The Town Center Redevelopment Plan was originally adopted on February 27, 1978 and amended in 1987, 1993, 2000 and, most recently, in 2005 (“First Amendment”).  On February 9, 2015, the City Council approved an amendment (the “Victorian Square Development Plan”) to the Sparks Town Center 2000 Amended Redevelopment Plan (the “2000 Redevelopment Plan”) which was limited in scope to providing an updated mixed-use development plan and implementation strategy for the Victorian Square project area. The subject eight properties are located within the boundaries of the Victorian Square Development Plan.

Seven of the eight parcels are owned by the Sparks Redevelopment Agency. The Redevelopment Agency acquired these properties to assemble properties in the Victorian Square area to facilitate redevelopment. The eighth property is privately owned. The applicant is negotiating with the property owner to acquire the property.

Pursuant to Nevada state law, when a parcel is divided into 5 or more parcels a Tentative Map entitlement shall be required.  This application is for a tentative map for the condominium or air space units within the 10 buildings and two mixed use buildings.

The Planning Commission reviewed the tentative map on April 16, 2015 and recommends the City Council approve the tentative map.

In this case, the applicant is requesting to construct 10 multi-family buildings and two mixed use buildings. The 10 multi-family buildings will have a total of 220 residential units. These ten buildings will have ground floor garage parking with three stories of residential units above. A central clubhouse and pool will be located at the northwest corner of the site, which will serve the entire Fountainhouse development.

The two mixed-use buildings located south of the movie theater will each consist of 4,615 square feet of restaurant/retail space on the ground floor, plus garage parking. The total commercial space is 9,230 square feet. The 12 enclosed ground floor parking stalls will be reserved for the eight apartment units located on the second floor of each building.

The development of Fountainhouse will not change the pedestrian circulation in Victorian Square area.  The internal sidewalks will connect to the exterior sidewalks.

The primary vehicular entrances into Fountainhouse at Victorian Square will be off Victorian Plaza Circle.  This road has been designed to handle the traffic generated by this project. There will be gated emergency vehicular access off 13^th Street for both the north and south portions of Fountainhouse.

Fountainhouse at Victorian Square will be served by the Truckee Meadows Water Authority for water services, the City of Sparks for sewer services and NV Energy for gas and electrical services.  The developer will be required to dedicate sufficient water rights to serve the estimated water demand of 43.88 acre feet for this project.  Sanitary sewer service will be provided by the City of Sparks with treatment by the Truckee Meadows Wastewater Reclamation Facility.  The project is anticipated to generate an average sewage flow rate of 159,855 gallons per day.  Gas, electric, telephone, and cable services will extend underground within the roadway right-of-way to serve this phase of development.

The City of Sparks Fire Department will provide fire protection to Fountainhouse at Victorian Square. Police protection will be provided by the City of Sparks Police Department.

Residences within Fountainhouse are currently zoned for Mitchell Elementary School, Dilworth Middle School, and Sparks High School.  Based on calculations provided by the School District, Fountainhouse could generate approximately 29 students for the Washoe County School District. It is projected that there will be 22 elementary school students, 1 middle school student and 6 high school students.

The review of this tentative map was postponed twice at planning commission to address some soil contamination that was found on one of the parcels. The City has hired a consulting firm to investigate the soil conditions. After the environmental assessment and the next step will be a clean-up plan.  Based on the additional analysis, it appears the contamination is limited to the soils on the site. City staff believes the problem can be addressed relatively quickly and therefore recommend proceeding with this tentative map.    

Tentative Map Findings

FINDING T1:

The request conforms to the Master Plan and zoning ordinances.

RELATIONSHIP TO THE MASTER PLAN

1. The respective development is located within an area that has a Master Plan Land Use designation of Downtown/Victorian Square (with minimum density of 30 dwelling units per acre)

2. The TOD Goals and Policies that are relevant to this proposal include:

“GOAL 1.1:   Prioritize Development and Enhancement of Downtown Sparks Center.”

“Strategy 1.1b:      Enhance Victorian Avenue West of Downtown Sparks Center.”

“Strategy 1.1c:      Continue to Implement Victorian Square Development Plan.”

Fountainhouse will be an infill project on the west side of Victorian Square. The proposed tentative map is designed to conform to the Victorian Square Development Plan and the TOD Residential Manual. The condominium housing will provide new housing units which will increase the resident population of the Victorian Square area.

FINDING T2:

General conformity with the City's master plan of streets and highways has been considered.

