SOUTHWEST TRUCKEE MEADOWS CITIZEN ADVISORY BOARD

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, the Southwest Truckee Meadows Citizen Advisory Board (the "Advisory Board") has for many decades tirelessly sought to protect the long-term integrity of many areas within its jurisdiction in the Truckee Meadows; and

WHEREAS, after many years of working with the City of Reno an informal understanding was reached that the City of Reno would not seek to extend its jurisdiction into the area but would allow the same to remain in the County for purposes of retaining a homogeneous plan for land use and transportation for the southwest Truckee Meadows; and

WHEREAS, consistent with the understanding mentioned above and through planning efforts with the County open space areas have developed which include the Bartley Ranch, Anderson Ranch property, and the property dedicated as part of the Arrowcreek Development property, for the long-term preservation of a number of open spaces and wildlife habitat areas in the southwest Truckee Meadows; and

WHEREAS, for many years the Advisory Board, working with other groups within the Truckee Meadows, including groups within the City of Reno, have sought to protect the eastern foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountain range between the Mt. Rose Highway and McCarran Boulevard, commonly known as the Carson Range, for its scenic beauty, its wildlife habitat (including trout streams, deer herds, hawks and eagles, and other wildlife and plant habitat indigenous to the Truckee Meadows but with decreasing area for its survival) and, quite importantly, access for all citizens of Truckee Meadows to the mountains; and

WHEREAS, the Ballardini Ranch, consisting of approximately 1,016 acres, has been protected and considered to be an integral part of the long-term plan for the protection of the entire Truckee Meadows and is the last remaining large parcel of property which will provide the kind of scenic beauty that makes the Truckee Meadows so beautiful and diverse, and provides the last main habitat for deer herds and other wildlife on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevadas between Mt. Rose Highway and McCarran; and

WHEREAS, the recent fire along the foothills makes it clear that congested development on the Ballardini Ranch would cause an extremely high risk to residents living in that area and place excessive public service demands on the City as a result of the location of any development of Ballardini Ranch; and

WHEREAS, the loss of the Ballardini Ranch Properties to development would (a) devastate all remaining habitat for the survival of important wildlife species, as well as certain plant life, in the area; (b) place unacceptable clogging and congestion of traffic on McCarran Boulevard and other arterials and collectors surrounding the Ballardini Ranch; (c) result in a loss of the only remaining access to the foothills on the east side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the Carson Range; and (d) place extraordinary and unnecessary public expense on the citizenry of the entire Truckee Meadows for fire protection, water service, utility service and education; and

WHEREAS, the development of the Ballardini Ranch would permanently cut off all access by the citizens of the Truckee Meadows to the foothills in the Truckee Meadows area; and

WHEREAS, the Washoe County Commission, with steadfast foresight, and recognizing the attributes of the Ballardini Ranch and smaller parcels located adjacent or close to the Ballardini Ranch, and the need for the permanent preservation of those areas, has allocated a minimum of Four Million Dollars ($4,000,000) toward the acquisition of the Ballardini Ranch Properties (Question No. 1 to be voted upon by the Washoe County voters on November 7, 2000), as part of a larger bond issue for libraries, open space, parks and trails; and

WHEREAS, Question No. 1 provides for a total of $38,282,400, should Question No. 1 be approved, for the following purposes:

• library purposes: $10,000,000;
• open space acquisitions: $11,800,000;
• trail acquisition and maintenance: $2,121,240;
• park projects: $14,361,160; and

WHEREAS, the City of Reno has extended its "sphere of influence" into approximately one-half (1/2) of the Ballardini Ranch, specifically the northern one-half (1/2) of the Ranch, thus creating the impressions that (a) the City of Reno may seek to develop or permit development of this extraordinary property and thus interfere with the long-term land use and transportation plan of Washoe County and (b) the City of Reno may allow and/or encourage increased density in all or a portion of the Ballardini Ranch which would negatively affect traffic flows, public service fiscal demands, and cause loss of remaining habitat in the area and, more importantly, cause loss of access to the mountains by the citizens of the Truckee Meadows; it is hereby

RESOLVED, the Advisory Board:

    A. Urges the City of Reno to reaffirm the pledge which it made several years ago not to extend its influence into the homogeneous and long-term protected land use and transportation plan of the southwest Truckee Meadows, but to allow the same to be administered by the County of Washoe;

    B. Urges the immediate retraction of the "sphere of influence" of the City of Reno in the Ballardini Ranch and the modification of its "sphere of influence" in a northerly direction to McCarran Boulevard, thus removing the specter and the impression that the City of Reno seeks to annex and/or permit development of the Ballardini Ranch and related properties, thus interfering with the goals envisioned by the bond issue for its acquisition and the long-term land use and transportation plan adopted by the County of Washoe;

    C. Urges the City of Reno, City of Sparks, the County of Washoe and the Regional Planning Governing Board, and the respective planning agencies and staffs, to reaffirm the need for the Ballardini Ranch to remain an open space area in any present or future planning that may be done in the area by all or any of those governmental entities without any increase in density than that provided at present by the County of Washoe in the land use and transportation plan for the southwest Truckee Meadows; and

    D. Urges the voters of Washoe County to vote in favor of Question No. 1 for the long-term benefit of the community, including the acquisition of the Ballardini Ranch.

ADOPTED this 21^st day of September, 2000.

Southwest Truckee Meadows Citizen Advisory Board

By: Joe Bachman
       Co-Chair

By: Elaine Steiner
        Co-Chair