that we need to do to make sure that we hit these budget numbers um that you're keeping us posted with how we can make sure that we don't have cost overruns in this space cuz 87% is like I said it's a little bit much again understood I know how we got here but please keep us posted so we don't um get into that situation again we definitely will and I would just like to add that we are also working with our semr contractor on value engineering to make sure that you know bringing them in early it's one of really the advantages to find those things that we can save money on if possible okay all right any uh Miss Ebert had something yeah I have some questions so in this process we're we're going to be taking the water cleaning out and this is really in regards to the past situation so we're going to be filtering for past and then injecting the water correct now is in part of this process are we checking the soil at all for pfast before we're injecting it back into the ground I'm happy to got to take that so Tom was definitely taken the lead on all the so the questions about the hydrogeology up the injection sites they've done a lot of background studies on the background aquafer itself so the answer is yes okay okay so we know that we're not pumping it into a an area that has past in the soil or understanding what can be mobilized in the soil and what won't be mobilized and understanding the characteristics of that aquafer yes that's that's been done okay so when we take the water back out is this project going to include any kind of testing for when the water is removed so that's definitely a tomw question but I've heard them give this answer so often that I can present it for them which is basically this will be like one of their typical extraction Wells it's another one of their aquafers they have aquafer storage and Recovery systems in the valley so this is not new for them and at that point it it will be drinking water they it will go through their normal testing like any other project but will be like funded through this process all of that there will be initially a lot of testing done at part of this project but long term they look at this as one more of their extraction Wells okay okay thank you but yes this this project will address all those water quality concerns including extracted water okay thank you all right anyone else have any comments questions see none I'm looking for a motion um could you put up a resolution uh or CFO here well Madame vice mayor I moved to adopt the resolution I was just asking did it have to be read in the PowerPoint this is it on the back of the PowerPoint there it is okay that's what I was looking for all right do you want to read that sure I move to adopt the resolution directing the city clerk to notify the waso county debt management Commission of the city's proposal to issue General obligation sewer bonds additionally secured by pledge revenues in the maximum principal amount of 70 million all right I'm looking for a second second all right uh I have a motion from Mr V second from Miss Taylor are there any comments questions on the motion all right seeing none all in favor please say I I any opposed please say nay all right motion passes unanimously congratulations this is a major major step in our water supply um and our water um discharge so thank you guys for all the work it is huge um what we're going to do discretion of the chair I'm going to um request that we skipped item D2 until after we come back from our break and that we continue on with the agenda on D3 and just to know I'm just um I'm uh I think the mayor would like to participate in in that item and she is expected to be here a little later so for this one is on the audit of the take-home vehicles all right yes good morning everyone for the record Emily kid um internal auditor here at the city of redo I'm here today to provide you with an overview of the take-home Vehicles [Music] audit and can you check if your mic's still on it's not thank you okay all right uh so the purpose of this audit is to the assess the compliance with documented policies and best practices for our take-home vehicle process the audit's objectives were to review policies for reasonableness document the approval process test Equity across departments review the tax calculation process and evaluate the risk of fraud waste and abuse in the space the audit this audit reports on eight unique findings a finding is noted when audit identifies an area of non-compliance with documented policies or policies that are in place that are outside of best practices simply put findings identify areas of risk of the approximately 750 city-owned Vehicles take-home vehicles are utilized by seven City departments that you see up here on your slide the distribution of those 199 takehome Vehicles is represented here in this chart the audit findings are listed here uh 1 through 7even lack of documented policies and procedures Fleet Management review and approval the ad station forms business purpose for take-home Vehicles number five unnecessary fuel costs City caring risk unnecessarily and the use of telematics these were responded to by the city manager's office as this is a city-wide program and I wanted to unpack this number seven just a little bit the use of tele as that is an sometimes an unfamiliar term telematics is a method of monitoring cars trucks and equipment and other assets by using GPS technology and onboard diagnostics um telax is considered an essential management tool for many commercial and government fleets the top five benefits of telematics include reducing fuel costs cost-effective maintenance better communication enhancing saf safety and Resource Management our audit report States the city currently uses telematics sparsely throughout the fleet inventory this amounts to 35 vehicles with GPS used by the maintenance and operations team and GPS that's in use in our RPD vehicles and Selmer outfitted with the axon Fleet camera system heading back to the remaining audit findings uh number eight RPD policies and procedures number nine mileage restriction for Fleet in RPD and number 10 a mileage restriction for the regional crime suppression unit these last two were originally reported by the Center for Public Safety Management often referred to as cpsm in their January 2022 report titled police operations and data analysis report cpsm is considered a subject matter expert in local government Safety Services and RPD is the responding um group for these three findings so wanted to provide a few more details to best communicate the impact of the current practices and this analysis is for RPD Vehicles specifically since cpsm did recommend a mileage limit in their report and that department does have most of the city's take home Vehicles so we have RPD headquarters here in the middle on Second Street this circle encompasses most of the commuting RPD employees living in Renos Sparks and verd as we zoom out this map extends to include home addresses in Washo Valley and Carson City for commuting employees and zooming out a bit more this image shows the distance of some of the outliers RPD employees with home addresses well outside of the City of Reno of the 160 RPD take-home vehicles with a physical home address on file 12 are commuting more than 30 mi from RPD headquarters the fuel cost to the city is approximately 30 $2,000 per year other costs include vehicle wear and tear and the risks associated with commuting which are detailed in the report while this is a small percentage of cost compared to the annual budget it may also be an unnecessary cost to the city the corrective action plans for the findings are included as an appendix to the audit report uh beginning on page eight and they include the management responses identified by the city manager's office for findings 1 through 7 and by RPD for the remaining three findings that concludes my summary reporting on the audit report and as a reminder the internal audit division here at the city is here to provide the City of Reno with an independent appraisal function designed to assist Reno city council constituents and management in establishing accountability transparency and a culture of continuous Improvement in City operations okay so thank you so much um I am going to I have a few questions myself I feel that I just heard your report but I don't have a really good sense of your findings um I know that you found some findings and that you have recommendations but I really don't understand very well what those are and I am a little bit concerned um about two things one is the telematics so that's basically GPS wave finding so that we know where the car is at all times essentially telematics is a a breadth of things which does include that yes okay and then the other question is you said we have a number of vehic Les going more than 30 miles outside of Reno or outside of downtown Reno uh or outside of the police station in this case and my question there is are they on work when they're commuting are they considered on work and if they get in an accident is that a work related accident I would surmise it's case dependent of the 160 vehicles um some may have the vehicle as a matter of function of their business purpose I.E maybe they have a a can9 dog and they they transport the the dog in the vehicle so they need the vehicle um some may be undercover some may be on call and that would be a question for the Department okay well department so my question just to recap I'm just wondering for the police officers that take home vehicles are they considered on work time like is that part of their workday uh assistant chief volley Miller for the record and thank you for the question yes they are considered on work time okay so the moment they leave their front door uh for the most part they are in a non-duty status on duty yes and so if a accident occurs that's on duty accident that would be on work time that the city would be responsible for yes um are there any that aren't so in other words just people that are taking home Vehicles let's say for for some other purpose is there anyone so our employees take their vehicles home for work or business related purposes uh much of those reasons revolve around City Safety are being able to respond to critical incidents investigations major accidents victim Services Etc okay all right so that was a basic question I'm sure there are other questions anyone on this audit maybe not okay good um so I'll ask one more question it's more generic not really about RPD so I'll ask our auditor to come back so you may just statement that it's unnecessary or unexpected cost to the city is it have you recommended a way to reduce those 30 thou 32,000 in cost is what I recall you presented so this is um an exercise where similar to cleaning out a well worn backpack every time and again you need to take everything out see what's inside and decide what to put back in So this gives us an opportunity for management to decide where we want those um those lines to lie and if we want an adastation form for example which is currently in our policy um have someone who's designated to take ownership of that program so over time policies get forgotten sometimes people move jobs um so this was one of the things for example one of the findings that we just haven't been following our own policies so moving forward do we want to change the policy or do we want to comply with what's already been documented and who would be I mean is that Mr manager is that our police chief for one example but there's others Public Works uh director M operations of maintenance director is it up to them individually or is it centralized to our manager or my understanding of how um jurisdictions generally do this is there is a city-wide policy for All City whereas the police department does have kind of a subsect because they operate differently okay and then speaking of the police department you mentioned the the report that was done um and that we weren't in compliance is what I thought I heard you say good that report was um informational nature there were 170 recommendations my understanding is the department has been working through those recommendations um but it's not um you know similar to my follow-up that I come back in six months there's not a process for that type of no process for follow-up they've made their recommendations and then um maybe this is a question for our um and I don't know your current title now uh assistant chief assistant chief assistant chief you've had many titles since I've known you um congratul on that but is tell us just is the um you and our police chief working through those recommendations still or is that considered stale at this point assistant chief OE Miller for the record yes we are working through all the recommendations of the cpsm audit and I think it's part of the packet our chief of police Katherine Nance has committed to uh updating a creating a policy built on City policy for our own internal take-home vehicle policy so she's got that letter in there and she's got me diligently working on it as we speak okay good to know um Mr Mander any comments on this audit yourself since this is really lands in your feet I suppose no I think I I think I speak for all of us on the 15th floor when I say I'm excited to see what assistant chief Miller and chief Nance come up with um their commitment to to you know writing this program in in its scope is is commendable and and overdue so thank you very much well it sounds like about half maybe of the vehicles are not with with in the police department but are elsewhere that's true but I think the uh the most pointed space that that we're focused on is is there at the police department and so we're going to we're going to focus there first and okay we'll get after the rest of them after that all right any more follow followup questions or comments all right see you do have something Mr Martinez oh okay you ready to make a motion perhaps to accept the report yeah yeah i''d be happy to so I moveed to accept the internal audit division report on take home Vehicles all right second all right so we have a motion from Mr Martinez second from Mr Reese um any final comments or questions on this motion see none all in favor please say I I I any opposed all right motion passes unanimously thank you uh good work Madame auditor thank you we really appreciate what you do for us you we're going to move on to item uh G1 and that is actually my neighborhood Advisory Board I've had a change someone I appointed last meeting meeting has withdrawn uh due to some conflicts and uh that's sort of skewed my thought process here so I'm going to hold this off uh I wouldn't mind just holding it to the next meeting versus the first meeting of is that possible okay thank you um so we're g to I'm going to ask to um defer item G1 and we're moving to item G2 and I do have some recommendations on this one um on this one I'd like to recommend uh this is for the historic resources Comm Mission and I would like to recommend the reappointment of Deborah Campbell our licensed structural engineer is a reappointment uh Greg Ernie who is our registered state architect reappointment and then finally uh Kathy Bryant had an opportunity to interview her at length she seems like a good addition second okay all right uh we have a motion and a second all in favor please say I I I any opposed please say n all right motion passes unanimously all right we are then on to item H1 which is about city council comments announcements boards and commissions anything for the good of the order from any of the groups you're on I know we cover together some 45 I'm G to say boards and commissions so there's a there potentially is a lot to talk about anyone Miss I have a comment yeah Miss Ebert so we had our first um uh senior cooking class at the Elks Club on the uh February 29th and I just wanted to say it was a really great success um we had a lot of fun a lot of people showed up so we're looking to have more of these events uh going forward trying to figure out the scheduling and how we're going to work it out so more to come on that but it was just really uh a fun event I had a lot of feedback from the seniors that attended um you know that they had a really great time and people saying that they wanted to come to the next one so just um working on how to make that happen so just wanted to share that that it's sounded really exciting it was a really cool idea yeah it was I heard from Chef chapen he had a really good time too he's a great guy and um a good friend and he said it was very well received very well received yeah it was fun anyone else uh comments for the good of the order Mr Martinez thanks so much Madam vice mayor just uh quickly I think at this point all of us have heard about um the processing center on vaster Street um and I am not asking the body for uh resolution or AO but just bringing that up to the attention and the impacts that it will have not just to small businesses but all of us who use those Services um and considering doing some advocacy work on our own end so I just want to highlight that point that we're all going to deal with and feel the impacts of here recently or here quickly um I'm really glad you brought that up I I may have dreamed it but I think I wrote in a request for that actually to appear on an agenda and um I thought we should take a formal position I sent a letter