Carson City group forms to oppose Vintage at Kings Canyon development

About 150 Carson City residents gathered at Fritsch Elementary School Monday to talk about taking action on a proposed mixed-use development in their neighborhood.

The organizers said the meeting was called to start a conversation about what city residents would like to see happen on the large parcel and how they could influence its development.

“Thanks for coming out, we have good turnout,” said Jason Kuchnicki, who organized and led the meeting. “I hope to have a constructive dialogue. This is testament to how big a deal this is.”

Most of the people also attended a public meeting held in the same room earlier this month by the developer of Vintage at Kings Canyon, the name of the proposed development planned on about 80 acres of the Andersen Ranch, between Mountain Street and Ormsby Boulevard and Ormsby and Kings Canyon Road.

At that meeting, attended by about 300 people, many people indicated they opposed the project as it was planned and some said they were against any development on the property at all.

Many of the same issues voiced at the developer’s meeting came up Monday, too, including concerns about the availability of water, flooding, the density of the project, its affect on Mountain Street traffic, and the way it clashes with the existing west side.

“I am not in favor of this development as it is proposed,” said Pat Anderson, after the meeting. “I think it should try to retain the character of the neighborhood. This doesn’t do that. This stomps on it.”

Anderson, who lives near the vacant land and who served as an early alternate on the city’s Open Space Advisory Committee, spoke during the meeting, and talked about the history of the property.

“This is not the first time someone has tried to aggressively develop the land,” he said.

At one time, the hospital wanted to develop it into what is now Carson Tahoe Regional Medical Center.

Anderson said he was part of a group of citizens that were able to organize and squash development on the Andersen Ranch property and get the medical campus moved to the north end of town.

Anderson said he believes the land will be developed this time, but wants to see some changes made, including removing the commercial piece of the project.

Kuchnicki said he thought the optimal outcome would be turning the land into a public park, and he discussed some possible ways to fund that, including working with outside groups that purchase land to conserve it and applying for grants such as those provided through the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act program.

Kuchnicki has created a Facebook page — Friends of Andersen Ranch and has posted a petition there.

Maxine Nietz, a former Carson City planning commissioner, said people should be prepared to refute claims made by the developer as the most effective way to influence the city as it decides whether to approve the project.

The development has been through a conceptual review process with multiple city departments, but it has not yet gone to the Planning Commission, where it would start the formal approval process.

The development as currently laid out would include 160 housing units of senior independent and assisted living, 39 detached cottages, a club house, and commercial space for service businesses such as restaurants and hair salons.

A second phase of the project would add 175 single-family homes.