Developer plans to come back one more time

MINDEN - The developer of a 182 homes project on East Valley Road says he's continuing to work on the deal with the Minden town.

"We understood the master plan very well, and are bringing to the county commission what the county wanted for this area," said Steve Mothersell, president of SCM Homes, Incline Village "I'm not at all concerned of whether this is going to go, we've brought them exactly what they've called for in their master plan."

Douglas County planning commissioners recommended the Grandview Estates, a development proposed for 861 acres northeast of Minden, be rejected by the county commission when it comes to them on Jan. 9. The planners recommendation was coupled with concerns about traffic, water and waste are addressed.

Mothersell said his company representatives have already talked with Minden town officials on connecting to the water system. In addition, they have met with representatives of the Bently Family Limited Trust, which owns adjacent land, to discuss the possibility of extending community water lines to the area. Bently representatives also wanted to discuss drainage plans and ensure access to Bently land won't be severed.

"The project designed the way it is, the sewer system is not required in the state of Nevada," Mothersell said. "We've met with the town of Minden and Bently engineer, for the first time trading information and discussing the possibility of the water system."

The county planning department recommended approval of the project, along with 18 conditions that included paving East Valley Road from the subdivision south to Borda Way, where the pavement now ends, and paving Buckeye Road from Orchard Road to East Valley.

Mothersell said the project is to be built in six phases, and the developers would be willing to consider connecting later phases of the project to the water system, but preliminary assessments suggest extending the water system now would be too expensive.

"We don't feel that the water table will be significantly impacted with this plan," said Mothersell. "We plan to do a very, very nice community out there."