to the Postmaster General last week asking for a presentation from the Postal Service matter to you at a meeting to be determined in the future so I'll keep you in loop as it relates to any rece anything about the timing that they're planning I don't know that they're planning on any timing that's why we sent the letter so we'll see what we get back from them what I mean is to make their decision you don't know that either I don't I do know that Congressman amade um asked that no action be taken into till 2025 at the earliest um I saw that correspondence last week or the week before um but I don't I do not know what the position of the Postal Services right great thank you Mr Martinez I concur thank you um anyone else for the good of the order all right well seeing none um I want to alert the group that we do have a 6 PM appeal we're going to break for lunch and we're going to come back for the item um let's see think we can go back to RTC oh calling in oh well could you alert me m Madam Clark do we not on yet oh okay well why don't we just pause for a couple moments it looks like the mayor's going to join and maybe we can take this last item before lunch that' be great so we're just standing in recess for five minutes e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay by Robert oh mayor is on yeah I know all right all right we are going to bring the meeting back to order thanks for your patience um we do um Madam clerk can you confirm them mayor has joined us by um phone thank you Madame vice mayor we do have mayor shivy on the line and we've already tested sound with her so we are good to go okay great um so we're going to move to item D2 under Public Works which is presentation discussion and direction to staff for approval of the Regional Transportation Commission FY 2025 interlocal Cooperative agreement authorizing the RTC program of projects and when our team um when you come up will you distinguish we vote on several things for RTC throughout the year the pop program of projects can you distinguish that from the other things we vote on okay would you join us and oh I'm sorry uh shall we take some do we have any public com comment Madam clerk thank you we do have public comment um on item D2 Tom Albright okay great Mr Albright good morning everyone uh I think it's still morning um yes I'm uh Dr Tom Albright I'm here to speak in support of the staff recommendations for the roadway projects listed under item D2 I speak as a Reno resident a parent um the brother of a victim of a traffic fatality uh an active transportation and sustainability researcher and as the president of the trucky Meadows bicycle Alliance uh right now Nevada is experiencing a Public Health crisis on our roads as of the end of February uh our state has experienced 58 roadway deaths and we're on Pace to break records that have stood for decades uh nearly half of these deaths have been pedestrians um and the burden is not shared evenly this Falls much more heavily on lower income folks um black and Latino people face approximately two times the risk per mile walked or ridden as their white counterparts so um one of many many solutions that we should consider is addressed by some of these projects uh I'm going to cite protected bicycle infrastructure that's included in many of these projects it's been shown to drastically reduce roadway fatalities not only for folks on bikes but also for the pedestrians and as D and drivers as well um and after sort of a gloomy start to my little Spiel I also want to talk about some fun stuff that these uh bike ways are a great way to get a lot of people approximately half the population says that they'd be interested in riding their bike more if they felt more comfortable and surveys show that approximately 85% of people uh in this category say specifically that protected bike Lanes would help them feel more comfortable and get them on their bikes more often and this is a really great way we can increase activity of our citizens increase economic activity in downtown and adjacent areas as people on bikes uh are more likely to stop it's a stickier process when you're riding through rather than when you're driving through um and so I would just urge everyone to support this uh recommendations and uh thank you for your work on this matter all right uh doctor let me just express my condolences for the loss of your brother and it sounds like it was on a accident in the street or driving or biking um I'm so sorry and I'm sure the whole Council shares my concern um and I but I appreciate your advocacy and taking the time to be here um we this Council has dealt with uh pedestrian in particular death for a long time um we have tried to adopt um zero fatality uh program um I thought we were doing a better job but it sounds like there's still a lot of challenges ahead um I also just want to mention that myself and Carrie Williams excuse me krie ksky have worked very um very much on school related infrastructure projects uh we keep spending a lot of money and wondering why schools haven't done more themselves through school budgets but then we're coming in sort of after the fact trying to clean up and um Carri has assured me that she's looking at or is changing our operation manual our construction manuals to require those kind of things UPF front so thanks for your advocacy and being here lots of work to do thank you yeah all right who is up from our we also have Dora Martinez via Zoom okay all right M Mar Inus uh I don't see you yet on our screens but uh are you able to hear me I can hear you oh good morning it's Dora Martinez thank you so much for the opportunity I also want to um ditto Mr Al Dr Albright's um concern and also just put it on the map and in your forfront the um the Americans with Disability Act I know the RTC has been working um with us very well sorry my computer is saying the host would like me to speak but I think you can hear me fine so um I appreciate everything that you all do especially this um this Council um Madam dor you your your Council and the mayor has been absolutely marvelous um we feel so heard when we come with our concerns as people with disability and we just want to keep our hats to you and thank you and make it a great day all right Care thank you so much Miss Martinez for participating today yep all right do we now have a staff or is there more Madam clerk we do not have additional public comment just for the record we did receive one letter of concern correspondence which has been distributed to council and is it a part of the record all right Mr Wilson y well uh good afternoon or new uh Council Madame mayor and council members um I am khil Wilson I'm the assistant director of Public Works here for the City of Reno I'm very pleased to present this item today where we be seeking approval of the RTC fiscal year 2025 interlocal Cooperative agreement so these identified projects can advance the design and construction with me here today is Mr Dale Keller director of engineering from the re Regional Transportation Commission so we put this graphic together to help visualize how projects move through rtc's planning and project implementation process uh the regional transportation plan or RTP is the central component of rtps planning process the purpose of the RTP is to identify the needs and goals of the regional transportation region system over the 20-year Horizon planning Horizon prior to the adoption of this current RTP RTC requested input from Reno's priorities at the February 12 2020 uh council meeting Reno staff worked with RTC to include these Council identified priorities with returning to City Council on January 27th 2021 to provide an update and included responses to City council's recommendation and priorities the rtt was the the 2050 RTP was ad adopted by RTC on March of 2021 as you progress from the 20-year Outlook in the RTP projects move from there into uh 5-year project Horizon and program than the regional transportation Improvement PL program where funding is identified the 5-year RTP was also approved on March 2021 with the 2050 RTP projects that move closer to implementation from the 5-year rtip Horizon and an approval of the annual interlocal Cooperative agreements or icas each agency Washo County Sparks and Reno approves the Ia with RTC to implement the regional project within their own jurisdiction as you may remember we received a memo a couple weeks ago that discussed all the it icas you've approved over the past four years this brings us here today where we're looking at next year's IA so these exciting projects in Reno can move to construction design and construction so what does this interlocal agreement do so the agreement between RTC and the city urino it identifies a program of projects to advance the design and construction it gives authorization to to the RTC to design and construct projects on behalf of the city which will include imminent domain if need needed and it specifies the responsibilities for delivery of the identified projects so what's included in our 25 2025 I so first is the pavment preservation program this year's budget of 22 and A5 million the goals of projects within this category is to keep the regional roads in good condition this category includes preventative maintenance projects such as surface treatments and roadway Rehabilitation the second category in the middle is traffic intelligent transportation systems or its RTC allocates roughly 10 million annually to this category and includes intersection operations and safety projects such as signal traffic signal upgrades and new traffic signals the last category is our roadway projects under this year's a RTC has identified and programmed 90 and5 million for roadway projects in Reno and I'll go into those in a little more detail in the next few slides capacity and circulation RTC is investing 20 million in continue to expand the roadway capacity and improve traffic circulation in North Valleys the Moya Boulevard winding project will widen Moya from two lanes to four lanes between Red Rock Road and L Boulevard this project will improve intersection operations and provide continuous pedestrian and multimodal Facilities the design is scheduled to begin in 2025 and Construction in 2027 RTC is investing approximately 70 million towards road safety and micromobility projects you can see here on the map on the left there is the West for Street Safety project in the middle is the six Street for all and on the on the right hand side inside the box is the downtown micromobility network of projects Sixth Street for all this $24 million project includes 9 million of federal funding from Safe Streets for all Grant or ss4a grant that RTC was awarded this past December this project will focus on safety for all roadway users at intersections and along 6th Street Corridor between Virginia and Fourth Street project will Design will begin in 2025 and estimated Construction in 2026 continuing on the theme of safety RTC is moving forward with West four Street Safety project from West McCaron Boulevard to Keystone Avenue RTC anticipates spending around $27 million for this project that that includes 13 million of federal funding the project will include pedestrian connectivity a separated shared use path and roundabouts of stoker and seen here on the right here at Summit Ridge project is is scheduled to be complete design in 2024 and estimated begin Construction in 2025 downtown Reno micromobility project project this Council has been very supportive of micromobility and RTC and over the over the the past couple years and RTC is planning on spending $20 million on the downtown Reno micromobility Street Network as you may recall in October of this past year Council approved a downtown micromobility network of streets and requested RTC to include these streets in the regional transportation plan these streets are highlighted on this map in pink uh they are Fifth Street from Key to Evans this will connect shopping and restaurants from Keystone to the Fourth Street Brewery District Vine Street from Riverside Drive to University Terrace connects the neighborhoods north of the north of I80 to the trucky River Virginia Street California Avenue to 9th Street supports placem and connects Midtown to the university and a combination of Lake Street St Clair and Evans from hul to 9th Street will will provide another route from Midtown to the trucky River to the rtc's bus station at on Fourth Street and to the university concludes my presentation there's recommended motion here to answer any questions all right great looking for questions I'll call Miss Taylor first thank you madam vice vice mayor thank you for being here I'm super excited about a lot of these things I want to ask a quick question on the roadway re Rehabilitation if you might just talk a little bit about what the criteria is and the reason why it looks like we have 11.7 million that we're going to be investing a lot of the projects fall within Ward 2 so I would like for us if you could just explain how those are prioritized it's not I don't think it's by Ward I think there is some other criteria that no you're absolutely correct uh thank you for the question uh project uh projects are prioritized by um um ADT average daily traffic and by condition so whatever the condition of the roadway is on our on our Network we keep track of the the condition is as condition Falls and the ADT is is high those get um elevated to to the top priority okay perfect and then I think the other question or not necessarily a question on the Fourth Street project um the roadway project very exciting because we can see I'm a Super Geek when it comes to roadway and transportation and traffic but the investment that we have seen in other corridors in the transportation and the street network has transformed regions so if we look at what RTC is thinking about doing on Fourth Street from McCarron Divine in that stoker area with the roundabout I'm just really excited about the things that can happen in that area and then the revitalization that comes after it again with a connectivity with the other project um on 6th Street and Fourth Street so super excited it looks like in 24 and 25 based on last um a there's a lot of construction going on and then it sort of tapers back in 20 in 26 and 27 but with these projects that we're seeing that should ramp up again once we get through the engineering and the environmental process 100% yes correct okay thank you so much okay um looks like Mr Reese thank you madam vice mayor uh for my part Mr Wilson I want to thank you and your team and also Mr Keller and his team at the RTC because I think about where we have been um for the last uh we'll just say 5 years and I know that um it has been the work of community groups like truck's bicycle Alliance it's been the work of Miss kosy and you Mr Wilson um really uh making the laboring ore and I know it can be tiring to have me bugging you all the time about why aren't we doing this faster sooner but we got there together right so for my part the downtown Regal micr Mobility project uh when we did the test project aoup couple summers ago now it really started to give the momentum to what we could do and what we dream about and so I think there's a lot to be excited for um obviously a $70 million a little more than $70 million investment in micromobility in this region is going to be something that is Legacy defining I think for us what will be incumbent upon all of us of course is to keep pushing right to look for innovative solutions it's there's probably not a day that doesn't go by that I don't get some constituent who reaches out with a new design idea a new configuration of a street a better roundabout you know building the better mouse trap and we have to I think as policy makers on this body we have to think very broadly about the region and all of the ways in which connectivity impacts all of us but we have to not stand in our own way right and so where there is innovation to happen I think that's important this morning someone tagged me on social media about making sure our connectivity uh markers were red rather than green and I'm not a traffic engineer I don't know the importance of making roadway markings red rather than green but someone does right I don't know if that's the Dutch cycling Embassy our friends at the trucky Met's bicycle Alliance who have uh worked very hard to um be as gracious sporters that they can there have been times where we have been at a little bit of a impass but I feel like we have uh included and moved forward together in a way that's very meaningful for our community and I really do thank them for that because again um as policy makers we see it at a different level and and have to stand back and look at it I won't be able to make all the choices that I want to see happen but this is one that I'm in incredibly proud of all the work that's gone into it and I know it was a laboring process it did take time um and of course resources so I also get to see this at the RTC side so we get see it in two passes I I'm also excited because even in this iteration there are um I think future projects jumping off I know that uh council member Ebert and I are talking about extensions of bicycle facilities in the North Valleys and there are different projects that are being scoped right now that'll lead to I think improvements there all for the service of our community so it's it's