Schulz Ranch subdivision in Carson City clears hurdle

The initial phase of a 424-house subdivision at Carson City’s south edge moved a big step closer to real activity this year due to a Thursday vote by the Board of Supervisors.

That word came from Dean Wingert, who heads Crown West Land Group and is vice president of Crown West Realty, LLC, both in Arizona, after the unanimous board tally to approve and accept the Schulz Ranch landscape maintenance district petition and the Schulz Ranch maintenance district development agreement. The first phase envisions 100 lots, but delays to craft petition and agreement language to suit board members and others took longer than expected.

Board members still posed a host of questions before their approving vote, but in the end Supervisor Lori Bagwell summed up benefits for the city as well as the developer. She said though the city must maintain common area landscape and public park land, the split in cost is a 70 percent burden for the subdivision and just 30 percent for the city.

She and Roger Moellendorf, Parks and Recreation Department director, viewed that as a good deal during an exchange. Moellendorf, in an earlier staff presentation on the revised petition and agreement documents, called it “a win-win-win situation” for all involved, including city government.

Wingert, meanwhile, in his post-vote tally assessment characterized Bagwell’s summation as accurate and said he expects activity toward the first phase before the end of 2015, though he wouldn’t predict how much. He said his firm is a developer and must market to homebuilders. He said last year such a prospect fell through due to delays in the process, but he still anticipated interest from homebuilders going forward.

The Schulz Ranch development will be on land along and around Race Track Road to the east of U.S. 395 and north of the city’s boundary with Douglas County.

Chris Baker of Manhard Consulting, LLC, spokesman for Wingert’s firms, said in the subdivision’s first phase there would be 67,694 square feet of landscaped area the city owns and would maintain. Moellendorf said his staff will mow it, water and maintain it, and landscaping with ease of maintenance is the goal. Cost for city maintenance was pegged almost at $61,000 a year.

Baker presaged Wingert’s comments on action in the offing, though he was even less specific. He said only in the near term, if the board took affirmative action, property could be sold, permits issued and matters could get going “very quickly” after that on the first phase.