Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 12

12-Reno Evening Gazette Saturday, December 8, 1979 County to review planning agency plan River Inn officials contend the project will bring in water from the wells may not be sufficient in quan-tityajvi quality. In a report filed to Regional Plan-ning-yhmmission, its conclusions noted: "There is a possibility that wells drilled in this area will have limited or not production. Also the water quality may have high levels of arsneic, iron and manganese." The test wells are currently being drilled, Marvin Picollo, sehooi superintendent said Friday. "We are waiting with bated breath on the results of the tests," he said. In the information supplied to the county commission, school officials wrote, "Currently, there is no clear indication as to specifically how the water needs of the proposed project will be met." The district is also reviewing a possiblity since a small part of the parcel lies within Sierra Pacific's district, it may entitle the school to full service.

Suggestions to dispose of sewage include connecting into a proposed sub-regional package sewer plant by Coit Subdivision or joining to Northgate Subdivision's link to the Lawton Interceptor. River Inn owner George Benny is hoping to expand the current facility into an 800-person casino with a 130-space recreational vehicle lot at the 9400 W. Fourth St. site. Benny has secured a zone change to allow expansion and recently gained the approval of the Regional Planning Commission for construction.

Planning staffers told the RPC the inn will employ 459 people, which will result in a 1,744 population increase. These figures are higher than for the MGM addition, which is projected to increase the population by 1,384 people and employ new 364 workers. The tenure of the county commissioners' appointees to the board call for two members to serve three years; one member, two years; and the fourth member, one year. Terms begin Jan. 1.

Those appointed to fill vacancies by the Initial members will be able to serve four-year terms. Adoption of the ordinance is expected at the Dec. 18 commission meeting. School district officials will present their plans for Northwest Reno High School to the commissioners. The $13 million school would accommodate 1,500 students, according to district's application.

The site for the 180,000 square foot school is a 42-acre parcel, one mile west of West Seventh Street and McCarran Boulevard, next to Northgate Subdivision. The new school is one of eight proposed for construction under a $36 million school bond issue approved by voters. The other schools are six elementary schools, a middle school and renovation of Mt. Rose School. The high school is expected to serve an increased population that will stem from three subdivisions under construction in Reno's northwest.

The school will also include a football field, baseball diamond, soccer field, six tennis courts, eight basketball courts and a 710-car parking lot. Officials expect the school to use 81 million gallons of water per year. However, the district has in-' dicated it will drill two wells and, assuming water is found, will hand over the wells to Sierra Pacific Power Co. in exchange for service. But District Health Department findings show By RODNEY FOO Proposals to create a new Regional Planning Commission and a new high school will be reviewed Tuesday by the Washoe County Commission.

Commissioners also will listen to an appeal to prevent the expansion of the River Inn an expansion some observers believe could have a greater population impact than the MGM Grand-Reno hotel room addition. Since Sparks withdrew from the Regional Planning Commission, Washoe County and Reno officials have prepared a new ordinance to continue some form of regional planning in the area. Sparks, unhappy with the work of the current planning commission, withdrew to create its own planning commission and staff. Both Reno and Washoe County have also expressed needs for their own planning commissions. The new ordinance will give the county until July 1 when a new budget is adopted to budget for its own planning staff and prepare yet another ordinance for a Regional Planning Commission that would include all three governmental entities instead of just Reno and the county.

However, an amendment to the proposed ordinance will be added Tuesday to expand the eight-member board to 12 if Sparks should want to rejoin, said Chan Griswold, county commission counsel. The eight-member board would be split by Reno and Washoe County. Statute forbids more than one-third of the board to be made up of government officials. 'r only 200 more workers, since the inn had originally employed 259 persons before it went bankrupt last year. Casino floor space will be expanded trom 1,200 square feet to 10,600 square feet, planners said.

A 400-seat restaurant and a spa are also being planned. However, a nearby resident, Lucy Shelly Crosth-waite, opposes the construction because the inn's proposed package sewer plant may endanger her well and the Truckee River. The River Inn has received permission from the Package Sewage Plant Review Committee to build an advanced sewage plant and a leach field. The committee has ordered that waste water from the proposed plant not exceed 51 acre feet per year. District Health Department officials have also suggested the Inn not be allowed to exceed 62,000 gallons of sewage per day.

The plant still must gain approval from the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection next month, despite any approval from the county commission, said George Thiel, public health engineer. Thiel said the health department and the review committee do not believe the inn's waste water will endanger the river, but added, "1 don't think there's any definite answer to that. I don't believe it can with the discharge limitation assigned to the efflu-ent. "We don't feel it will occur and I don't think the package plant review committee felt that way the possibility of the Truckee River being polluted) or they wouldn't have approved it," he said. Public meeting calendar MONDAY RENO CITY COUNCIL, 8 a.m., Reno City Hall, 490 S.

Center council chambers, items: Action on 150-room addition to Comstock Hotel. Action on Pacific 6 Motor Inn Hotel, 124-unit motel. Action on conversion of office space at Sundowner Hotel to 162 rooms. Discussion of planning alternatives and restructuring of regional planning. WASHOE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, 10 a.m., 1205 Mill conference room, items: Review of agenda items.