great great work good job to the teams all right thank you and then let me ask um Madame mayor are you on did you have any comments y oh you're here oh thought you were still on um behind you oh okay well I'll make a comment um thank you welcome hello uh welcome so I'll make a comment um first of all I'd love to see these things rolling out um I do have a comment so there's a project with RTC and I guess I'll call it m uh Dale here on Steamboat Parkway so I just wondered is that supposed to start now it was supposed to start spring yep good afternoon Dale Keller director of engineering at the RTC Council Mur uh yes we are going to begin Construction in April for the steam booat project from amazing deani Ranch overall to Veterans Parkway okay long awaited I'm so glad to hear it uh the other one was Veterans roundabout I don't know if that's even on a list council member yes it is on the list uh we are right now under final design we're coordinating closely with the Nevada Department of Transportation who owns that portion of that roadway at the vet roundout make modifications to address some of the congestion that we see both in the morning and in the afternoon well I know our own staff took a hard look at it and we're looking at even things like the signage that's associated with it didn't comply with um you know the US Highway standards um the type of signs the height of the signs the distance back from the roundabout all the things uh the striping on the road you know is is there going to be is it going to be constructed more like the roundabout on Neil Road where you have uh sort of segregated Lanes coming in I would say both of those roundabouts and first off City staff has been great to work with and bring those issues forward about signages and striping um they both serve different purposes the ne Road Round roundabout as well as the veterans roundabout so as we looked into the solutions we found some very unique ways we can modify and help the traffic flow as need be if you're coming down from Geer GD or if you're coming from uh North Virginia or excuse me South Virginia Street to get through that roundabout do you you know off hand I know that historically the Neil Road roundabout was like 60,000 cars a day it's probably more today because that's an old number I don't know what the veterans one is do you have any idea how much traffic goes through there I do not have those numbers off hand I can get it to you okay and then finally related to that you were going to be building a road I thought with a bridge over Steamboat Parkway to divert some of the traffic off of that roundabout is that still on the plan yes we are looking at to the Geer grade realignment or the toll road realignment um there's some things we need to consider through environmental process um between the butt week and the steam Creek so there's a lot of different issues that we're looking to investigate first before we move forward through a final design but that'll come later after veterans roundabout yes ma'am oh I didn't realize I thought that was coming before veterans round so the thought process was at the RTC we can do some of these quick improvements at the roundabout existing before the greater longterm Solutions needed for this new road all right um Madame mayor did you have some things to add I do I just um want to make sure Council weigh put this on green just want to make sure Council weighs in um before I do since I walked in well um council member Ebert hi I have some questions um I noticed in your presentation I think it was on um maybe slide four can if we can go back to that so the last picture that looks like it's the Lemon Drive onramp and offramp interchange there is that an RTC project I thought that was an end do it was it was end do so good afternoon council member Eber Dale Keller director of engineering at the RTC for the record so indot RTC partnered with indot for these improvements so indot gave RTC roughly about $10 million to construct The Interchange on their behalf okay and we incorporated that part of the Lemon Drive whing project from Buck Drive Sky Vista all the way out to Military Road did does one construction project okay thank you cuz I was a little confused on that um another question I have um I know that we're going to be working on Military Road and forgive me can you remind me when the widening of Military Road is going to happen uh yes ma'am so we were having actually a public meeting we're anticipating at the end of April the talk about what that preferred alternative would look like and get public input um to that solution working with City staff to make sure um we're still addressing the needs out there so we're going to finalize the design this year okay and then look to go to Construction in 20125 okay all right any other council members council member ree actually I wanted I wasn't done oh I'm sorry it's okay you said okay so um yeah I was just writing a note so um I did want to mention that um council member Ree and I were talking about um having a protected bike lane um going um North Virginia from um Panther connecting to the the North Valley so I just wanted to kind of reiterate that that's going to be you know priority for me I have um constituent feedback on that that there's a a desire for that so I just want to make sure that I I make that comment publicly to put that on the record um that we include that in the plans um that that is a a priority for me I know I see comments on social media and things like that where um sometimes I take some heat for um people thinking I don't support micromobility in bike Lanes I just want to let people know that I do um I do also consider um cars because we get a lot of funding for our roads through the gas tax so I also consider um you know other forms of vehicles um and considering most of the people in the North Valleys do drive cars but um I also want to just share that I am very concerned about um micr Mobility Lanes as well so I'm just want to wanted to state that all right Mr ree well I wanted to build on something um council member eert mention and that is this roadway project here on slide four um because I do think it points out an important part of a change landscape between OT and our local partner RTC and the communities so I don't know if Mr Keller you want to speak to that but it used to be that you know end. funded end do projects and that was really what was the lane it has now been the case on at least two projects including this one and the spaghetti bowl that there the state is really looking for um some commitment locally financially and otherwise to do projects so it's one of those things where we're having to balance that competing concern which is that the state should pay for and do its thing but to make the projects happen and to get them further along or into the the line at the we'll call it the suite of things that could be done we have committed dollars at the RTC to make it happen and so I think that's important just for everyone's head knowledge to understand that it's not the old way which is just endot does their things and just RTC does their things we've had to cooperate and collaborate with them to make the dollar stretch further counc very good point one thing I would like to say the state has a lot of needs around the around the state in southern Nevada here in Reno and out in Elco so part of the strategy is make that decision hard and difficult to where they spend the money so we found if we can invest some money up front to either move forward the design or environmental it puts us in a better position to be competitive not only for four4 million dollars that come through ind. directly but also discretionary Grant dollars I think a lot of improvement that you're seeing in the North Valleys right now is because the initiative that the RTC board took forward said go do and then now is really having some federal dollars $100 million do Grant opportunity for next phase of us395 North valle's widening so that strategy is working and that's why we're finding ways we can collaborate and work together with the state okay the other thing I'll add is as council member eert is right um that uh well actually I'm not sure if she's right I don't know who's going after you online saying you don't support micromobility you've always been advocating for micromobility in the North Valleys meaning when you're always following along the projects that are going on and of course our role as people because I said on the RTC is then to take that into the RTC and advocate for that on behalf of the folks in the North Valleys and council member eert so I think it is a a strange thing I just say you know don't believe everything you read on the internet uh it's certainly not for most of what is said there I know that you're advocating for safety improvements across the entirety of the North Valley so good job um Mr kellerer before we go to the mayor um I wanted to say that most of these are very long awaited projects so we're PE including Steamboat which is not on your list right I think it suffered maybe a one and a half or twoyear delay um I think for all the projects it would be good for you to consider doing some kind of uh groundbreaking uh whether it's ones that are on on the list or not are still yet to come uh for example it's a good way to let our residents know it's finally here you know in a very positive way not when they just see the orange cones and suddenly they can't drive through Steamboat or around veterans or whatever but I would encourage you to reach out to any of the council members uh for projects in their Ward and to look at ways that we can increase visibility of your work um for our residents who will be delighted you know you know they may be grumpy about the you know temporary congestion and challenges but they're going to be very happy to see these projects move would you consider that yes ma'am very good point we need to do a better job of highlighting some of the achievements that we're reaching and and show the great work that we're doing so yes well I'll give you an example happening right now which I was going to ask you offline has nothing to do with this item but it is an RTC item which is that you gave a grant to the city uh to begin sidewalk installation along pluma and along Urban it's underway I think that that would be a great thing to celebrate you know that was co-sponsored by um Council U sorry commissioner Hill and myself and um our residents probably scratching their heads going what's going on I have heard it what's going on there so anyway I think that whatever you do gets notice and that we should you know put that out to the public in a good way okay over to you madam mayor all right thank you so much Dale thank you so much for being here I think you should just stay there all day um um quick question um because and I so apologize that I walked in a little bit late to see all your slides so I this might be redundant um and you might have included it let's talk about lighting um and how much of an investment um you're making into Lighting on some of these projects because I think we also forget with micro micromobility that lighting is also essential so talk a little bit about that yeah so yeah so when when these projects come forward especially with the micromobility uh it's certainly intersection lighting and then you know continuous Corridor lighting is taking a look at as well to see how those sa those safety measures would uh would would improve for safety okay and whose responsibility is that responsibility for on the lighting aspect for installation the installation would be a part of the project um and then uh it if it's uh installed throughout the corridor it goes on to our Envy Energy's lighting system and the City of Reno pays for those lighting bills and but I thought RTC puts in the lights they do install them yes correct okay so I'd love to see what that plan looks like for lighting cuz I notice oftentimes it seems like we're really well lit and then off oftentimes it goes really dark and I don't understand how we decide sort of the lighting patterns throughout so do you have a plan like talk a little bit about that because it seems like we don't really think about that aspect of it so because I know you guys love roads but also I think the lighting is really important so not going into any too granular detail but you know with lighting when you're liting a corridor you know it not always too much light can almost be a bad thing so there's what's called uniformity ratio of how the light balances between the roadway and the and the and the path and we do have standards in our in our design manuals that kind of speak to the uniformity ratio okay um and then Dale let's talk about and you know this has always been sort of like one minute we're doing this one minute we're doing that let's talk a little bit about the downtown bike Lanes so first of all put on the record exactly um what you you think the best recommendation is because you know there's been a lot of talk of like this isn't the best this is you know it's been a whole controversial I guess subject so talk a little bit about why you think this is the the best path Mar ree Dale Keller director of engineering at the RTC oh Mar Reese wow I'm sorry you got a pro it's all right we know who you meant uh I think at the end end of the day there's a lot of great things that we went through that process for call it Transportation Planning what do the future of downtown Reno look like and the action taken by this city council back in last October and as well as by the RTC uh commission to get us to this point today we're really there Landing the plane to really move forward on environmental and final design so as Mr Wilson said we're looking to finalize the design this year begin some work in 2025 and really transform how downtown looks and these corridors that are shown in pink and the one in a kind of dark red they're on on fist Street those are different things that's is really going to transform the way how downtown looks and feels I'm excited about it I know City staff is excited about it and it's $70 million worth of investment okay and it sounds like um that uh trucky Meadows bike Alliance is also in support is that correct um yes Tom just came up and and spoke and on public comment and talked to from what him as an individual stands for we've been meeting regularly with Timba and this as we begin the design process of what this will look and feel like as we have the more details we'll continue to engage with uh Tima as well as the public on what the final design I think that's really critical thank you so much for doing that because they um I think know it so much better than we do they do a lot of writing along those paths I I look at them as experts um you know they're always pointing out things that they think are unsafe or that are really good that we should repeat so I really really appreciate that and then just on the record cuz it looks really small over here so it's um Virginia Street correct I think it's in pink yeah yeah Virginia it's all uh the ones that we're we're moving forward with are in pink correct okay so it's Fifth Street my eyes Vine Vine Street Vine Virginia Street Y and then uh St Clair Lake Evans as a combination okay and when will we start that so Design's going to uh begin this next year and begin construction 2025 if I can add yeah if I can add we have actually a design consultant under agreement we going to give him an ntp this week and so we're we're moving right along so there's no delay um basically out action taken today we'll be able to continue the progress okay and tell me when do you project um finishing the project construction will start in 2025 uh we look to get that done as quickly as possible probably one construction season hopefully we can complete everything in that calendar year it might go make go over in 2026 but our goal is right now to get everything done in that 2025 so it sounds like the end of 25 yes and and I like to say this is new infrastructure for the city and so there's a lot of things we have to work out details how's it going to look how's it going to be maintained so there's other key decisions along the way as we go about this um so that's where we're keyed up right now to address those issues now so as we continue to build this network we're in unison it's maintainable and um okay construable talk a little bit maybe a little like uh what they will look like are they going to be painted green I think uh I get a lot of feedback about it's green I can see it so um what does that look like we learned and City staff learned a lot of lessons from the pilot project on fist Street and Virginia Street so we're going to take what we learned from there we're going to then address it from a Global Perspective and see those different type of aspect did green paint work did the candlesticks work did the cool little unique art in front of the Rock Center did that work out well so those are things we'll evaluate along the way ask for some public input um and go from there okay that would be great I would just love it whenever you do decide that to come back and make sure so we can all weigh in give you you know how that is we'll just keep chirping thank you so much Dale great job all right are there any further comments on this project um if there are not we're looking for a motion all right