Carson City supervisors should sign the deal Thursday that will bring Costco to the south end of town, then follow through with plans to improve Fuji Park as a first-class facility for residents.
It's an excellent opportunity to serve all of Carson City by bringing in significant sales-tax dollars and providing a place that can be enjoyed by local Fuji Park users, as well as the potential of drawing tourists.
Now that the shock of the Costco deal has worn off a bit, and many of the nagging questions that were raised early on have been answered, it's clear that the Costco deal is a good one for Carson City.
When the Nevada Appeal broke the story in December, the future of Fuji Park was very much in doubt. City officials were rushing to add acreage at the intersection of highways 50 and 395 to the downtown redevelopment district so they could set up a sweetheart deal with Costco.
They stretched the definition of a redevelopment district to allow Costco to be the one and only bidder for one of the most desirable locations in Carson City.
They pushed aside concerns from neighboring landowners and, in a series of rushed public hearings, raised more questions than they could answer.
In the four months since, thanks to a lot of hard work by city boards and commissions, as well as a coalition of Fuji Park users, we now have a much clearer idea of the impact that Costco and the sale of 16 acres of city-owned land will have on Carson City.
While we advocate city officials signing the deal with Costco, at the same time we want to make sure they won't sit back with a sigh of relief and procrastinate on the details that will be left hanging.
For example:
- Commit the sale proceeds of $3.7 million to improving Fuji Park.
- Solve the traffic problem being created on Highway 395 by the burgeoning super-store corridor of Target, Home Depot and, by October, Costco.
- Resolve the issues with neighbors of the site.
For the residents of Carson City, the deal won't really be done until all the loose ends are tied up.