2 p.m., informational field trip. SPARKS CITY COUNCIL, 2 p.m., Sparks City Hall, 431 Prater Way, caucus meeting, items: Discussion of condominium conversion policy draft. Discussion by Travel Advisors about appointment of a city-wide travel agency. Report on air rights agreement with Sparks Nugget. SPARKS CITY COUNCIL, 4 p.m., Sparks City Hall, 431 Prater Way, council chambers, items: Appointment of members to the Sparks Planning Commission.

Approval of final map for East Sparks Industrial Park subdivision. TUESDAY WASHOE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, 9 a.m., 1205 Mill auditorium, items: 9:30 a.m., consideration of Lucy Shelly Crosth-waite's appeal of the Regional Planning Commission's approval of expansion of the River Inn, 9400 W. Fourth St. 10:15 a.m., consideration to approve major project review plans by the Washoe County School District to construct Northwest Reno High School on a 42-acre site one mile west of W. Seventh Street and McCarran Boulevard.

Introduction of an ordinance creating a Washoe County-Reno Regional Planning Commission. RENO CITY COUNCIL, 9 a.m., Sierra Pacific Power 100 E. Moana Lane, Home Center conference room, items: Educational program by Sierra Pacific on water. STATE ENVIRONMENTAL COMMISSION, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Reno City Hall, 490 S.

Center council chambers, hearing. GOVERNMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE, 7 p.m., Reno City Hall, 490 S. Center conference room no. 1. CITIZENS POLICY PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE, 7 p.m., Reno City 490 S.

Center council chambers. UNITED MOBILE TENANTS ASSOCIATION, 7:30 p.m., Senior Citizens' Ninth and Sutro streets. WEDNESDAY LOCAL GOVERNMENT WORKSHOP, 8 a.m., Harrah's Convention Center. 219 N. Center St.

SOLICITATIONS REVIEW BOARD, 9:30 a.m., Reno City Hall, 490 S. Center council chambers. RENO BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT, 2 p.m., Reno City Hall, 490 S. Center auditorium, items: Hearing of special use permit request by Village Shopping Center, California Avenue and Booth Street, to expand the parking lot. SPARKS PARK AND RECREATION COMMISSION, 7:30 p.m., Sparks Recreation Center, 98 E.

Richards Way, items: Reports on Junior Ski program, 1979 Softball program and summer Outburst program. Report on names for new city parks. Review of first park patrol THURSDAY WASHOE COUNTY BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT, 2 p.m., Washoe County Commission office, 1205 Mill auditorium. WASHOE COUNTY AIRPORT AUTHORITY, 7 p.m., Washoe County Commission office, 1205 Mill chambers. FRIDAY REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION, 8:30 a.m., Washoe County Commission office, 1205 Mill chambers.

City Council to ponder planning agency future A Regional Planning Commission without Sparks and with a lifespan that may be no longer than six months will be considered by the Reno City Coun 4 llillplilliiiill Gazette ohoro by Lance Iversen Attention-getter Sometimes the best way to get the attention of a dog is to have some food in hand. Which is what Allen Benchff, 11, of Reno found the store. Here, he shares some food with his other day on his way home from the grocery canine friends. Council to review hotel additions By DICK COOPER rooms between gaming areas and hotel space. The report said the future economic health of the gaming industry would depend on attracting "first-class, resort-type" hotel facilities serving airline tourists.

The report has been interpreted as a justification for the MGM expansion. But Mrs. Bennett said Friday, "It's essential that the downtown gaming industry remains healthy" and if more hotel rooms are needed in Reno, they are needed downtown. The mayor, who voted against the MGM expansion, said she would "agonize" this weekend over whether to vote for the three hotel room projects. Despite the economic boost the hotel room additions represent for the downtown, Mrs.

Bennett said the proposals totalling another 436 rooms still are "a significant impact" on local resources. The mayor said she questions allocating future water supply to the tourist industry at the possible expense of residents, who may be faced with a water shortage in the next few years A lack of affordable housing for new hotel-casino employees also remains, Mrs. Bennett said. The Department of Regional Planning staff has concluded the Sundowner, Comstock and Pacific 6 projects should not be recommended for approval until "priorities for the appropriate allocation of our limited community resources" have been established. The staff analyses for all three proposals indicate the addition of 436 hotel rooms would require 45,790 gallons of daily sewer capacity at the facilities themselves and another 67,920 to 94.980 was being installed in the office space, and forced the Sundowner to remove it.

"The Sundowner didn't treat the council fairly two years ago," Councilman Bill Wallace said Friday. "But the question now is how long you remain vindictive." Wallace indicated he may look favorably upon the Sundowner conversion, the expansion of the Comstock and the new Pacific 6 Motor Inn, since none of them will impact the area's resources soon, due to the unavailability of sewer capacity. With the Sundowner already built, and the Pacific 6 locating to the east of downtown at Kuenzli and Park streets, Wallace said the Comstock "would be the only project you'd be looking at downtown in two to three years." The councilman said the new Har-rah's tower would be completed by then, and the Circus Circus 800-room expansion most likely will be finished as well. Wallace, who voted for the the MGM expansion but against its early construction, contended a balance is needed between new hotel rooms downtown and the MGM location near the airport. "Additional rooms should be generated in both areas," he said.