I'll motion all right all right so we have a motion from Madame mayor second from council member Reese to approve the regional transp Transportation Commission 2025 in our local Cooperative agreement are there any further comments or questions on the motion all right hearing none all in favor please say I I I any opposed please say nay all right motion passes unanimously congratulations yeah great job to your team khil Carrie and Dale great yeah good job exciting day for finally I know exciting exciting day well probably never right I'm just going to round out this um we have are we going to do our final public comment today now I think we should no I think do you got is there should probably do everything have attorney client and be out of here and then we'll be back at 6 yeah correct so yeah if I may Madam mayor we'll um we'll continue this meeting and is there anything else we haven't covered okay you're frowning um so we'll continue this Mee we'll take a break and continue uh recess we'll continue the meeting at 6 p.m for e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e for e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e [Laughter] e e e e [Laughter] he 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 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 [Music] e e e [Music] 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 for e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e for 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 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 for 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 uh good evening everyone we are reconvening the uh meeting of the Reno City Council on March 13th and um we are at our six o'clock hearing which is item I excuse me i1 um I believe that we have the mayor and and council member Reese online uh on the zoom and um council member D or uh vice mayor dorge just to clarify we have council member breus and council member Reese but mayor shivy has not rejoined at this time oh okay thank you well why don't you just go ahead and take roll since we're reconvening and uh we've been away okay okay council member breus I'm here D here Martinez eert here Taylor here Rees here shivi absent at this time thank you vice mayor all right thank you um and uh I will ask the City attorney to read the agenda item thank you madam vice mayor this is an appeal of the hearing officer's decision to uphold the approval of the building permits BL 23-3 075 and bl 23-05 279 issued for offence and retaining wall proposed on the southern property line of a parcel located on the northeast corner of the inter section of Outlook Drive in bford Road approximately plus or minus 260 ft north of Dolan way 2600 Outlook Drive the S is zoning designation of single family three units per acre sf3 and master plan Lage designation of single family neighborhood SF the appeal was filed by Michael Powell Council May affirm reverse or modify the decision of the hearing officer all right thank you Mr attorney and um I'm going to now open the public hearing um Madame secretary was proper notice given vice mayor proper notice was given and no correspondence specific to this item was received all right and uh do any council members have any disclosures I'll start here in the room uh going down the line Mr Martinez no Miss Taylor no uh welcome Mr Thornley and what about you no for Miss e Brit or myself and how about online how about you miss breus yes I do have a disclosure I'm I'm going to disclose that this is in W one and prior to the filing of this appeal Mr pal reached out to me uh like any other constituent with an issue I told him that I don't um have side ex party conversations um and you know but it was not an appeal pending before us but we did have a conversation I'll also disclose that today uh March 13th I did make a site visit up to the property and viewed uh the disputed property line um boundary um proposed for the fence and the retaining wall uh from the street thank you okay thank you and then Mr Reese nothing Madame vice mayor okay and mayor shivi any disclosures no okay thank you all right thank you um and then before we get into the presentation by staff I'm going to ask if there's any public comment either in the room first of all Madam clerk we do have public comment from Carol Reno and Brandon Freeman okay Carol if you'd like to come up hi I'm Carol Reno I have lived at 2600 Outlook Drive almost 40 years we moved in December of 84 I've raised um 11 children there and we've um had some issues with drainage through the years and we finally figured it was time to take that on and try to alleviate the the problems of the drainage that we had around the house and it's been a year almost a year and a half I would think we've been trying to get this handled so that we can get the backyard and the drainage area taken care of all right before you leave Miss Reno what was your address did you say 2600 Outlook Drive okay so you are um the property owner the property own that's putting up the fence yes okay that's great thank you so much and then is there anyone else Madam clerk Brandon Freeman hello my name is Brandon Freeman and I'm here to represent Robinson engineering as a project professional and designer for the project I'm here to answer any questions to the best of my ability okay and then um Mr Freeman do you work for Robinson engy yes ma'am oh okay so you are employed with them yes and you're a PE is that what you said or no project professional what what was it project professional project professional okay all right thanks for being here thank you okay um Madame presiding officer in Lou of the mayor um I cannot see the speakers when they approach the dis I've not been able to see any views within Chambers I just like to um I don't participate remotely too often okay but I thought that the that all of us had an opportunity to see the speakers in the chambers we do so thanks for thanks for bringing that to my attention Madam vice mayor so we are aware that there's a camera issue and Tech and soos who are working it out right now okay so we have a I don't know if you heard that we have a temporary camera issue and it's being addressed normally you would be able to see the speakers um I think it looks like there's a PowerPoint so most of the time um I'll let you know when the cameras get fixed how about that well okay okay thank you thank you all right and then Madam clerk are there any more public comments we have no additional public comment registered at this time okay and how about online there are no participants online with their hands raised okay but there are other participants besides our council members just checking no no okay very good uh let me get back to our order then um so now what I'm going to ask is for a presentation by our staff on this project good evening Madam vice mayor members of the council for the record Mike Ry planning manager uh the item before you tonight is an appeal of a fence permit and a site Improvement permit for improvements located at 2600 Outlook Drive the appeal is of the hearing officer's decision to uphold the issuance of those permits to give you an overview of the site as I mentioned is located at 2600 Outlook Drive which is the southeast corner of bford Road and Outlook Drive the property is zoned sf3 as are all surrounding properties the site is developed with one single family residence which is oriented towards Outlook drive but does include a circular driveway with access to both Belford and Outlook um this site plan here is is the Improvement plans that were submitted and the area that you see on the south side of the parcel highlighted in red is the the portion of the property that is subject to this appeal the red line represents a retaining wall which varies from 2 feet on the West Side to 4 feet on the east side and then it's proposed to construct a fence at top that wall the area that you see in green which is within the front yard setback would be 4 feet in height transitioning to six feet in height the area that you see there in Orange these are some photos um taken just recently as you can see there are some fence post put up those would have to be cut down to the height specified in the permit 4 feet in the front yard 6 feet in the rear but as you can see this line here in red represents the fence location as looking kind of head on to the site this is Mr pow's residence to the right and then this is looking kind of Northeast along out drive of the improvements Improvement area I should say Sor the picture that you're pointing to on the right is that from the person's house or is that from the street that's from the street this is Mr Pal's mailbox so this is looking okay all right there we go uh so standing in front of Mr pal's house looking back towards 2600 out drive okay so just to give you a little history of how we how we got here this evening well one second I'm sorry that was actually from the appellant's house correct oh okay so not from the Reno house right that's looking towards the Reno house oh go that just gives kind of a clear view of of where the fence will be okay thank you sure um so a permit was was issued in October to allow for 150 lineal feet of four four to six foot fence along that southern property line it was proposed to be a wooden post with fabric shade Fabric in between as the material um that was appealed by Mr pal on October 31st of 2023 on November 4th there was an administrative hearing for that appeal in which was continued to January 9th to allow the city to provide Mr powa some additional information some additional plans that he had requested in between that hearing and the the subsequent hearing the Reno Family did file a second permit to allow for the construction of the retaining wall that's in that's also part of this appeal both of those appeals were were heard together on January 9th of this year and were upheld by the hearings officer so the hearing officer cited that they with the city that those should be issued um and then Mr poell filed this appeal that we're hearing tonight on February 4th or excuse me February 5th so I'd like to go through each of the claims in the appeal um and I think then we can be available to answer any questions uh the first item listed in Mr pow's appeal is that section 18.04.1 1404 of the Reno mle code applies to this which would prevent fill within 5et of a residential property line um this the section of code and it could be confusing for somebody that doesn't use our code all the time but that applies to our residential adjacency standards so I have the the purpose of the residential adjacency standards on that slide but as you will see those standards apply when you have a resident itial use adjacent to a non-residential use in this case we have two residential uses with identical zoning adjacent to each other that section of code simply does not apply in this case the second claim um cites a different section of RMC which prohibits Phill from being placed within 5T of a residential property line so if you look at the reference to that Mr Powell notes it refers back to section 18.04.1 1404 which are the residential adjacency standards which we've determined do not apply so that all Ed types that he references is taken out of context is referring to any non-residential use type so the residential adjacency standards apply to Industrial uses commercial uses mixed use that's what the all use types refer to not a residential use so once again this section of code doesn't apply to this case the next the next claim is that the the wall and fence proposed for construction would would block drainage from Mr pal property um onto the Reno property um Reno Municipal Code prevents properties from draining onto an adjoining parcel without a drainage easement and there's been no evidence of a drainage easement presented by Mr pal that would allow for that condition so that that's essentially a non-issue in terms of our reviewing of the permit last or actually second to last is that the constr construction of the wall and fence would result in drainage onto Mr Pal's property from the Reno property um as part of this permit the applicant did submit a comprehensive grading and drainage plan that was reviewed by engineering staff and Mike Michelle engineering manager is here tonight if you have any specific questions but it was determined um that that was not the case that all the drainage would be routed to the historical point of discharge which is the last chance ditch and there is a drainage swail that was proposed as part of the instruction to ensure that that occurs um another claim in the appeal is that there has to be an acknowledgement from the last chance ditch company that they are aware of the improvements being made and they approve uh that was submitted to the City of Reno a letter from the last chance dish company acknowledgement that stating no objections or no concerns to this request and lastly um essentially a claim that the fence will be unattractive or or ugly um the City of Reno does not regulate fencing materials other than barb wire or razor wire so the fact there was some reference that Mr pal was not necessarily happy with the shade fabric we do not regulate that that's permitted under our code and the way that the fence is measured and you can see the definition here right from code is that the fence is measured from the top of the retaining wall to the top of the fence so there was some discussion in the appeal related to the height of the fence it meets our code requirement per our code definitions so when we look at these there's very little to to essentially no discretion in a building permit it's either it meets the rules or it doesn't the applicant follow the rules or they didn't in this case the applicant has followed all the rules and complies with all of our code standards okay before we go on can you clarify the status of our cameras please okay online we can see uh the room we're seeing the back of the speaker and so I'm looking at you on the Das mad okay they had just all gone out for a minute so I just wanted to make see if they were still projecting um out in the world um okay so is there more that concludes my presentation and staff is available for any questions right I've got a couple questions and I I suspect our colleagues will too let me ask procedurally uh the person who is making appeal when when do we want to hear from them right after this it looks like okay so um I I had a question so in reviewing the report it did mention a cloth material but in reviewing these pictures that you just showed I saw wood fencing have they changed material no so the the the wood fencing that you see are the wooden posts and then that material would be essentially hung between those posts could you put that picture back up yeah okay so at the base though there's wooden fencing material that's an existing fence that's in place today and they're going to take that down I believe and I would actually defer to um Mr pal I believe that fence is located on his parcel that's his that's your fence so that would that would remain okay I understand and this fence is behind that fence correct okay and this fence would be compl completely shade cloth is that the idea that's my understanding yes that that's the material that and you're saying that's an allowed material it is and then finally I guess one of the questions I had was on this height issue so if you're allowed to build the fence on top of the retaining wall uh that total height can be 8 feet so two foot of retaining wall and six foot of fence So within the front yard you're limited to 4 feet of fence height so you you he what's being proposed is a 2ft retaining wall with a 4T shade cloth fence above that that would in the front yard setback transitioning to 6 ft as it moves East to the back well looking at this picture I don't see any retaining wall is this the front those posts were put into place uh prior to the issuance of the permit which oh has now been legalized through the permitting process but those would have to be cut down yeah but I mean where's this rock wall let me go to the next slide or previous slide right here so the rock the wall is proposed the line that you see in red yeah that is the proposed wall so along the southern property line and then where is Mr Pal's property relevant to this right where my cursor is this is his parcel to the South okay but it and it doesn't show his house because it's further back there we go so this so the fence and the wall are located here this is Mr Pal's home right here gotcha okay all right well that's my questions except for there was one um in your first slide or second slide could you go to that uh the one where you started explaining about the objections okay um I had a question about this prohibits Phil from being placed within 5 foot of a residential property line so are we saying that um I thought I read that it was within four feet of the property line so this that particular section that's cited is not relevant to this yeah it applies to commercial uses so it's not uncommon so what what essentially is being created here is a landscape planter bed okay so those are fairly common in residential areas where people will essentially build up a section that's what's being proposed that would not be permitted if this was a for example a commercial center we would not allow them to build up to