Project at Muller Lane roundabout goes to planning commissioners

A 159-home project is seeking a special use permit at the Douglas County Planning Commission on Tuesday.

Stoneridge Villas, which will be annexed to the town, received an endorsement from the Gardnerville Town Board last week.

Planning commissioners are scheduled to discuss a special use permit for the project, but prior to that discussion the board will discuss taking corrective action for a possible open meeting law violation.

New planning commissioner Nick Maier sent an email to staff that he cc’d to the other members of the panel that included a passage from a previous Record-Courier story on the project.

Under the meeting law, members of a board are not supposed to deliberate on an issue outside of the public view. An email could be seen as an attempt to gather support for a position before a meeting. There is no report anyone on the planning commission responded.

Planning commissioners meet virtually 1 p.m. Tuesday. The meeting may be watched at https://youtu.be/Z1C3ln002WY

Gardnerville Town Board members discussed the project at their regular meeting last week where if there was a sticking point on the approval it was totes trash collection.

Developer Chuck Hathoot wants each resident of the 159-home project to have their own trash service, including totes.

However, Gardnerville is requiring larger trash bins in enclosures sprinkled throughout the project located off the Muller Lane Parkway roundabout, similar to that in Aspen Park.

“We want to run from anything that says trailer park,” Hathoot said at the town board.

However, Town Manager Erik Nilssen pointed out that there will be only one owner of the entire property, which makes it a commercial project.

When residents don’t pay their trash bills in Gardnerville, the town places a lien on their property. However, residents of the project have a 99-year lease on their lots and therefore are not the owners of the real property.

Hathoot said the lease arrangement was designed to reduce the cost of the lots. Residents would purchase the manufactured homes to place on the lots and any other improvements.

Further complicating trash collection is the narrowness of the streets inside the development. Hathoot said on street parking wouldn’t be permitted and that each resident will have four spots so vehicles will be off the roadway.

Because 80 percent of the residents will be 55 years or older, Hathoot said that would make it more difficult for them to haul their trash to the bins for collection.

Town Board members upheld the condition in approving the project review and recommending approval to the Planning Commission.

The project is scheduled to go to the Douglas County Planning Commission on March 9 for discussion of a special use permit.

One issue that came up briefly at the town board was the expansion of Muller Lane Parkway.

Hathoot told town board members that property owner Butch Peri is responsible for widening the Parkway between the roundabout and the Virginia Canal.

Peri rerouted Pinenut Road and built the roundabout as part of a development agreement dealing with the property he owns south of town.

Expansion of Muller Parkway to four lanes would end at the bridge over the canal, which is only two lanes. The county built the bridge in 2014 at a cost of $200,000.

Nilssen said the expansion is required under the development agreement with Peri before a certificate of occupancy could be issued.

Hathoot said that at a meeting with county staff, it was determined that a performance bond would be sufficient.