Open Space improvement started

Improvements to Carson City's first piece of protected open space got under way Monday.

Orange construction fencing and heavy equipment on top of a hill of Edmonds Drive and Fifth Street mark the beginning of a trail, parking lot and shade structure to the Moffat property, purchased for about $327,000 in 2000.

"Neighbors have been stopping by the site and asking if houses are going to be built there," said Juan Guzman, Carson open space manager. "The people were very happy that wasn't the case."

Bounded by Dave's Power Palace, the Mexican Ditch, Edmonds Drive and Hells Bells Road, within 45 days the property will feature a round trail to the top of its rocky outcropping and a plaque memorializing the Moffat family, who sold the property to the city for about half its value.

Improvements slated at more than $61,000 include a gravel parking lot off Lepire Drive, decomposed granite trails and a shade structure with benches. The umbrella-shaped shade structure may in the future become the trademark of city open parcels to help distinguish city-owned parcels from property owned by the Bureau of Land Management.

The Moffat property lies at a juncture key to linking trails planned along the Linear and Mexican ditches, and a management plan for the property shows improvements to the trail intersection as well as more trails.