A decade-old plan to widen Highway 756 and trade it to the state for a new straighter Waterloo Lane was finally put out of its misery by Gardnerville on on June 6.
The road which starts south from Highway 395 as Gilman Avenue and quickly turns into Centerville Lane would have been turned over to the town after an exchange between the state and county of other roads.
Seven property owners along the route, including both Carson Valley United Methodist and St. Gall Catholic churches, executed cost sharing and right of way agreements with the town in preparation for the road's widening. Those agreements were worth $165,000, although the town is holding less than $2,000.
However, after five years, the town decided not to participate in a three-way agreement with the county and state. The road swap between the county and state was never resolved.
In 2005 the Nevada Department of Transportation did a major overlay of the road.
Gardnerville Town Manager Jim Park said he didn't expect the state would be willing to spend any more money on the road for 5-10 years, making it unlikely that the original $165,000 would be enough to make the improvements.
Rather than continue to hold property owners to an agreement that could cloud their titles, the town board voted to begin the process of dissolving the agreements.
"We're OK," Park said. "This is between the county and the state. I'm not sure the project would be whole in 5-10 years."
Town attorney Mike Rowe agreed, assuring town board members that they would not be left on the hook for improvements to the road.
"It's not our road," he said. "We don't have any part of it. We had an agreement that when this came to fruition the property owners would pay. Now we need to notify folks that the project is not being completed."
