Carson City Capitol Mall permit on tap

Capitol Mall North, a mixed use development proposed for downtown Carson City, will undergo a public planning review Wednesday night.

The private sector project goes before the seven-member Planning Commission during a 5 p.m. meeting of that panel, which also serves as the city’s Growth Management Commission, in an action item set on the agenda for “no sooner than 7 p.m.” The hearing for the large project of Carson City Center Development, LLC, is set at the Sierra Room in the Carson City Community Center, 851 E. William St. It’s on the agenda after several other items.

Community Development Director Lee Plemel is expected to make a presentation on the plan, including various city conditions for approval that would impact the special use permit requested for the proposed mall. The mall envisions a Hyatt Place hotel, a conference center, office/retail space, parking garages and a plaza that includes amenities. The project is to go near the existing Carson Nugget casino on about 10 acres.

“The project is primarily located on property owned by Carson Adams, LLC, the owner of the property on which the Carson Nugget casino and associated parking is located,” according to a staff report prepared by Plemel. Carson Adams is the property-holding arm of the Hop and Mae Adams Foundation. Small parcels on the site are owned by others, including some city and state-owned lots.

Plemel’s report finds the development’s public spaces and amenities is going to improve residents’ quality of life, the mall is going to integrate an appropriate mix of density and uses, and it’s going into a mixed use zoning district that “provides for a more urban scale of development.” It’s consistent with planned build-out development of downtown and is going to have “a positive effect on property values in the vicinity,” Plemel said in his report.

Among the recommended conditions of approval is one requiring the applicant “be responsible for providing the appropriate fire-fighting equipment to the Fire Department prior to constructing any building” other than the initial parking garage for the casino, which is the first construction planned and the only building on the west side of Carson Street. Other buildings would be taller and require a ladder truck for fire fighting capability.

Meeting as the unit covering growth management, commissioners also will review expected water usage in the development and its nearly 600,000 square feet of new structures.