On November 13, 2018, the City Council entered into a development agreement (the “Agreement”) with Foothills at Wingfield, LLC, and the Albert D. Seeno Construction Company for a site approximately 65 acres in size located directly east of and adjacent to Golden Eagle Regional Park (GERP). The approved Agreement and the staff report previously provided to the City Council for its consideration are attached (Exhibits 2 and 3, respectively). This agenda item asks the City Council to review and approve a proposed amendment (Exhibit 1 - Amendment Number 1). On November 21, 2019, the Planning Commission reviewed Amendment Number 1 and voted to forward a recommendation of approval to the City Council.  

The subject site is comprised of three parcels. One parcel is approximately 60 acres in size and two parcels 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 parcel.  The existing easement then follows Homerun Drive to Touchdown Drive and turns east onto an unnamed maintenance yard access road. Homerun Drive, Touchdown Drive, and the unnamed maintenance yard access road are maintained by the City of Sparks, but 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 Agreement requires realignment of the existing access easement and approval of the new alignment by BLM prior to development of the site.

The Agreement was approved concurrently with rezoning and Comprehensive Plan amendment applications. The site now has a land use designation of Intermediate Density Residential (IDR) and is zoned SF6 (Single Family Residential). The primary purpose of the Agreement is to address access and sewer issues so as to meet the concurrency requirements of the Sparks Comprehensive Plan and Truckee Meadows Regional Plan.

Prior to the 2018 approvals, this site had a variety of land use designations: Open Space (OS), Commercial (C), Multi-Family (MF24), High Density Residential (HDR), Large Lot Residential (LLR), and Mixed Use (MU).  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 previous zoning for this site was A-5 (Agriculture).

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

The 2018 approvals allowed the applicant to begin the site development design process. This process has included an application to BLM for site access and studies addressing drainage and floodplain management. The applicant has applied to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for a Conditional Letter of Map Revision (CLOMR) for grading plans to remove a small portion of the northeast corner of the site from the 100-year floodplain. A CLOMR application allows FEMA to review a proposed project that would, upon construction, affect the hydrologic or hydraulic characteristics of a flooding source and result in modification of the existing floodway, effective base flood elevations, or a special hazard area. An approved CLOMR indicates that the flood project, if built as proposed, would be recognized by FEMA. Once the flood control project is constructed, the applicant can apply to FEMA for a Letter of Map Revision (LOMR) by providing “as-built” certifications regarding the flood project. The LOMR officially revises FEMA’s Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) and/or Flood Boundary and Floodway Map (FBFM) to reflect the existence of the flood control project.

The Agreement currently includes a provision, Section 3.3(c), which requires the master developer to obtain and provide to the City an approved CLOMR prior to the approval of any tentative map. This is not a requirement the City would typically impose for approval of a tentative map. Instead, an applicant would usually need only to demonstrate to the City that a CLOMR application has been submitted to FEMA. The City would then generally require FEMA approval of a CLOMR prior to City approval of a final map. Because the applicant has prepared and submitted a CLOMR application to FEMA and FEMA has indicated to the applicant that review and possible approval of the CLOMR will take between four and eight months, the applicant is requesting that the language in Section 3.3(c) of the Agreement be amended to allow approval of a tentative map prior to FEMA approval of the CLOMR (Exhibit 1 – Amendment Number 1). Given the applicant’s progress toward obtaining a CLOMR, City staff supports the proposed Amendment Number 1 to the Agreement. Section 3.3(c) of the Agreement would still require the master developer to obtain and provide to the City a copy of any required LOMR prior to the issuance of any certificate of occupancy for and/or final inspection of any dwelling unit in the project.

The Planning Commission reviewed both the approved Agreement and proposed Amendment Number 1 for consistency with the Comprehensive Plan. For the subject project, the Agreement was approved as the basis for satisfying the concurrency requirement (Goal 3.5 and Policy 3.5.1) of the 2012 Truckee Meadows Regional Plan for infrastructure and public services. Staff views the Agreement as consistent with the Comprehensive Plan in part because it obligates the applicant to construct private access infrastructure to a site that does not abut public right-of-way. The Agreement also requires the applicant to construct intersection improvements in the City right-of-way on Vista Boulevard and a second fire apparatus access road. The Agreement thus supports and is consistent with the following Comprehensive Plan goals and policies:

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.

In support of Policy MG5, in 2018 the applicant submitted, and the City reviewed and approved, sewer and traffic studies that provided recommendations detailing how the impacts of this proposed development on existing infrastructure can be mitigated with the Agreement. The Planning Commission and City Council determined that the Agreement supported the finding that the City can provide municipal services to the subject property concurrent with its development in support of Policy CF1. This analysis enabled the Planning Commission and City Council to make certain findings, including those regarding concurrency and fiscal impacts, in support of the Comprehensive Plan land use amendment and rezoning requests that were reviewed concurrently with the Agreement.

On this basis, the Planning Commission determined at their August 2, 2018 meeting that the (original) Agreement was consistent with the Comprehensive Plan and the City Council approved the Agreement on November 13, 2018. On November 21, 2019, the Planning Commission reviewed Amendment Number 1 and determined that the proposed changes regarding the CLOMR and tentative map process would not adversely impact the concurrency of development or the consistency of the Agreement with the Comprehensive Plan. The Planning Commission therefore voted to forward a recommendation of approval for Amendment Number 1 to the City Council.

This is the first reading of a bill to approve Amendment Number 1 to the Development Agreement for Wingfield Commons.

This is a first reading. No motion is required.