Reno Gazette-Journal
Wednesday April 5, 2006

Reno mayor drops repeal plans
for Ballardini Ranch purchase

Staff Report

Reno Mayor Bob Cashell said he is dropping his resolution to repeal a previous city council resolution supporting Washoe County's planned purchase of the Ballardini Ranch.

Autumn on the Ballardini Ranch Photo courtesy of and copyright © Phil Demanczuk BALLARDINI RANCH PHOTO GALLERY BY PHIL DEMANCZUK

Cashell had put on the agenda for the city council on Wednesday a resolution to rescind a prior resolution favoring Washoe County's acquisition of all or part of the 1,019-acre ranch sought for open space and a regional park in the southwest Truckee Meadows.

The council unanimously adopted that resolution on Sept. 18, 2001, before Cashell was elected.

Cashell said he received five or six e-mails on the resolution but declined to discuss the contents of the new resolution or why he was pulling it.

Through a mass e-mailing, the Protect Our Washoe group was urging its members to attend the council meeting Wednesday.

This is the last piece in the group's decades-long fight to preserve a band of Mount Rose foothills for wildlife and open space.

The county commission will vote on a bond resolution on April 11 to raise $35 million to buy the ranch for a regional park.

Evans Creek LLC of Minnesota had agreed to sell the land and then changed its position in 2003. A trial on the county's move to condemn the property is set for May.

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