This site is located directly east of and adjacent to Golden Eagle Regional Park (GERP) (Exhibit 1 – Vicinity Map). The site is approximately 65 acres in size and is comprised of one parcel that is approximately 60 acres in size and two parcels that are each approximately 2.5 acres in size.  The site is occupied by an agricultural building on the 60-acre parcel and an uninhabited single-family home and several accessory buildings on the smaller parcels. All existing buildings will be removed with the future development of this site.

Access to the site is via a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) access easement that starts at the intersection of Homerun Drive and Vista Boulevard on the GERP site. The existing easement then follows Homerun Drive to Touchdown Drive and turns east onto an unnamed maintenance yard access road (Exhibit 2 – Existing Easement). Homerun Drive, Touchdown Drive, and the unnamed maintenance yard access road are maintained by the City of Sparks but are not City streets because the City does not own the right-of-way or the roads. Rather, the roads are part of the City’s lease agreement with BLM for GERP.  The proposed realignment of the existing access easement and approval of said alignment by BLM are addressed in the Analysis section of this staff report.

The site has a variety of Comprehensive Plan land use designations: Open Space (OS), Commercial (C), Multi-Family (MF24), High Density Residential (HDR), Large Lot Residential (LLR), and Mixed Use (MU) (Exhibit 3 – Existing Land Use). These designations were adopted in 2007 (PCN07075). After approval of these land uses, a planned development handbook for development of the site was initiated but was never processed or adopted. The zoning for this site is A-5 (Agriculture), which would only allow 5-acre parcels to be developed on the site.  The applicant no longer believes that the existing land use designations and configuration are a viable development scenario and has submitted applications to amend the Comprehensive Plan and rezone the property.

The two 2.5-acre parcels in the southwest corner of the site were annexed in 2015 (PCN15036) and the City zoning of A-5 was assigned to the parcels at that time.

The applicant has requested to amend the Comprehensive Plan Land Use designations to Intermediate Density Residential (IDR) and change the zoning to Single Family Residential (SF6).  Because of the need to put conditions and requirements on the developer to address access and sewer capacity issues meet the requirements for concurrency in the Comprehensive Plan and the Regional Plan, staff recommended that the applicant enter into a development agreement with the City of Sparks.

On August 2, 2018, the Planning Commission reviewed these three requests and recommended that the City Council approved the Comprehensive Plan amendment and approve the development agreement and rezoning requests. (Please refer to the Planning Commission Report of Action.)

On October 10, 2018, the Regional Planning Commission (RPC) held a public hearing and reviewed the requested Comprehensive Plan amendment. The RPC determined that the Comprehensive Plan amendment conforms with the Truckee Meadows Regional Plan.

This site is currently zoned A-5 (Agriculture) (Exhibit 4 – Existing Zoning).  The applicant is requesting to rezone the 65-acre site to SF6 (Single Family Residential – 6,000 sq. ft. lots) (Exhibit 5 – Proposed Zoning).

The following table compares the uses permitted under each zoning district:

Rezoning Findings

FINDING Z1:

The project, as submitted and conditioned, is consistent with the City of Sparks Comprehensive Plan.

The Comprehensive Plan Policies that are relevant to this proposal include:

Policy MG5     When reviewing master plan amendments for sites over 5 acres, the City will evaluate or cause to be evaluated: a) the impacts on existing and planned facilities and infrastructure; b) the impacts on existing and planned public services; c) the proposed land use in relationship to existing land uses; and, d) the fiscal implications for public service providers of the proposed land use changes as documented in a fiscal impact analysis.

Policy CF1:       When reviewing new development, the City will not approve an application unless the City services can be provided at acceptable service levels.

Goal H2           Promote a strong, diverse housing market that supports economic growth and vitality while ensuring environmental and fiscal sustainability.

Under Policy MG5, review of a Comprehensive Plan amendment requires a fiscal impact analysis (FIA). The applicant submitted a FIA dated February 2018 and updated June 2018 (Exhibit 6 – Fiscal Impact Analysis). Assuming all roads associated with the project are private as required in the proposed development agreement, the project would generate a Road Fund surplus of $1.4 million. Combining the net positive General Fund amount of $1.45 million and the net positive Road Fund amount of $1.4 million produces a projected positive fiscal impact of approximately $2.8 million over the 20-year analysis period for the Wingfield Commons project. The FIA also estimates that if 5,300 linear feet of roads are publicly maintained, the development would have a net positive fiscal impact of $54,039. However, the development agreement as proposed provides for all project-associated roads to be privately maintained.

The proposed development agreement requires intersection improvements in conformance with the recommendations of the submitted traffic study (Exhibit 7 – Traffic Study) at the intersection of Vista Boulevard, Homerun Drive, and Scorpio Drive prior to the issuance of any certificate of occupancy.  The intersection improvements include:

• The south approach to said intersection (exiting the park/development) shall be improved to include one exclusive left turn lane, one shared left turn/through lane, and one exclusive right turn lane.
• The existing right turn lane at the west approach to said intersection shall be lengthened to provide a minimum of 465 feet of storage/deceleration length with a 180-foot taper.

Section 3.3 of the development agreement requires construction of a second fire apparatus access road prior to combustibles being stored onsite.  The location of the second fire apparatus access road and its construction material must be to the approval of the Fire Chief and City Engineer.

The Planning Commission determined that if the development agreement is approved, the Comprehensive Plan land use amendment and the rezoning requests support Goal MG5 and comply with Policy CF1. City Council certification of the Comprehensive Plan land use amendment and approval of the rezoning request would also provide additional land for housing development, supporting Goal H2.

If the City Council does not certify the Planning Commission’s decision to change the Comprehensive Plan land use designation of the site to Intermediate Density Residential (IDR), the City Council should not approve rezoning of the site to SF6. Approving the rezoning request without approving the Comprehensive Plan land use amendment would result in zoning that does not conform with the Comprehensive Plan land use designation for the site.

FINDING Z2:

The project is consistent with the surrounding existing land uses.

The surrounding land uses and zoning are summarized in the following table:

The subject property is located east of GERP and south of Vista Boulevard. The site is bordered on the north and west by GERP, on the south by unincorporated large lot properties with Agriculture (A5) zoning, and on the east by unincorporated BLM land.  GERP is an intensely used park with lighted playfields that are often used until midnight, generating more noise than a neighborhood or community park would typically produce.  The development agreement includes provisions to address these issues and the Planning Commission concluded that the requested land use of IDR is compatible with the CF land use. The property to the east is BLM-owned open space and there is no compatibility concern there. The primary use of the LLR properties to the south is for residences on large lots and they would have separate access.

FINDING Z3:

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

Public notice was given as required by the Sparks Municipal Code and Nevada Revised Statutes. This rezoning request was noticed, at a minimum, to all property owners within 750 feet of the subject properties; 93 property owners were mailed notices. Public notice was published in the Reno Gazette Journal on July 20, 2018. The Planning Commission and City Council meetings function as the public hearings for this item.

This is the first reading of the ordinance to rezone the subject property.

This is a first reading. No motion is required.