Fountainhouse is designed to be constructed in two sections. Five buildings will be constructed north and south of the existing Avenue of the Oaks street. The plan maintains the existing street network in the vicinity.

FINDING T3:

Environmental and health laws and regulations concerning water and air pollution, the disposal of solid waste, facilities to supply water, community or public sewage disposal and, where applicable, individual systems for sewage disposal were considered.

This application was distributed to municipal agencies that provide basic service and deal with environmental and health laws.  The developer shall comply with the requirements of these agencies including but not limited to addressing the concerns of the Washoe County District Health Department as stated in the letter from Chris Anderson dated January 9, 2015, which has been attached to this Staff Report.

FINDING T4:

The availability of water which meets applicable health standards and is sufficient in quantity for the reasonably foreseeable needs of the subdivision has been considered.

The developer has estimated the water requirement for the development at 43.88 acre feet per year for domestic water.  A Condition of Approval requires dedication of sufficient water rights prior to the recordation of a final map.

FINDING T5:

The availability and accessibility of utilities has been considered.

The developer has estimated the sewage flows for the development to be 159,855 gallons per day.  The applicant will be required to provide evidence that there is adequate sewer capacity to serve the project prior to the recordation of a final map.  The storm water and drainage plan for the development shall be reviewed and approved by Engineering Division of the Community Services Department prior to the recordation of the final map for the project as required by the conditions of approval attached to this Staff Report.

FINDING T6:

The availability and accessibility of public services such as schools, police protection, transportation, recreation and parks has been considered.

SCHOOLS

This project will be zoned for Mitchell Elementary, Dilworth Middle School, and Sparks High School.

POLICE PROTECTION

Service will be provided by the Sparks Police Department.

TRANSPORTATION

The Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) has reviewed this project and had the opportunity to comment.  Attached to this Staff Report is their letter regarding this project.  This project will contribute to the Regional Road Impact Fee program, a program designed to provide funding for roadway improvements to maintain an adopted level of service. Fountainhouse is located a few blocks from Centennial Plaza which is the RTC transfer station for the bus service.

FIRE 

Service will be provided by the Sparks Fire Department.

FINDING T7:

The effect of the proposed subdivision on existing public streets and the need for new streets or highways to serve the subdivision has been considered.

It is anticipated that Fountainhouse will generate 1,919 average daily trips with a PM peak hour of 176 trips. When the streets in Victorian Square were designed and constructed, the traffic impacts were evaluated. This tentative map does not change the traffic patterns or generate average trips exceeding the current capacity of the surrounding streets.

FINDING T8:

The physical characteristics of the land such as flood plain, slope and soil has been considered.

FLOOD PLAIN

The project site is generally flat and located within FEMA Flood Zone X which is not subject to Floodplain Regulations.

SLOPE

The project does not meet the threshold requirements of the Hillside Development Ordinance as the site is relatively flat with slopes of less than 10% over the entire site.

SOIL

A final report will be required prior to the issuance of a building permit.  Any recommendations from that report shall be incorporated into the design for the building permits.

FINDING T9

The recommendations and comments of those entities reviewing the tentative map pursuant to NRS 278.330 to 278.348, inclusive, have been considered.

District Health Department

Washoe County School District

Regional Transportation Commission

FINDING T10

The availability and accessibility of fire protection, including, but not limited to, the availability and accessibility of water and services for the prevention and containment of fires, including fires in wild lands has been considered.

Service will be provided by the Sparks Fire Department.

FINDING T11:

The application, as submitted and conditioned, will address identified impacts.

This section identifies project specific issues not discussed above such as:

Landscaping:

The developer shall provide the final landscaping plans for the project to be reviewed and approved by the Administrator of the Community Services Department prior to the recordation of a final map. The internal landscaping shall be completed prior to the issuance of certificate of occupancy for the adjacent building and parking lot areas.

Architecture:

The preliminary elevations provided with the tentative map application are for informational purposes.  The architectural elevations are to be reviewed as part of the Site Plan Review application for compliance with the architectural standards in the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Residential Design Manual. Final elevations for the buildings will be reviewed and approved prior to issuance of the first building permit.

FINDING T12:

Public notice was given and a public hearing held per the requirements of the Sparks Municipal Code and Nevada Revised Statutes.

The Planning Commission and the City Council meetings function as the hearings for this item.

City Council could not approve the tentative map.

I move to approve the Fountainhouse at Victorian Square Tentative Map associated with PCN15003 adopting Findings T1 through T12 and the facts supporting these Findings as set forth in the staff report and subject to the Conditions of Approval 1 through 9 as listed in the staff report.