SUSAN VOYLES
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Posted: 10/15/2007
Retired Reno police sergeant Jeff Church fell in love with the serene sagebrush-covered hills when he bought his retirement home in the Callahan Ranch area in 2003.
Behind his house were almost 400 acres of U.S. Forest Service land and private properties zoned for one house per 40 acres.
"It was all mountains, and you can't build on 30 percent slopes," he said. "I did my homework."
The Galena-Steamboat Hills are now proposed for up to 1,200 homes covering 1,210 acres.
"We call it the developers' dream-come-true plan," Church said.
Eric Young, Washoe County senior planner, defended the new plan for the Mount Rose Highway corridor, saying the Truckee Meadows Regional Planning Board is calling for new ways of doing things. Washoe County is being required to put more people into existing suburban areas under its control before moving into virgin territories, he said. The new plan to be released Oct. 23 designates one house with an average of 2.5 people on an acre.
Young said the proposed project contains many of the elements sought in the regional plan, including clustered housing to provide more open space, nearby shops, restaurants and services and alternative energy.
"There's a lot of good language in the regional plan," Young said. "At some point, we have to start doing it that way. This is a prime area for that type of development."
By including the Forest Service land in the plan, Young said the county is rezoning the land and telling the federal government it's time for a new use.
Others said the project is too dense. About 100 people have attended Galena-Steamboat Citizen Advisory Board meetings where the plan is being debated. More meetings are planned.
Hugh Hempel and Jim Dunn, former computer executives from California's Silicon Valley who live in the suburban southwest area, are developing the Matera Ridge project. Hempel said he bought 650 acres in the Galena Hills two years ago for the project.
Rather than extend Fawn Lane to his property, he said it made more sense to build a new road on the other side of Galena Hills to connect with Thomas Creek Road. To do that, he said he'd have to obtain nearly 400 acres of Forest Service land and build a road to his property.
He also wanted to create a field of solar panels to provide hot water heat to the project and geothermal for heat. Clustering homes and building more of them provides an economy of scale to make the project work, he said.
Before any construction, the Forest Service must agree to seek a land exchange and review offers from owners of land the Forest Service wants.
Hempel said he expects he'd have to buy land worth millions of dollars for the trade.
For the Matera Ridge project, only about half the land is buildable so the 1,200 homes are being put on 596 acres, with 614 acres left as open space. That could be viewed as one house per half-acre.
Karen Mullen, a retired county parks director who lives off of the Mount Rose Highway, said clusters of homes and town homes belong along the South Virginia transit corridor or the Redfield regional center where bus service is planned.
Throughout the 1990s, she said the county gave property owners time to use higher density and commercial zoning or lose it. She said her property near the Timberline area was down-zoned when she didn't build anything. She said the new plan would allow retail and 27 condominiums behind her back yard.
"Why change it now?" she said.
If Hempel is allowed to use 32 acres for a commercial center and apartments on the Mount Rose Highway at Thomas Creek, she fears other project would follow.
"Keep the development intensities down at the bottom of the hill," she said. "I would hope this regional plan cares about the Mount Rose Highway and we don't have a strip mall marching up along the corridor. People enjoy driving to the lake and don't want an onslaught up the hill."
Young said the commercial project would not be a strip mall, saying strict architectural guidelines would be followed. He also said the plan contains no commercial between Thomas Creek and the Galena Lodge Restaurant, near the tree line.
Young said the proposed plan fits the neighborhood and that clustered housing wouldn't be seen from Callahan Ranch, where homes are on an acre or more.
To the west, Rolling Hills was allowed three homes an acre by clustering homes and donating land for open space.
"It may have a rural feel to it, but it's still very suburban," Young said.
Beth Honebein has 100 people opposing the plan on an e-mail list.
"Developers all want clustered homes on small parcels and gated communities, things that don't seem to fit," she said of the plan that cites hobby livestock, panoramic mountain views, woodlands, trails and a rural heritage.
"People who live here have one desire and people who want to develop have a different desire," she said.