the but in residential it can be within F how how close to the property line can be up to the property line right on the property line and then it looks like Mr pal already has a fence is that on the property line that's it's my understanding that fence is actually on his property on his property okay all right and you'll go next and then let me ask um first in the room are there any uh questions followup to staff Mr Martinez just a quick question thank you uh Mike for the presentation and um I think we uh discussed this a little bit earlier but just for the record can you explain some of the drainage uh concerns that are have been brought up by the owner and if you can maybe talk about what a Swale is and how that would help in this you bet case so the way this is this is the plan and I know it's very hard to read at this scale and I apologize but if you if you were to enlarge this You' see right here there's this is labeled FL which is flow line so the the drainage will come from from the properties it does whoop and there is a Swale that's proposed that will direct the drainage down to the ditch so it's being directed away from Mr Powell's property so the the site is obviously it drops the overall property drops as you approach the ditch um so the drainage naturally flows this way but it's been designed to ensure that that drainage flows to its historical point of discharge which is the last chance ditch and not across the adjoining property and that line that's coming directly off of the property line going straight down what is that this right here is an existing sanitary sewer line okay okay thank you and then um any further questions Mr Martinez uh Miss Taylor no uh what about you miss Ebert no how about online uh we'll start with uh Mr Reese any questions no thank you madam vice mayor staff okay Miss breus yeah I do have questions thank you so question number one is um on that slide that you just had up the one with the um the submitt I guess the site plan the site plan that's still up can you see that I can't but now can you that there okay I didn't see that in the materials that were uploaded onto the um for us for our deliberations where is that come from that that's included as an exhibit to the staff report it's in the site Improvement plan set um what wasn't included there was is this colored version which Mak makes it a little easier to read at a reduced scale so the site Improvement plan set um can you tell me what exhibit that was in materials that we have because I only have exhibit B and A Vis Exhibit C and they're simply the issuance as I can tell of the actual permits so there are the actually permits that were issued but they don't seem to have the plan sense or in other words the documentation backup that staff used to issue the permit consistent with the code were those not included in our materials it was that was included as exhibit g g is in George exhibit G let me let me see decision of hearing officer no it was approved permit plan set and reports where's you know what I bet you I apologize Council women breus I might have my exhibits out of order in this staff report Jasmine do you have that it's exhibit AG exhibit AG okay hold on a sec I I'm not seeing exhibit H I'm seeing uh maybe I've got something I'm not working on pap off of paper let me let me see what I got here exhibit H approved site plan okay so that is what let me just bring that up that's five five pages and that is the backup for the you're calling it a minor site Improvement permit is that synonymous with a grading PL permit yeah would that a minor sight Improvement permit is what would be required for a retaining wall of this size well I'm asking it says grading plan so I'm asking if they received it's clear to me they received a fence permit but did they also receive a grading permit yes they received a site Improvement permit which would allow for the grading associated with this retaining wall and where is a site Improvement is that just a building permit or is that a it is a it is a building permit a building permit okay and what is this what is the um it's an administrative building permit okay I'll leave it at that for now I want to understand the scenario so they C they were getting a fence permit fence permit and that was appealed and while you're in appeal in process they applied for and were issued another permit that was NE necessary to perfect if you will the fence permit I would not say it was necessary to perfect the fence permit they since changed their design in terms of this raised planter bed which triggered the additional permit for the wall itself so you didn't think that at that point the permit should have been completely is ised a new I mean why why because it's very irregular to be in a an appeal process and then actually amend the subject matter of the appeal I I'm very confused by that Council reca Chris pingry director development services the additional the site permit was including the back retaining wall which was a Rockery wall on the east side of the property and that is where the grading the uh Geotech report and everything everything was included in that permit to Encompass the actual elevation changes and the Rockery wall construction on the east side of the property the building permit um that we are in appeal with here today that one is including the fence and the retaining wall the grading and site permit was all inclusive of the entire all of the elevation changes and the E Import and Export of soils and the Rockery retaining wall on the east side of the property that parallels the ditch and was that appealed then yes the site Improvement permit yes both permits were appealed and the rock wall and and fence are together in the other one okay yeah all right Miss breus um you're about two minutes over um I appreciate the line of questioning but let me just check in with uh the rest of the team here and then we'll come back to you okay um how about mayor shivi did you have any questions about this okay hearing none uh let me go back to our uh table here uh Mr Martinez or Miss Taylor okay Miss Ebert no um I had a question and that was uh related to Mr Martinez's question about the drainage I just wanted to make sure was the new drainage Swale which you didn't really answer his question I don't think what a Swale is but I mean it's a a what a hollowed out area that's going to convey the water to the creek ditch essentially a ditch okay so um was that already on the property or was that a new addition that was a new addition with this I said maybe should say an enhanced addition with this permit okay and then I want to be clear following up something council member Brea said which is I don't think that they applied or you you um correct me it didn't sound like when in the reading that they applied for this rock wall permit during the appeal it sounded like they applied for it during the review of the fence but I'm not sure I believe let me go back to my little timeline here and I can I kind of answer that with more certainty so that permit was issued yes so they would have have applied for that prior to to the the hearing the initial hearing so that was issued before the October 17th or as part of October 17th and then the appeal came Chris pingry director of development services for the record so both of these permits came in the the defense permit the BL 23375 was was applied for at pretty much at the same time maybe a little bit before but they were done in parallel due to some previous Code Enforcement cases of work done without permit okay so that's how we ended up with the the requirement for the site permit application as well as the fence retaining wall um permit application at the same time and is the site permit a building permit or is that under under um these are both building V building permits okay I got confused with minor sight Improvement that's uh something that's issued by planning staff building permit only oh building permit only okay all right let me go back to Mr Reese any thank you madam vice mayor I don't have questions for Mr rley although I I appreciate the excellent presentation I may have questions for Mr Po okay and back to you Miss prus thank you um so let let me get this straight CU your timeline has leaves a few details off so the fence permit was issued and it was appealed and then at some point during the appeal period you know from the time the peel was made a new permit came on no I I don't think that's correct but maybe Mr pingry is coming up to address that Chris pingry director of development services for the record so if you look at the the um the BL permit numbers which is 23375 and the site permit of 05 279 those are within probably a month or two apart they're very close in nature so they came in relatively at the same time um as we worked through one um the the site permit the BL uh 0527 n had a lot more homework and a lot more uh requirements for um civil and site plan plan um revisions that came through so they came in relatively at the same time the fence permit was the first one to be issued and the site permit came in after and was approved after it was approv it didn't come in but it was approved after it looks like uh three months later and then that was appealed when it was issued you can't appeal something till it's issued that's correct right okay keep going miss breus thank you so I'm I'm confused because if if staff is defending the issuance of the fence permit why did it have to get married up to the site Improvement permit was the fence permit issued in air by staff because it should have been in uh concer in tandem with the other permit no so the the fence permit was issued because it conformed then it was determined that they wanted to put the fence on top of the retaining wall that was that was proposed with the site Improvement building permit okay so staff is is of the position that the two would stand completely separate everything they want to do with the fence is fine even if they don't build this retaining wall that's helpful because we have two different permits pending now this retaining wall I'd like to ask a little bit more about that um if if this is a building and not a planning issue isn't there a process to appeal building decisions through like a committee through the build building code why are we at the in this process our process at the City of Reno we do not have a regional board of appeals any building permit per permit appeal goes through the same process of a hearings officer um like we would with anything else okay I must be wrong because many years ago we did have for specific building we had a building examiner official we did not for a long time uh we do not have one currently here okay now about the hearing officer's record of decision and I see that's exhibit what exhibit is that exhibit G maybe yeah g is is that the totality of her record she didn't she just documented what happened but she didn't State reasons why she was upholding and not finding abuse I guess what's the standard is abuse and um abuse and arbit or what what's the standard this is Jasmine M for the record the standard would be arbitrary and capricious or abusive discretion does she St specific reasons why she did not find it arbitrary she just tells us the story of of time in place the order usually usually facts of binding are are included in these records the order itself did not include a recitation of of the reasons behind her determinations her logic okay well that's that that was hard for me and then the other thing is um well I guess H let let me go back to exhibit H that is the approved site plan for um it's 35 Pages what is that ass which permit is that associated with bldd 23-05 279 so that's the site Improvement the grading correct where's the fence permit the fence perm associated with the fence I do not believe that was included as an exhibit it correlates to that that plan set and is incl shown on the plan set included in the overall site Improvement permit council member breus the fence permit is exhibit B the fence permit is exhibit B exhibit B is the permit itself itself but not the yeah I'm looking for the backup you know if the standard is that this permit was issued you know appropriately you know I I don't need to see the permit I need to see the backup and I I'm trying to understand I see the backup for the grading but I don't see the backup for the fence and then Miss Stewart mentioned these um these large 10- foot poles that are right by his mailbox I think they were showed those you say are going to be cut down at some point they would have to be cut down to the corresponding height of the approved permit so 4 feet within the front yard 6 feet within the rear yard irregardless of what happens tonight correct then why aren't they cut down if there's been code action of this property why are they standing today to be of disturbance to Mr pal and others in the neighborhood they have not begun construction on the permit because they've been tied up with these appeals so assuming if this appeal did not go through and the permits were issued they could start construction and make those improvements okay so so you're you're hold withholding code enforcement activity at this point correct because they do have a they did apply for per permits to legalize the condition hey Mr Reus I appreciate your line of questioning um you are three minutes over um but this was all really good information let me um let me do one final round of the team yeah I have a few more questions and I think for due process we need to make sure everyone has the time to ask their questions agree record is complete well that is why I've let you go okay I'm just cutting it right now any further question from Mr Martinez uh Miss Taylor no uh from me I was just going to ask a similar question about the posts so the posts were installed prior to obtaining a permit and rather than requiring them to take them out or cut them down to some height you left them in place while this was pending right in order to rectify the code enforcement action they came in and applied for the permit got which would have but one of the confusions I have is when you say the fence 4 feet at the front 6 feet at the back but that's on top of the twoot rock wall that is correct so when we think about but it's all really on the side of the property so it's within it's on Mr Powell's sidey yard side yard and front yard it's on the front it's really a a side yard it's on the south side of the property right so what I'm wondering is as the property drops um is this going to be like a level across fence or it will step down itself so the wall itself varies from 2 feet on the West Side along Outlook to 4 feet as it moves East so it in order for to meet that change in elevation so the wall itself is four feet at the back at the back correct okay gotcha all right um Miss Ebert anything all right back to you Mr ree anything this is our Madam vice mayor for now our final round okay yes I understand thank you so much for keeping us on track just I want to be able to hear from Mr pal too so um Miss breus back to you so yeah I have a question Mr reallyy you you kept talking about and I guess the site plan for the um raing permit um shows it as a planter area but Mr pal calls it a retaining wall um what is the definition of a retaining wall I don't see it as a Title 18 definition is it a building code definition hi Council one breus Chris pingry again the definition of a retaining wall is any wall or structure that retains a sech charge from either building or land what's a search charge search charge is any pressure put onto um to a structure or wall from like soil correct soil Foundation could be anything okay so so a retaining wall is being constructed and was approved under that 375 no two 79 under five under 0 5279 a retaining wall correct okay and then a retaining wall can have a fence on top of it it can and the height of that fence is per code is measured from the top elevation of the retaining wall top elevation of the r retaining wall now why are you calling it a planting area what's the difference so it's I I think it's just kind of semantic so to speak so the the retaining wall is created the planter area so there there's fill being brought in and the retaining wall is fill being brought in for that planter area and then the wall is retaining that fill that's being brought in and the fill that's being brought in it's shown on that site plan the grading plant correct that is correct okay and how much is being moved and is it being imported or is it being excavated from Elsewhere on the property I do not have those exact quantities uh like I say it's 2 feet of fill on the the West Side ranging to four feet of fill on the East okay and Miss breus I'm going to ask you to wrap it up um and I'd like to hear from Mr pal and we can always bring the staff back uh once we hear from Mr pal okay was that work for you miss breus I I suppose okay great okay we're for those online we're transitioning uh to a presentation by Mr pal and let me ask is there any just as our staff had a certain amount of time is there any amount of time assigned okay well if you could keep it within 10 minutes Mr pal try Okay um okay first about it's it's my wife and I that are appealing this we've lived here since 2013 uh my wife's a retired public school teacher now she teaches at TMCC un our parttime I'm a uh retired from active