Lyon commissioners vote to pull landscape law

Lyon County Commissioners have decided to do away entirely with a landscape ordinance that many industrial and commercial business owners said placed too heavy a burden on them.

The vote at Thursday's commissioner's meeting was 3-0, with Commissioners Phyllis Huniwell, Bob Milz and Don Tibbals all voting in favor of repealing the ordinance. Commissioner Leroy Goodman was out of town on business, and Commissioner Chet Hillyard arrived too late for the vote.

"It didn't address the total county," Huniwell said. "I thought it was a little bit over the top in its requirements, etc."

The landscape ordinance required developers and builders to set aside between 6 percent and 15 percent of their lot for landscaping purposes, depending on the site zoning. It also set the number and type of trees allowed and required that landscaping have a variety of color with a good mix of evergreen and shade trees.

"We decided in January (when the ordinance was first approved) we were going to give it a six-month trial and I believe we did that, and that it wasn't working," Huniwell said.

She added it was possible for the commissioners to revisit the issue in the future.

"That's the plan, instead of just pushing it off, we wanted to start over," she said.

Huniwell gave as an example the owner of a storage unit business on Highway 50 who had been commended for his excellent landscaping, but who couldn't expand his business because the cost of increased landscaping was prohibitive.

"We have a very diversified county," Huniwell said. "We need to make sure it (the ordinance) is something that everyone can work with."

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