LEGACY FARMS — IS
THIS THE LEGACY WE WANT?
NOTICE
OF IMPORTANT HEARING BEFORE THE REGIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION OF WASHOE
COUNTY
There will be a second hearing on Legacy Farms before the Washoe County Planning Commission on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 at 7:30 p.m. Please express your views. Your attendance is critical.
The place: Washoe County Commission Chambers, 1001 East Ninth Street (at Wells Ave.) Reno, Nevada. Your attendance and voice, or at least your physical presence, is critical. If you can't attend, please let the planning commissioners know your view. For Washoe County Planning Commissioner contact information, please click here.
Legacy Farms proposes a 13-lot subdivision on the old Richardson/ Elcano property (consisting of 33.37 acres) on the corner of Lakeside Drive and Holcomb Lane. Hearings have taken place before the Southwest Truckee Meadows Citizen Advisory Board (which resulted in a clear request for denial of the application for the subdivision) on November 21, 2002, January 16, 2003, and February 20, 2003. On March 13, 2003, there was a hearing before the Washoe County Planning Commission, which lasted until 12:15 at night. This is a continuation of that hearing.
Despite all these hearings, the developers refuse to take steps to assure the subdivision will have a rural residential character of the kind that has been preserved by everyone else in the area. Some of the troubling attributes remain, as follows:
1. Well Water. It still appears excessive well water will be used. The developers plan to dig 11 wells on the property. First the developers appeared to propose that all, or substantially all, irrigation on the lots would come from well water for the entire 2.5-acres. They then appeared to appear to agree to a metering system suggested by the State Water Engineer. More recently they seem reluctant to adhere to a metering system, or a method of enforcement of one.
2. Irrigation Water. It has appeared the developers wish to sell most of the available surface water, which could otherwise be used for irrigation, leaving very little, if any, for irrigation purposes. After being reminded of this issue, the developers initially made a commitment to dedicate approximately 4-acres of surface water per lot (which only irrigates one acre), but it is unclear at this time if they will even do that. Further, the lots are configured it such a way that it appears unlikely or unfeasible for a gravity fed surface irrigation plan to succeed. It would increase the desire of the lot owner to use excessive water to water the balance of the lot beyond domestic purposes. Because it appears to be a more urban than rural environment, many of the owners of lots are not likely to wish to engage a manual irrigation system. The developers will not say whether they will consider a gravity fed water system, or a pump system, despite all these hearings. CC&R's do not provide for a non-gravity fed system. Accordingly, there still remains no rational method proposed for delivery of surface water for irrigation of the various lots, and the developers refuse to say what approach they intend to use.
3. Horses and Rural Animals. They still retain the requirement that you can have only "usual household pets" but may permit other animals as well. However, the way the lots are configured, and the other restrictions that are imposed (for example, no fences leading from the house to any of the roads) makes it fairly clear that very few if any large animals will be allowed in the area, thus increasing the urban use.
4. Jurisdictional Wetlands. There are a number of acres in the proposed subdivision which are wetlands, and which the developers, after a couple of hearings, said they would fence. They now appear reluctant to fence the wetlands at all, and there is no guarantee that any of the available surface water will be kept available to keep them green. In other words, as it presently stands, the developers have not committed to keep wetlands either protected or green.
5. Lot Number. They have placed the maximum number of possible lots that could be placed on the property (with a 2.5 acre minimum), except that lots include significant road system, jurisdictional wetlands, and one cul-de-sac that appears to benefit only adjacent property, thus, with the wetlands, making it very difficult to configure property for true rural use. Once again, it appears the developers are seeking to inject a citified subdivision in a truly rural setting — a dangerous precedent for all of us.
6. Sensitive Stream Zone/Critical Stream Zone. A number of the lots are intersected by the year-round Dry Creek that are part of a Critical Stream Zone and Sensitive Stream Zone, subject to separate restrictive requirements. The developers are now saying that the individual lot owners may seek variances from the Critical Stream Zone and Sensitive Stream Zone requirements (they do not deal with issues with respect to the 100-year flood plain or jurisdictional wetlands), which is inconsistent with previous statements they have made that no further variances would be sought. The bottom line is there is no current plan to protect the wetlands (permanently) from inappropriate use, or assure they will retain sufficient water to remain wetlands.
While some concessions have been made, they have been principally cosmetic. They are not ones that relate to retaining the rural residential character of the area, permitting typical rural uses, such that the development will be a comfortable fit with the rural country community of the kind which has been built up — and respected — by the owners of the property in the Southwest Truckee Meadows for years. Further, some of the compromises they say they will now agree to put in the CC&R's are ones which may be amended, under the CC&R's, after approval of the tentative and final map. Thus, those provisions in the CC&R's are really toothless at this time, unless they agree to make them non-modifiable.
We ask that you come before the Washoe County Planning Commission on Tuesday, April 15, and express your views, or at least be present and express your views by raising your hand when asked how you feel about this development — and how you feel about the precedent it will set in this community.
The commission goes into session on April 15 at 6:30 p.m. with Legacy Farms scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Sierra Nevada Community Access Television (SNCAT) will carry the event live on Reno-Sparks Charter Cable Channel 17. The program will be rebroadcast on Thursday, April 17, beginning at 10:00 a.m.
Protect Our Washoe is a purely voluntary effort. We welcome any contributions you may wish to make to this effort, and other efforts of Protect Our Washoe, such as protecting the Ballardini Ranch. Please send any checks to Protect Our Washoe at the address indicated, below. Your support in this regard is greatly appreciated.
Click here to go to a map of the Legacy Farms site plan.
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