duty Air Force as a colonel and could you speak a little closer to the mic that' be great it's been a while since I briefed anyone it's no problem um now I'm a consultant on Air Force contract part-time um I I don't like to toot my own horn but I was advised to let y'all know that I have a a a degree in engineering and MBA and a master's of natural resource management um I've Done Construction in non-paid uh uh modes including a lot of Habitat for Humanity work and I'm a Backcountry Backpacker and I bring bring these things up because I know how to read uh building plans I know how to read a too map I know how to read contour maps I know how to read this stuff um and again we moved to Reno in 2013 um after living around the world and around the country we chose Reno we have no roots here we love this city we like this neighborhood I always got along with Tony and Carol until this um so just let you probably know this we're 2 and a half mil from where we sit right now two and a half miles by Street this is Outlook drive it's in the newer part of the Old South Southwest the slope of that land is generally uh south to North downhill Last Chance ditch runs behind all the houses on the east side of Outlook Drive the ditch actually flows uh South it flows South it flows around it's counterintuitive because the wash goes this way the ditch flows the other way um and the red is the property line in question uh aerial view I'm not going to spend time on that again here's the aerial view uh this is the property line in question uh my fence is here the 4ot wooden fence it encloses about a third of my backyard the property actually goes the the property line for all these houses on east side of Outlook is this fence right here this line here I guess I can do a there we go right here last chance ditch curves like this having trouble with this mouse curves well okay um it it just curves around um this is the um the site plan um this one is the one for the wall in the fence and I wanted to correct a couple things on the timeline uh that Mr uh rley presented these this whole thing started uh in July of 2022 so coming up on two years um when uh Tony Mrs Reno's son put a 13 10 foot tall fence posts on the property line and no kidding some of them are taller than 10 ft um from grade um I talked to both Mrs Reno and Tony told them you can't put a 10- foot fence on property line I printed out what they could build Tony basically told me I'm going to build what I want you can report me if you want to I'm not one to report people for stuff um they can do to their house what they want to but this affects my wife and I um they applied for a permit for the fence shortly after that uh the grading uh he's Tony started grading the back in October of 20122 so a year and a half ago um myself and at least two other people reported him for that not because we cared about the grading but because he was doing it at night uh Tony Works uh at night so that's a schedule he's on but nobody else is um so uh the the project itself th this is uh let me get the cursor so these are some uh Rock retaining walls they vary in height from four to six feet this is going to be kind of a plateau out here um this I wasn't I'm worried about it a little bit but my main concern is this part of the project which is uh this whole area this whole enclosure which I have never called a retaining wall that's one of my points of contention with the city is this is just a glorified planter bed um but up here at the foot Curby easement it's 2 feet above grade and like Mr ra and Mr pingry said down here it's 4 feet above grade um the the natural Contour of the land from this point on the street corner to this point which is the edge of the city owned sewer line easement it's as far as they can build it's a 10ft drop in elevation on grade the wall itself is two 2 feet above bug grade here and down to here it's 4T high so it drops 8 feet in total along its 155t length um below grade is another 2 feet of concrete including uh a pretty substantial footer um and that's for the entire wall it's a massive project uh it will take at least 65 cubic yards of cement that's 130 tons of concrete 130 tons 60 tons of that will be on the property line This is a permanent immovable structure um that's I have a problem with that the biggest problem I had from the start of this was the proposed proposed fence was um just to be that fabric cloth strong across uh wooden poles it looks terrible um I I've seen what Tony built at Mrs Reno's rental property in Midtown uh it looks terrible that's why have opposed it from the start so I see this project is violating at four at least four violations of uh uh reeno municipal code and the Public Works design manual uh and I'm not going to read those to you we'll go through them I did want to back to the site plan uh a question was asked it's 450 cubic yards of fill that's going to be moved around that's per the greatest plan submitted by uh Robinson engineering um I also just wanted to correct I have not stop construction on this I have always kept Miss Reno informed about what I was appealing because I thought for a long time the city was keeping her informed I found out they weren't so I started giving her documents and stuff and let her know what was going on um so I first wanted to address what the public works design manual is um Reno Municipal Code uh the article on grading uh specifies that the Public Works design manual applies uh without limitation to grading projects and the Public Works design manual says it applies to public and private improvements including excavation and building permits um so again there's the overall site map I'm going to zoom in on the spefic specific areas of concern at the uh western side of the property line so the the street is here the street is here um the these houses slope from south to North the slope is from south to North each of these lines contour lines here is one foot difference in elevation one foot difference water and these arrows are indicating uh I'm approximating water flow there um water flows downhill in the quickest means possible it does not flow sideways across the slope it flows perpendicular to the to to the uh contour lines so that's what I've approximated with these arrows I can tell you from having lived in this house for uh 10 and a half years now uh when we get heavy rains water comes off my driveway and it cuts ruts as it travels underneath this fence over here um the Reno's yard up here they they have a lot of plants and a lot of loose uh you know leaves and stuff from the trees and put a lot of mulch down so it's absorbed but I can tell you water flows this way there's no doubt about that um there's there's no way either putting a concrete wall is going to disrupt that it's going to block the flow and the water's going to hit that wall and run down underneath all the fence posts in a road it's just going to rip all the soil out of there it's going to ruin my fence it's going to ruin you know uh and moving Phil will do the same thing that blocks the existing surface drainage there's just no way around that um the next issue was toward the west end of the project and I've zoomed in here the Public Works design manual stay surface drainage from a develop I wanted to back up I for forgot one thing on this one um during the appeal hearing um the S assistant City attorney uh she kind of threw red herring out there she asked me if I have a a drainage easement to let water from my property drain into an adj adjacent property it's a red herring because my house was built in 1961 it met it met hold on just a minute Mr pal about how much more time do you think you need I don't know have you been running yeah what what do you start at 3 minutes 10 minutes okay well I I need more time yeah I can you're talking to me Mr pal oh I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm hearing it over here sorry that's okay I'm asking how much more time do you need uh I was told I'd have 15 all right then take your next five minutes I apologize uh I should have set it for 15 okay uh and I don't have a drain eement this is a nonconformity and non-conforming use I do not need a drainage eement um um I'm not the one regrading my property after 60 or 70 years um the next area is over here um surface drainage from this project is being directed down slope across the property line uh this is a designed drainage uh sorry a designed flow path that's going to spit the water out here there's a a a pipe inside this wall per perforated pipe inside this wall these are the low points on both of these wall sets so those pipes are going to discharge water here this pipe is going to be about a foot from the property line um again I drew these lines to indicate flow perpendicular to the contour lines it's going to hit right here and it's going to cross my property before it gets gets to the ditch um at the appeal hearing and and this this I put this in here to show what the natural Contour was this used to the water used to just drain off spread out across the back of the Mrs Reno's property uh with this project it's being concentrated into a small area it's going to cause erosion um and I know they're hanging their hat on getting a PE to sign off on it but a professional engineer from the city has not signed off on this um so at the appeal hearing uh someone from the building department claimed that this is how the water was going to flow so th this is the design flow line this line with the arrowe heads this is a a very shallow drainage ditch it's about 4 feet across and six inches deep um it spits out right here at this point this the person from the building department said that this is where the water was going to flow it was going to hit this point and and break away from my property line all this line is is a pointer saying the elevation at this point is 464472 Ft there is no structure hanging above the land as it drops toward the ditch there is no Swale designed in here nor can there be because this is a 10-ft easement in which no construction can take place this is the sewer line the city owned sewer line so nothing can be built in this area so they're just spitting this water out and hoping for the best which is going to run across my property and cause erosion next item is uh there's a requirement uh that building plans have a signature from the dish company on the face of the plans uh that hasn't been done there's about 180 ft of Last Chance ditch that crosses Mrs Reno's property it crosses every house on the east side of Outlook drive it's nice having the ditch there brings in Wildlife um this at the appeal hearing someone from development services stated that they have approval from last chance ditch company um I did another get another public records request on and receive the documents that I already had that are from March 2023 uh an email that says you can build your wall and an agreement between Last Chance dits company and Mrs Reno again March 2023 uh at that time this was the project and I took down a section of my fence here to take this picture these are the existing 10-ft fence posts uh and the project at that time was um Tony was going to stack cinder blocks up here fill them with concrete shove dirt against the back of it and call it a retaining wall um and I have all the documents to show this um here's the application status report from June three months after they got that uh the city is asking for the site plan where's the site plan where's the site plan this is on the this is on the fence wall permit same for the building permit the plan shows only a small portion of property line will have raining wall this is 3 months after that March uh March letter from the ditch company um this matters normally I wouldn't care about this I don't care if the city gets in trouble with the ditch company I don't care if Mrs Reno gets in trouble with the ditch company um but since this is going to cause erosion on my property uh I don't want the ditch company coming to me and telling me I need to fix the problem because it's not my problem okay um Mr pal you're out of time could you spend one minute wrapping up uh summarizing I mean I'm willing to give you a minute more to summarize where you are what your main problems are those are the three the the last one is this issue with what I call the five- foot rule for Phill um Mr uh Mr rley just said Madam clerk could you reset the clock please said that it was determined so the these two parts of the code prohibit fill to be placed within 5 ft of a residential property line for all land use types okay and here are the paragraphs 302 let me go to the actual text article 3 section limits on grading says this paragraph in the residential adjacency section applies for all use types uh so this is artic 4 uh article 3 points specifically to this paragraph exclusively to this paragraph it does not point to article 14 it does not point to the applicability paragraph of article 14 uh this in fact expands expands the scope darn it expands the scope and it prohibits Phill for all use types the city's position is that this this paragraph in Reno M Reno M municipal code is meaningless it never does anything according to their interpretation Mr Ry said it was determined that is the rub here I I contend they are not following code okay they contend they are I'm here all right to get a decision on it all right and I'm done now all right thank you so much Mr pal for coming and explaining your position and perspective let me ask um are there any questions for Mr pal and again I'll start with Mr Martinez nothing at the moment thank you Miss Taylor okay Miss Ebert do you have any questions for okay um I'm going to ask you a question yes first of all I observed um I happen to be a geologist professional geologist but not a PE uh but I did notice that it looks like historically the water from your property did flow across to your next door neighbor's property you put up a fence so that you showed us the flow lines I didn't put the fence up it's been there for no all right well there's a fence on your property yes so I imagine that backs up some of the water but most of it just probably sinks in um what I was concerned about was there was a comment made that they were finally going to be dealing with their drainage problem and I don't know what their drainage problem is but I'm going to ask later the engineer what the or the engineers rep what the drainage problem is but I what I observe from those Contours you showed is that the water appears to be flowing from your property across to your neighbor's property historically and no one objected I mean it's just a historical flow path I get it no one has um said you need to stop that flow of water it just is what it is um am I right in saying that your main concern uh you've brought up a lot of points but as your main concern about the style of the fence and the height of the fence my my main concern and I have talked to Mrs Reno about this since this all started was I don't want a shade fabric fence okay sticking up 8 feet and in the back it'll be 10 feet 10 feet off the ground in the front it'll be six feet front and side that was my main concern from the start then this project morphed into a a 60 ton concrete wall on property line and that's going to cause erosion problems for me okay and how tall above your fence is this fence how tall is your fence uh four feet yours is four feet okay and I'm wondering Madam Clerk and I guess everyone I I would like to ask some questions to the people that are proposing the project I'm not sure when I do that but uh okay so this sorry this is the 10ft post he put up yeah this is my fence this is a six foot ladder okay perspective of the scale I've got some other photos in here you okay but this is great so at this point where you have the F the ladder uh maybe I could ask our staff at that point how tall is their fence supposed to be once again for the record Mike Ry they would be permitted a six foot tall fence because that would be within their on top of the top the 4ot walls so here I think what his he has a 4ft fence and it looks like there's going to be a 4ot retaining wall backing up against that fence correct and then on top of that 4 foot so that would equal the height of this fence and then on top of that fence will be another six foot so so what what code would allow here is is the 4ot tall retaining wall with a which would be the same height as his 4 foot fence is this this is your rear yard feet on oh the so apparently I I don't have the plan where the this picture in perspective of where the plan is Mr pal inform me the wall in this area is 2 feet tall you have two feet tall with a six foot fence on top of that wall okay all right and then um just finally for me so I have the we figured out these height issues um something I'm really itching to ask the other folks is what is the purpose of this fence I mean a fabric fence I mean we're we're a windy area you know fabric my experience everywhere I've lived in Reno is that fabric tears eventually especially one put put perpendicular versus horizontal to the wind shear you know when you put up a a fabric and the wind is coming here it's ultimately going to impact your your fabric I mean it's not really built to withstand wind so do you feel this this is a design that's going to last I I would defer that back to the applicant um like I said we do not regulate