A three-building development of 59,928 square feet was consistent with Gardnerville's plan for prosperity and was approved by the Gardnerville Town Board on Tuesday.
The proposed Waterloo Center is across from Raley's with frontage on both Highway 395 and Waterloo Lane and wraps around the new Walgreens. The development is almost 40,000 square feet of retail space in two buildings with the remaining square footage contained in a professional office building.
Lumos & Associates engineer Michael Bennett, who represents project owners John and Pat Pinjuv, asked the board for variances concerning parking spaces and a wall adjacent to Kingslane mobile home park.
"It shows we need 240 parking spaces but we're looking for a variance to have 219," Bennett said. "We're looking to remove the cinderblock wall."
The engineer's proposal suggested the wall on the Kingslane property would obstruct flood conveyance and degrade the existing flow characteristics of the flood plain. A buffer of dense evergreens was offered in place of a wall.
"I love this project - I'm all for it. I hate the wall," said board member Michael Philips.
Bennett said they were leaving a space to cross the ditch to allow the possibility of pedestrian traffic from Kingslane in the future.
Town manager Jim Park said there were minor things to work out but recommended approval of Waterloo Center.
"You might look at a pedestrian bridge and a trail for just foot traffic," said Park.
"This is a fantastic project. More power to you," chairman Randy Slater said to the owners of Waterloo Center.
The board also approved the design for a new Greater Nevada Credit Union building, at 1543 and 1545 Highway 395. With the credit union building on a parcel in Minden and the parking area located in Gardnerville, the town board was concerned with the parcel containing the parking.
Architect Carol Gadda was asked to address both town boards about completely tearing down the credit union and rebuilding on the same site. She said this project was complex for its size.
"The plan is to try to merge the plans for prosperity between the two towns," Gadda said.
"The owners are interested in getting this built by the end of the year."
A main theme of the plan is to make a transparent transition between the two towns.
Other items in the new plan are the consolidation of driveways and the positioning of a new driveway directly across from Church Street to reduce vehicle and pedestrian conflicts.
"The only concerns we have is that parking lot and that you water the trees," said member Tom Cook.
Greater Nevada Credit Union plans to move to temporary operations in the old Stratton Pharmacy in Stratton Center on June 1 until construction is complete on the new building Dec. 1.
