Opposition group in Carson files City Center petition

A group of residents opposed to the City Center Project filed a petition Wednesday with the Carson City Clerk's Office that could ultimately lead to a November ballot question.

"We did it because of the continued insistence of the city to move forward with this project which we think is a boondoggle," said Day Williams, who makes up the petitioner's committee along with Linda Barnett, Dennis Johnson, Jim Bagwell and Clarence (Bud) Southard.

Clerk Recorder Alan Glover said the group will need to get 2,935 verifiable signatures by June 28, which is 15 percent of the 2010 general election turnout of 19,569.

"The general rule of thumb is to get 50 percent more than you need because some won't be good for one reason or another. Let's just say you wouldn't want to come in here with 3,000 signatures," Glover said.

The group is petitioning the board of supervisors to adopt an ordinance that would read as follows:

"No public funding shall be used for the proposed Carson City Center Project (commonly known as the Nugget Economic Development Project or the Nugget Project) without a majority vote of the people approving such funding."

If the required number of signatures is verified, the petition will be brought to the Carson City Board of Supervisors, Glover said. If the supervisors do not adopt the ordinance, the measure would be placed on the November ballot.

The nearly $50 million proposed City Center Project includes a $23.8 million publicly funded portion for a Knowledge & Discovery Center, a plaza, parking garage and related infrastructure.

Supervisors voted in September to eliminate a previously proposed 1/8-cent sales tax increase as one of the revenue sources for the publicly funded portion, and to replace it with landfill fees to be generated by a recently approved landfill fee hike.

"I doubt they'll be able to raise $21 million, and with that amount of money, you could buy Kindles and iPads for every student in the (school) district. That's the modern library," Williams said.

"I know they've said no other public funds would be used, but this is a major consideration, and the people should have a voice in it. People are dubious that a fantastic number of jobs can be brought into the area with this project," he said.

Williams said many residents also object to the project benefiting private enterprise such as the Carson Nugget and hotels that the project hopes to attract.

Meanwhile, City Manager Larry Werner says city staff has been meeting regularly with financial advisers and members of the banking community to see if the project is feasible.

"The board said that we can't create any debt, so that's been a struggle for us, but we're still looking at our options, and we've been meeting with folks who will now have to go back to their people," Werner said.