materials other than it's my understanding that I don't know if they have a maintenance plan where they would replace the fabric periodically I would to refer that back to the applicant well I'm going to eventually like to ask them that but let me go to online uh let me ask first I haven't heard from the mayor do you have any questions at this time Madame mayor okay hearing none moving on to M oh you do I don't no okay moving on to Mr Reese Madame vice mayor I don't think I have questioned at this time okay and then miss breus yeah I do um Mr pal could you go through one of your exhibits you know as as Mr rley said we don't have in our record the building the fence the backup that was submitted with the fence application we have the backup that was submitted with the grate plan grading plan but we permit but we don't have that and you showed something on there um let me see one of your exhibits it was a it came out of the rec I think it's are you the other way the other way it's well I've got some backup I've got the entire plans in here uh I think or most of them but it was for the fence it was for the fence there was some notations was it for one of the gring or one of the site plans yeah yeah it was one of the site plans for the fence because we don't have the fence one and then what were the notations down here down at the bottom on basically on your property What did the what did those notations say is it a slide I presented previously I'm sorry yeah yeah slide you presented when you were going over yeah maybe that maybe that one right there with your notations on it was it this one may maybe okay okay construction okay so this is from these are the site plans that Robson engineering Drew up um so this just said 70 linear feet of concrete wall okay with four foot tall fence uh at this point it trans this is this is at the corner of the house is the uh delineation between uh front yard and side yard SL backyard so from this point from the and by the way my house is I can actually see uh the front of their house from the backyard of my house just the way the houses are on the property so from the curb 5ft curb easement to this point total height of 6 ft from this point to about to here it's uh 8 feet and then as the ground drops away it grows to 10 feet it's about 10 feet for the last 25t of wall and the question about uh Miss D the uh durability of this fabric this fence is going to get ripped to shreds this is UN completely unsheltered uh land there's no trees there's no houses same with Street the street uh wind comes ripping down the street and down Rosewood wash and this stuff is just not going to last it's it's G to get shredded okay so miss breus was your yeah yeah the notes the notes on there were what caught my eye and it said something like retaining while not a part of this it's C grading permit right here okay yeah it's in a couple places so so the per so you're in with the you're in appealing a fence and you're explaining this fence should have never been permitted and we have a pretty good idea what it is because someone started building it without um getting a permit and they're way out of compliance 10 feet tall and then all of a sudden this approved grading plan comes in and now you're appealing not one but two items and I I guess that's maybe why it continued on because they you know midstream added this other permit is your view that the two should go together that the fence should have never been approved and could absolutely not have been approved in the absence of this grading permit and the is that just yes or no yes I I I got confused about your question my my view is the grading has to be done in order for this to be a retaining wall so the grading permit should have been issued first because there is nothing to retain without grading they issued this this you know six eight weeks before the grading permit yeah so so you're with a fence and if the grading permit was never in existence you know we we could see visibly 10- foot tall um beams and if if if the grade if it just came in without the grading we just see a fence consistent with the fence that you have right that 4 foot one correct well I mean they could built from this point forward 4T from this point uh back 6 feet and uh originally uh I think at one point Tony put in uh a plan for six feet the entire length which got uh approved by approved on accident uh approved erroneously by someone at the development services um and I but frankly if you had have been building a standard wooden fence and I've told Miss Reno this I wouldn't have objected to it because it wouldn't be ugly okay so yeah yeah so so basically they can go four feet until they get to the end of the house because that's sidey yard and then they go six feet because they're on a corner and then they can be a Back Fence six feet but basically they manufactur this retaining permit to justify being able to do 10 feet because then it raises up the ground and then they can go four feet above the retaining foot is that is that the purpose of the retaining or do you see well um you're correct in that the as way you know I can't speak for Tony but from what I saw the way this progressed it looked to me like he decided to build this retaining wall to get two extra feet in height uh out of his fence uh down here at the back where the land drops drops off pretty steeply he's getting an extra four feet um but again the total height will be six feet to the corner of their house then 8 feet and then where the land drops off it'll be 10 feet yeah so so you start with a fence that's very clearly um you know not not in compliance and then it gets married up mid appeal with a permit that's basically a a workout um so that's that's two permits so we've got two permits ahead of us and um Miss breus um what was your take if I could what there's no F findings of fact from the hearing office officer correct what what was her what's your interpretation of why she issued it are you asking our attorneys yeah Mr pal oh I don't know that Mr pal can speak to that I mean what our attorney what the hearing officer was thinking I mean are you asking our attorneys officer was thinking are you asking our attorneys you asked about findings of fact from the hearing office I'm asking Mr pal because she just tells us what happened why do you think she approved it my my impression having gone through this process I'd never done one of these before was that the uh the initial hearing appeal hearings are frankly just a roadblock before I get to see councel I think the the decision was pre-ordained she asked very few questions and she took at face value everything that development services and the building department told them even when they said things that were not true okay like that the ditch company had signed the plans that was never true to my knowledge it's not true to this day but she did not follow up on that she just believed them I had a ton of evidence she just discounted it all okay U Miss breus we're you're almost five minutes over I'm going to we're going to do one final round with Mr pal so I'm going to Mr Martinez any questions at this point Miss Taylor okay Miss eert all right I have a question for the Reno Family if uh they would be willing to come up Madame vice mayor mayor shivy does have her hand raised as well I'm sorry um well let me just get my question then we'll go to online if you want mine coming up it sounds like uh and what is your name yes my name's Tony Reno Tony Reno and you're part of the Reno Family yes okay um it it sounds like um first of all I just want to say I've been on Council 10 years um I've heard many appeals including appeals about fences and um I can't recall ever seeing a 10-ft fence I'll just be honest um even in commercial applications we had a big appeal about a six- foot fent in a commercial application um I don't recall all the details on that one but I'm just sharing that um with the um the retaining wall 4 foot in the back and the fence at 6 foot you're at 10 foot which is your poles correct it the fence will be six feet correct right total so what I'm just struggling with is the need for such a per I I know that we are supposed to look at facts and did the code be followed but I can't help myself I want to ask you why is it so important to have such a tall fence could you share um well I mean it I mean the it's um as like as homeowners and people of the community we have a right to to build a fence that's six feet um as as far as um the more details on it I can go into I I don't want to take up everybody's time sure so um it's just uh there's been um issues with light coming from the other from the neighbor's property light and um I mean that's been just kind of an issue um we there's there's there's um they have a raised deck and there's light been flashing in the in the there's rooms on that side they leave the lights on at night and that's been an issue um and um regarding the the just to regarding the the fabric it's designed to have air flow through it and it has a it has a UV protectant um that's supposed to last several years okay and it would be replaced we don't mind putting in wood as well it's just for priv it's for privacy it's it's it's a called a privacy privacy and it sounds like blocking light yes from the next door neighbor yes okay just trying to understand I hadn't run into the situation before yes thank you yeah and yeah it's um but it's designed from yeah privacy in your conversations and I mean we are sitting in a quasi judicial role here in appeal and so I'm just going to ask this kind of question in your Communications it sounds like Mr Pal's raised a lot of objections but did you guys ever talk about why it needed to be so tall or what your concerns were about the light or anything well it's just I mean I just go back to privacy we've had stuff um pulled from out from it mulch from the fence um pulled from and put around you know other stuff and we've had um issues where he said she said I don't want to get into those issues um it's more for just privacy and just yeah that's okay all right thank you thank you um I'm gonna go to online now um mayor shivi you add your hand raised yeah thank you so much um listening to his presentation I'm to me it sounds like this is more of a design issue is is that correct I know there's some runoff issues but it sounds more like this is a design issue I think it's what I've deduced hearing this is it's about the height of the fence and the material being used at the fence neither uh it sounds like the height is within our regulations and we don't regulate material is what I've heard from our staff yeah and um I don't know if we're getting all the slides on on line it it seems like it goes in and out with the camera but is there a um design from the uh I guess who's building it it's um what's the company name what is the name of the company sir yeah it's going to be an everen excavation what is it called could you come up again I'm sorry Evergreen excavation Evergreen excavation yes and they're Excavating and building the fence yes okay and do you have um what the final design and is there a picture or drawing of what it's it's going to look like um yeah I don't have it on me but yes I mean the the fabric has was it was it's in the plans it has all the the details the flow like I said it's designed to have air flow through it it's in a in a very natural color um and it's very even um you know uh so it's it's designed to look to look to look good yeah yeah keep going okay um and then Mike rayy will you please talk about our design standard and code uh what's applicable to code when it comes to design and just to confirm because I believe that vice mayor just pointed it out that this still is in regulation of height it's conforming height regulation correct correct once again for the record Mike reallyy so unlike a lot of neighborhoods that might be encumbered with ccnr or design standards through a PUD handbook that regul fencing or you know currently it's not uncommon for tenative maps to have a fencing plan on them these days that those conditions don't apply to this parcel these these homes were developed back in the 50s and 60s and so they're not subject to those standards so it defaults to Reno Municipal Code so Municipal Code does not regulate fencing materials other than barb wire razor wire security type fencing so the materials proposed are with within our code allowances so to speak to construct the fence out of fabric we don't regulate color we don't regulate what we regulate is the height of the fence where that can be within the the setbacks and that sort of thing and how we measure the fence it's very specific in code that it's measured from the top of a retaining wall okay I got you and so just to confirm for the record this height conforms with our code correct correct okay um I think that is important and then um just like we see I think it's functional obsolesence where sometimes we can see in older neighborhoods where someone might have built a mcmansion um or have uh you know a very modern structure um in an older neighborhood and so what you're saying is because of those older standards you you would be allowed to design basically anything you would want um according to our code is that correct that's correct okay all right I just want to get that on the record thank you so much appreciate it okay thank you mayor uh Mr ree um anything for this round no I don't think so I mean I I don't have questions for the applicant Mr Reno all right uh Miss breus did you have further questions I have questions for our staff okay that's fine let's call our staff up okay they're up okay uh Mr really I am looking for a um a I guess a a a cross not a cross-section but a um a rendering if you will of the retaining wall because I've noticed there's a quite a bit of grading that's that and um soil disturbance on this property particularly from the Belford sign it looks like there's just piles of rocks that look to me like you know Carns and um you know Mr um Mr Pal's saying that's not a retaining wall and so um you know it's just going to be a bunch of rocks piled up well I see a bunch of rocks piled up on one part of the property and so when I look into building um uh exhibit um H was there a c was there a profile this retaining wall and um and is there a um a public works manual um uh model of what you know um rendering of what the retaining wall looks like Chris pingry director of development services just for the record the fence and the twoot retaining wall that starts on the east side or the West Side working to the west side that was all submitted with the fence permit application the rest of the site in grading which is that that east side of the property with the Rockery walls that is where the Geotech report that is where the robis and engineering came in to uh to we had requested multiple revisions to make sure that was built per standard per per the structural engineers uh requirements and our normal retaining wall application so that is a Rockery wall on the on the east side of that that was built per plan part of that site and grading permit well does a Rockery wall allow the same allowance to count as um height to go four feet at top of the Rockery wall because I thought you could only go four feet at top the retaining wall the fencing on the south side of the property is not on a Rockery wall that is a concrete retaining wall on that side that runs from the west side of the property to the east side on the south facing side the Rockery wall is on the back side on that East on the east side where it shows clearly in the site plan the Rockery U outline and where's the fence in relationship sh to that is it on the toe side or is it on the other side where the cursor is there where the red line is that is a that is a concrete twoot starting retaining wall with the fence on top of it and the fence on top and how tall is the fence above the two feet it's in the plant it's 4T tall in the front 6 foot tall um from the corner of the house for heading okay so so you could be 6 feet you're you're allowing the Rockery wall to count as added fence height no that is not correct they're going to raise the elevation of the Reno property the 2600 outlook to match that retaining wall height and our code clearly states that the fence is measured from the top of of the retaining wall to the top of the of the fence being built okay so so do you do you have a profile of that is that retaining wall is it interlocking bra block is it um you know solid solid concrete retaining wall is what was shown on the plants okay solid retaining wall just perpendicular to the Earth 2 feet and then on top of that is six feet four feet in the front six feet in the back okay so a total of eight feet now if if nothing was done if we just stayed with natural grade would be allowed six feet right now correct okay so the exercise of bringing all the concrete putting it on top engineering it gives them an 8 feet and you know that's what Mr Reno said he wants privacy on this property so in a way he's doing a lot of engineering to get that but Mr pal I guess the struggle for the council when you look at those you know the flow down to that East property is is he shooting the water out on their side okay thank you okay all right um let me see if there's a final round just a minute Mr pal um well did you need to amend something that was said this