Road to nowhere could cost Carson City millions

Carson City is in a tug-of-war with a local business owner that could end up costing the city millions.

Jake Moebius has waited for years for businesses to find his company's prime real estate bordered by College Parkway and Goni Road.

Moebius, general manger of Wykle Research, a worldwide manufacturer and developer of dental products, works from a building at the junction of Challenger Way and Hot Springs Road. His building and a few others are surrounded by 16 acres in the city's industrial area.

But no businesses will move in, he said. Challenger Way is a road going nowhere, and without the access businesses don't want any part of the area. Hot Springs Road dead-ends into the 1,200-foot road, a non-conforming cul-de-sac extending about 800 feet more than the 400 feet allowed by city ordinance.

The only way in is to take Goni to Hot Springs.

"There's no way I could construct these buildings on this road the way it is now," Moebius said. "The city wouldn't allow it. The city is violating their own code, and isn't the code there for safety?"

Since 1994 Moebius and property owner Lorraine Weikel have tried to work with the city to restore access to the area by extending Challenger to College Parkway. College Parkway was built as part of an assessment district in the early 1990s. Before College Parkway, Challenger connected to Hot Springs Road, giving the property highway frontage.

Moebius said Weikel gave the city 700 square feet of land for a culvert access across College Parkway, and in the process lost access between Challenger and College, all the while believing the access would be restored.

It wasn't, and six years later Moebius says the city should pay to extend Challenger about 30 feet to College Parkway as was promised when the assessment district was constructed.

The Carson City Regional Transportation Commission will try to decide the issue today. Former Deputy City Manager Dan St. John has recommended the commission offer the company $83,000 to help with the road's construction, although he wrote that "a clean settlement at this stage of the game for $100,000 would likely be in the city's best interest."

Moebius said if the city doesn't agree to pay for the full extension to College Parkway and the realignment of Hot Springs road, the company will sue the city for damages.

"We've always been hesitant to use that lever," Moebius said. "But it wouldn't be the difference between $83,000 and $100,000. The damages because the property is precluded from further development literally could run into the millions. It's the downside of what we have to do. The city dumped on (Weikel) with no respect for the complications and damages they've caused."

The city's position is that "the (history and) promise of a connection ... seems muddled, but it could have happened," St. John wrote. The RTC set aside $50,000 in this year's budget to help pay for the extension, the total cost of which is estimated between $120,000 and $137,000 because Hot Springs Road would also have to be realigned.

The history of the issue is muddled and the paper trail hard to follow, partially Moebius says, because of turnover in city staff. St. John was the issue's most-recent expert, and he left the city last week for a position as Incline Village's public works director.

Moebius said Weikel and the community have lost potentially millions of dollars by not being able to develop the area. The Weikel property is only worth about $2 a square foot while similar property in the area sells between $3 and $4 a square foot, Moebius said.

"The real cost to the community is undeveloped opportunities," Moebius said. "Everyone makes it sound like we're trying to get the city to foot the bill for the extension. What (the city) is not admitting is they damaged the property. We're only asking them to to complete the work they said they would when we deeded property to them.

"This is all what they caused. We have been damaged. Mrs. Weikel is under no obligation to add that access, but without the access, she is precluded from developing her own property."

RTC Chairman Jon Plank said there was no doubt in his mind that Challenger needed to be extended, but the real discussion would revolve around whether the city should pay for Hot Springs Road to be realigned as well.

"It would be nice if we could resolve it Wednesday, but we'll see where it goes," Plank said.

If you go

What: Carson City Regional Transportation Commission meeting

When: today, 5:30 p.m.

Where: the Community Center's Sierra Room, 851 E. William St.