City planners will review maps for Schulz Ranch development

The Carson City Planning Commission will hold a special meeting Tuesday to review detailed plans for the Schulz Ranch development.

The session begins at 5:30 p.m. in the conference room at the Plaza Hotel.

Plans call for 521 homes on 126 acres between Northern Nevada Correctional Center's prison farm and the Washoe Tribe's land along Carson City's southern border. The property is owned by several private owners including the Schulz family. Part of the property is occupied by Champion Speedway.

Tuesday's meeting will provide an opportunity for neighbors to ask questions or raise objections to the proposed development. Developers designed the project with larger lots and larger setbacks bordering the existing one-acre homes in the area. Those "buffer lots" are designed to "assist in the transition from low- to medium-density residential" lots inside the development.

Those smaller "court" lots, according to the plan, are intended to address the need for entry-level housing in Carson City.

Senior Planner Jennifer Pruitt said city officials expect some of the neighboring residents to come to the meeting. But, she said, the city has had no complaints on file from them.

The only formal objection to the project so far came from the Washoe Tribe, which didn't object at preliminary meetings on the development but filed to block it in Carson District Court. That petition was dismissed by Judge Bill Maddox, who said it was premature because the city hadn't yet approved the project.

The project is to be built in five phases and includes one neighborhood park and two detention basins. One basin will be constructed as a natural park and the second mostly planted in turf. Developers are required to start construction of the park facilities as soon as they take out building permits for half of the homes.

To make the project possible, they have asked the city to rezone the property to permit lots which will range from 5,730 square feet to 28,160 square feet. In return, the city wants developers to pay for road and intersection improvements to handle increased traffic in the area.

The project is the first of what will likely be several residential developments in the area. Douglas County's master plan anticipates a major subdivision to the west of the Schulz Ranch project with up to 650 single-family homes.

-- Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.

If you go

What: Public meeting on Schulz Ranch development

When: 5:30 p.m. Tuesday

Where: Conference room of the Plaza Hotel, 801 S. Carson St.