is a question you asked Mr uh you asked Tony uh who's doing the work Evergreen excavation is an LLC that Tony set up in his name he is doing the work himself oh okay all right just to be clear there are no professionals doing this work okay all right um I'm doing one final round for my everyone Miss Taylor anything miss eert anything okay um I just have I guess two final questions um um I want to follow up on this point Miss breus was bringing up about the retaining wall in the front so is there require is there a need for retaining wall in the front I mean they've think they've said there is but from your professional opinion is that needed I mean a retain wall has a purpose correct vers different than a planter bed correct I have a planter bed which has a wall like 2 feet high so if if you look at the fill that's being brought in so you can see this line here this is essentially the planter bit so that wall is supporting all that F it's the back of the plant correct so it is retaining that soil so gotcha okay very good and then for you Mr Reno one more time if you would mind coming up one more time I'm I'm just going to you do not have to say yes you can say no but I'm just going to ask because we're here we spent all this time with you is is there any willingness on your part or interest in lowering any part of this fence let's say the front uh for instead of being for uh sorry for let me make sure I said twoot uh wall with a 4ft fence six foot in the front is there any interest on your part or willingness to work with your neighbor on that I mean it's not a legal question right we've discussed this and it's we've gone back and forth it's it's just like I said we've had some issues with um stuff being taken some some Mulch and then um just some it just been it just seems that it would be better just to to do the route that that Yer well I'm going to ask you I don't know what the answer is going to be or Council but it is something to keep thinking about you know in the interest of good neighborhoods we're all about that um here at the council and in our neighborhood advisory boards we want neighbors to get along and to to um lean in I guess is the word to work with each other you're still going to have a fence I'm confident of some height and you're still going to have a retaining wall um and it may be exactly as you've proposed based on you know we're going to lean on um council member breus it's her W to make a proposal uh propose motion but I'm still asking you think in the back of your mind if in the interest of neighborly uh activity you know that's something you want to think about going forward because you're going to be building the fence correct yes um it's thank you and thank you for considering uh the other avenues yeah it's uh uh we've gone through um this this process a couple times and okay um we've tried to do it in the most um neighborly way and um there there hasn't any been any F language coming from our end so yeah okay very good all right um back up to you Madame mayor and then we'll go to Mr Reese and then miss breus for final for me Madam vice mayor no thank you okay uh miss breus any final comments or thoughts yeah I have one last question for staff this um provision that um you know there's a reference re that Mr pal brings up related to the grading and it it references it's it's very interesting it it references the residential adjacency standards about the 5T Phill from the um Phil coming in from the 5T I think it's 1804 302 um thank you well maybe it's not I think it's what what what section is that 18 and0 yeah 1804 1404 correct that's correct which is which is essentially a subsection within the residential adjacency standards but his point is welome thanks another code section that is applicable is just coming over here from what what section of code is he me making saying that's coming from he's he's pulling out of the the actual grading section of the code about fill slopes and when it talks there when it refers to section so residentially own property when it refers back to that code let me it it refers back to this section of the code so 1804 1401 which if you see is residential adjacency standards and if you look at 1804 1402 this article applies to all nonresidential development built on or within 150 ft of any residential property this is residential property so therefore it is not applicable to this property when it when it says all use types it's referring to all nonresidential use types well you know I'm not sure about that because he's got a reference from another point that says well you know here we go we just want to reference over here to grading you know and so I don't I what is the section that he's referencing it from I can bring him up if I need I've got the code up in front of me I just want to so he's pulling that out of the general grading standards 1804 302 cut which apply everywhere okay you know apply everywhere right right and then how does it reference where does it reference that 1404 that's under item or subsection two where it says Phil slopes and then Phil slopes adjacent to reg's Z property shall comply with the standards in section 1804 1404 so by referring back to 18041 1404 it's referring it's it's that reference is to non-residential development so we do see you know what I don't I don't think that's right I think when I read this bill slopes adjacent to residentially property okay so it doesn't matter if you're industrial next to residential or residential against Residential the code says go over to the grading section now let's go over to the grading section and what does the grading section say let's go let's go over to that that can you bring up that other section yeah I'm bear with the yeah right here right there sorry it's not my presentation I didn't know the order yeah right here for okay so he says you know adjacent to residential it do that section which is General wants you get to get into this grading section because this is how we're dealing with grading and I I I'm I find it compelling to be honest with you okay if if I may that that so the section that you see there 1804 1404 grading is part of the residential adjacency standards article I understand that I understand that but it's being referred to from something outside of this it is and that to me is a reading you know I I think that's a fair reading he's offering knowing how protective of grading of one property you know of grading how sensitive activity grading is so I in my motion I'm G to uphold that that is a fair reading and that there was an error in that you know Miss breus I think your main point I think is this section talks about a five foot setep back versus uh 4ot is that correct no I think what it is is it says within 5T of a side yard you can't you can't grade the the five foot setback cannot grade the five foot setb within five feet yeah yeah can't do it can't do it I just want to make sure if we understand your interpretation and what that would mean so let's just say you're right but what it would mean is that they couldn't have the fence within the 5 foot is that what they can put a fence within the 5 foot they just can't put a fence at top of a Rockery wall or a retaining wall okay can't use the fill and and to me you know that the reason another reason why that makes sense is you know that 5 foot is a pretty standard um access route around a property yeah too you know so so you're saying though that they could have the the Rockery wall or the retaining wall 5 foot from the fence line and have a fence on top of it right yeah they got to be off the property line okay I just want to make sure what your conclusion if if you're correct or you believe you're correct what how that would flow into this so I just want to understand so miss breus I think we're at the conclusion we've asked all our questions I'm looking to you for a motion okay I'm going to make a motion and I do offer findings the fact because I think that's what you know we got we sure as heck better do in every decision the hearing office finding fact number one the hearing officer was arbitrary and capricious in holding up these two building permits without issuing findings of fact okay two the hearing officer was in air in allowing Midstream an appeal of one building permit to be co-joined by a subsequent issue issuance and appeal of a second building permit the site approval one she should have ruled on the existing appeal as a standalone matter okay that's number two three the residential adjacency standard in 18.04 404 sub A1 related to Phill within 5 ft of a property line is applicable in this instance therefore the permit is an air and allowing Bill within the property line within 5 ft of the property line four this designated flow path of the site Improvement permit at the East End is in violation of um Public Works manual paragraph 202 2.2.2 in sending water across Mr the the uh neighbor's property the property for these four reasons um these four findings AFF fact I recommend that the appeal is upheld and if I may I we need a second and then we can discuss what your motion is is is there a second here a second okay there's a second second for discuss yeah for discussion uh did you have something um Madam mayor yes I do um I would love to hear from Jasmine uh ma I believe that's our attorney that's in the room to talk about property rights um the law under that and what your interpretation is of uh the findings here and anyone else uh Mr pingry um how you see this similar or different so the the mayor is asking you to aine on um I suppose these findings effect um well with respect to the property right question as Mr reallyy said a lot of these subdivisions have additional ccnr that would um have prevented uh this kind of fence in this case because of the the um longevity of this neighborhood they don't have those in place and so the um planning staff basically this is not a discretionary permit they look to see whether the rules have been adhered to and if they are um then they have to issue the permit um and you're willing to defend that our um staff meets every criteria I I yes all right thank you I just wanted on the record I appreciate you and uh sorry didn't see Carl in there hi Carl thanks okay um Madame mayor did you have more no that's that's what I want to know if our legal um if our legal believes that yeah our staff followed okay all the protocol and uh code great thank you I have a question too um Miss MAA you said said that it's an older neighborhood I live in an older neighborhood that was built around the same time as this neighborhood but we do have ccrs we don't have HOA but we do have ccnr and and do we have we determined if this neighborhood has ccnr um I believe that determination I believe that they were Mr ra might be able to jump in but I believe that they were um searched for and not found that for the record Mike really that's correct we have found no evidence of any ccrs recorded against the property okay okay and a question I think for Miss breus if um your motion were to pass and the appeal was denied um let me say the appeal was upheld which is what your motion is um what would be I guess I'm asking our staff what would be the outcome of that would the applicant be able to reapply uh but with offence and retaining while out the 5 foot set back if we follow Miss bre's logic and that's Mike for the record yeah I I would assume that yes I would probably prer to jasine but I don't see why they could not come back and reapply with for offence that met our code standards and whatever recommendation the only difference I'm hearing is that we they would still have the rock wall issue uh retaining wall they could still build the fence the same height it would just have a five- foot setback if Miss bre's reading is correct that's correct okay all right is there are there any more comments questions from anyone on this motion the motion if you could uh you have stated uh that you objected and did not confirm uh you you objected to lack of findings of fact in the administrative hearing officer's order and then you listed out all of the issues the one I didn't follow very well was your number four which said that we found that there was an impact on Flow could you say that one again yeah that the designated flow PA path at the property's East End is in violation of Public Works design manual paragraph 202 2.2.2 in that it will direct water across the appellant property okay because we've had no to your point findings of fact that said that would happen okay other than a statement that it would happen but well I've heard a balance of testimony okay I've heard a balance of testimony from staff who issued the permit I've heard a balance of testimony from the materials submitted by Mr pal and finding number four um finds agreement with him and references the applicable citate all right um I'm going to call for the a motion I mean the question now we have a motion from from Miss breus second from uh Miss Ebert um all in favor please say I I I all opposed please say Nay Nay Nay all right uh the Nays have it so the motion does not pass is there what was the um I'm sorry what what who what was the roll call Mad clerk could you do a roll call please I went on The Voice vote council member breus a i d nay Martinez no eert uh yes Taylor nay Rees nay shivi nay motion fails two to two to five okay is there an alternate motion um either from you miss breus your motions failed would you like to venture another motion no I will not okay uh was anyone from the body wish to make a motion on this case Madam vice mayor i m um council member Taylor um thank you I move to affirm the denial of the appeal by the hearing officer based on the rules of code and we're adhered to by our planning team and the hearing officer okay is there a second on that motion I'll second and who was that I'm sorry mayor shivi thank you all right so we have a motion from council member Taylor uh second from mayor shivi all in favor please um can we have discussion oh yes absolutely please go ahead Miss breus I was just looking for some findings of fact did you not get the staff report I'm confused you're asking so it's all in the staff report yeah everything that I need to make my decision was in the staff report and it was based on what I heard from both sides and our legal team and our code team or planning team okay that's the level of specificity for the uphold I I appreciate that on the record I'm I'm ready for the vote okay um are there any other comments or questions about the motion all in favor please say I I I all opposed please say Nay n okay uh motion passes okay so the um appeal is denied um I think that you do have further appeal right through the court system um if if you want to pursue that you also have an opportunity to continue talking to your neighbor and uh to see if you can work something out I'm just offering you probably it sounds like probably not but you know never say never right um all right well I think that concludes our hearing do we have to take any final public comment Madam clerk I have closing public common if that's what you're referring to that's what I'm referring to all right um is there any any closing public comment I do not have any public comment registered however for the record we did receive one letter um after 4 p.m. yesterday one letter of concern it has been distributed to the Reena city council and is a part of the record and with that we have no additional public comment we're on item K adjournment okay um and I know I did not voice a vote um so I I was I was also in um I did not support the motion just so you know I wanted something in between I thought Miss bre's motion went too far I thought just pure approval was not where I was so I did not support either motion I just wanted to be clear about that because I wasn't clear so um with that you said there's no final public comment sorry and just can we motion to reconsider item G2 G2 yes okay it's been brought to my attention that item G2 was um was there was a misstatement in the staff report and I don't know if we can just rehear it or it has to come back but apparent ly the staff report said that there were three appointments in historic resources and so I made three appointments but there were only two apparently they discovered later um and so they would like me to only make two let me ask our attorneys do we need to bring this back or is this a no it's been properly noticed today so I think you can clarify the okay issue to right now okay can we have a a motion to reconsider item G2 second okay I made the motion second from Mr ree all in favor please say I I I any opposed all right motion passes unanimously uh back to item G2 I would like to recommend uh Miss Deborah Campbell and Mr Greg Ernie um as the two individuals I'm going to appoint at this time okay second from Mr Reese all in favor please say I I I I all um any opposed all right motion passes unanimously and just so you know we we have appointments coming up in the future and we'll have an opportunity to consider the other folks on this list uh in a few months all right um is there any more business in front of our team here today M there is not just a motion to adjourn all right I'm looking for a motion to adjourn all right Mr Reese second okay I think I actually heard a second from Miss Ebert all in favor please say I I I okay motion pass unanimously thank you so much e