"We don't want to slight the downtown." Reno Mayor Barbara Bennett made a similar assessment Friday, saying the need for additional hotel rooms is "more critical" for the economic health of downtown hotel-casinos than for the MGM Grand. A Reno-Sparks Chamber of Commerce hotel room study earlier this year cited an imbalance of about 5,000 gallons of sewer demand in the community. The total population increase from the hotel-room expansions would be 442 to 638 people, according to the reports. They indicate there would be an additional 116 to 168 hotel-casino jobs created, and 236 to 327 jobs generated in the community. The reports also state the hotel projects would aggravate existing serious traffic congestion in the downtown.

The Regional Planning Commission concluded, however, the proposals are in the best interests of the community because they provide added hotel rooms "without severely impacting the community." The commission did attach conditions relating to child care and affordable housing in recommendations for approval of the three hotel projects. The proposed child care and affordable housing conditions would require the developers to participate in funding programs being developed by the Reno Community Development Department. The city department is working on a sliding fee scale for all new commercial developers to contribute to employees' child care costs. In addition, the Community Development Department is proposing commercial projects be required to donate one-half to 1 percent of construction costs for affordable housing. The Sundowner, Comstock and Pacific 6 proposals will come before the council Monday afternoon.

The council meeting begins at 8 a.m. in the council chambers of Reno City Hall, Center and Liberty streets. Three hotel additions beaten by the MGM Grand Hotel for the last of Reno's commercial sewer capacity will come before the Reno City Council for review Monday, among them the Sundowner's controversial proposed conversion of office space to 162 hotel rooms. The Sundowner conversion, the expansion of the Comstock by 150 rooms and a new 124-unit Pacific 6 Motor Inn could be approved by the Reno council, but they are ineligible for sewer and building permits until late next year. The council on Nov.

13 gave the 982-room expansion of the MGM Grand all but 10,000 gallons of Reno's commercial sewer capacity remaining until mid-1980, when the Early Start expansion of the joint sewage treatment plant will be completed. Ironically, the MGM's expansion arrived at the council first because the Regional Planning Commission recommended a denial of the project. The Sundowner, Comstock and Pacific 6 Motor Inn proposals, approved the same night the MGM expansion was denied by the commission, were held up while conditions were attached to the approvals by regional planners. The Sundowner already has constructed a tower, its top nine floors designated as office space. Earlier this year, the Sundowner unsuccessfully sought council approval to convert the 59,000 feet of office space to hotel rooms.

The Reno council accused Sundowner owner George Karadanis of trying to circumvent the council's initial approval of the nine floors as office space. City building officials late last year discovered plumbing for hotel rooms Sparks Planning Commission appointments set By STACY ENDRES cil Monaay. The council will review a proposed Ordinance to continue the planning commission beyond Jan. 1, when Sparks officially withdraws from the 12-mem-ber Regional Planning Commission. The ordinance would create an eight-member planning commission composed of four Reno and four Washoe County representatives.

The Washoe County Commission will consider a similar planning ordinance Tuesday. City and county officials also have been informally discussing a further restructuring of regional and local planning by July 1980 which would incorporate Sparks into a regional body. One proposal advanced in a Washoe County "idea paper" conceives of a regional planning council and three local planning commissions. The seven-member planning council would be composed of elected officials from Reno, Sparks and Washoe County, and three local planning commissioners. The city of Reno administration Monday will present the council with a "preliminary report on city Discussion of air rights agreement with the Sparks Nugget.

Approval of final map for East Sparks Industrial Park Subdivision. The land consists of 97.5 acres south of Interstate 80 and the railroad, north of the Truckee River. The map divides the land into 25 industrial lots and dedicates about eight acres of greenbelt land along the river. Discussion by the Travel Advisors gravel agency about the appointment of a city-wide travel agency in Sparks. The Dec.

24 regular meeting of the council has been postponed until Dec. 26. Council of Governments Regional Planning Commission. The seven members of the Sparks Planning Commission will be appointed by the mayor, with approval of the city council. The new commission will go into effect Jan.

1, but Sparks City Manager Jay Milligan has estimated it may take up to six months for the commission and staff to become well-versed with the responsibilities and function of the new body. The caucus session of the council is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Other items to be considered during Monday's meeting are as follows: Members of the new Sparks Planning Commission will be appointed at a 4 p.m. meeting Monday of the Sparks City Council. Sparks withdrew from the Regional Planning Commission officially Nov.

29, but the departure had been discussed for several months. Officials have predicted the move will mean the eventual end of the Regional Planning Commission. Sparks officials have said they hope to see Reno and Washoe County form their own planning commissions, as well as formation of a new united.