Lyon landscape law to get another look

Industrial business owners and developers in Lyon County will get another chance to alter the county's landscape law that requires them to set aside 15 percent of their site for landscaping.

The Lyon County commissioners on Thursday will discuss making additional changes to the ordinance, which some industrial business owners have said creates an unfair burden on them.

County Manager Donna Kristaponis said commissioners would again consider changes proposed at the July 21 meeting as well as making the ordinance less stringent for industrial businesses.

"I have redrafted rules suggesting minimizing it for industrial, making it less stringent," she said. "The commercial and residential (rules) are still there."

She added that single-family homes and duplexes are not covered by the ordinance, though model homes are.

The proposed changes will alter the percentage of landscaping that industrial sites must have, Kristaponis said.

"Well, if it's on the highway, they would have a percentage landscaping," she said. "If it's not, there would be a (required) 10-foot average landscaping along the street frontage."

Kristaponis said commissioners could choose to alter other aspects of the law during the discussion, which is planned for 9:30 a.m. Thursday.

In July, Kristaponis suggested making exceptions for industrial property when the site could not be seen from the roadway and allowing hardscaping, or non-plant materials, to make up 40 percent of landscaping, instead of the current 15 percent.

Lyon County Planning Director Steve Hasson said industrial issues are the main problems with the ordinance.

"They asked us to modify the landscape ordinance to remove industrial from consideration, but I know there will likely be some industrial standards to be established," he said. "Until we have a standard that they do like, they don't want us proposing the standard."

Commission Chairman Bob Milz agreed there needed to be some changes.

"With the landscaping ordinance, industrial areas were lumped in with everything else and we probably need to back off on that a little bit," he said.

Hasson said the original landscape ordinance was still in effect.

"It's still there until (commissioners) remove it," he said. "We need to hurriedly construct something that will meet their muster - that is not just a green light to the industrials that they need not do any landscaping at all."

Hasson added that he believed support for landscaping rules was strong, but the details still need to be worked out.

"I believe, and I think the board believes, that we want to have some landscaping because landscaping is an important part of community development," he said.

- Contact reporter Karen Woodmansee at kwoodmansee@nevadaappeal.com or 882-2111 ext. 351.

If you go

WHAT: Lyon County Commission meeting

WHEN: 9 a.m. Thursday

WHERE: 27 S. Main St., Yerington

CALL: (775) 463-6531