2012 2:00:00 PM

Monday, June 25, 2012 2:00 PM
745 4th Street, Sparks, NV 89431

General Business: 6.5

Title: Review, discussion and possible adoption of criteria for City sponsorship of amendments to the City of Sparks Master Plan

Petitioner/Presenter: Community Services Department/Armando Ornelas, City Planner

Recommendation: Staff recommends that the City Council approve the proposed criteria for determining when the City should sponsor amendments to the City’s Master Plan

Financial Impact: There will be some loss of fees; the City currently charges applicants applying for a Master Plan amendment a fee of $2,500. City planning staff estimate the lost fees would rarely exceed $10,000 a year.

Business Impact (Per NRS 237):
A Business Impact Statement is not required because this is not a rule.

Agenda Item Brief: This agenda item asks the City Council to approve criteria to guide City staff and the Sparks Planning Commission in deciding when City sponsorship of a proposed amendment to the Sparks Master Plan is appropriate.

Background: The City’s Planning Commission recently sponsored an amendment to remove the Iratcabal East Area Plan from the City of Sparks Master Plan. This action, when completed, potentially benefits some of the property owners in the area covered by the Iratcabal East Area Plan. For this reason the question arose as to whether a private party, rather than the City, should have been the applicant and been charged the $2,500 fee for Master Plan amendments. State law (NRS 278.150 and 278.210) assigns planning commissions responsibility for the preparation, adoption and amendment of a local government master plan. (The master plan must also be adopted by the governing body of a city or county.) However, since the preparation of a Master Plan amendment requires City resources (of staff time and funds, the latter for providing individual public notices), which are appropriated by the City Council, the criteria proposed in this agenda item are intended to provide guidance to the Sparks Planning Commission and City staff for determining when City sponsorship of, and therefore the use of City resources for, a proposed amendment is appropriate.

Analysis: City staff proposes that City sponsorship of a proposed Master Plan amendment is appropriate when one or more of the following circumstances apply: 1. The proposed amendment involves multiple parcels and property owners. When amending the Master Plan, Nevada law requires that the applicant conduct a neighborhood meeting. If the proposed amendment involves multiple parcels and property owners it is usually most appropriate for the City’s professional planning staff to present the proposed amendment to the public. 2. The proposed amendment includes “text” changes (i.e., not just changes to the land use map). In such cases it would be appropriate to consider how the proposed text change affects other properties (or their development) within the City’s corporate limits and its sphere of influence. 3. When a change is proposed to an area plan (area plans are part of the Master Plan and typically were originated by the City). Certain lands within the City of Sparks and the City’s sphere of influence are governed by specific area plans. The amendment, or removal, of an area plan must take into account the effects of the proposed changes on all of the properties subject to the area plan and therefore should be sponsored by the City rather than an individual property owner. 4. At the request of the City Council.

Alternatives: The City Council could change or reject one or more of the proposed criteria.

Recommended Motion: I move to approve the proposed criteria for determining when the City should sponsor amendments to the City’s Master Plan

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