Does the Nugget Project need a parking garage?
Last week it was revealed that the Carson City Board of Supervisors would be considering putting a question on the ballot to approve a quarter-cent sales tax to fund a downsized $28 million City Center Project, aka Nugget Project.
The big part of the downsizing was due to dropping the $12 million parking garage, which City Manager Larry Werner said last week wasn't needed, that there was plenty of surface parking available. That seemed to go against what was said at previous meetings by Nugget President Steve Neighbors, who argued that the garage was necessary to replace the parking that would be lost with the construction of the Knowledge and Discovery Center and the public plaza.
Now, Neighbors is back this week saying that the garage is needed, and he's proposing to donate $5 million from the Hop and Mae Adams Foundation to build the parking garage.
“We believe that by allocating the $5 million, Mae is donating to the construction of the parking garage. The city's perspective (can be that) there are no sales tax revenues going to the construction of the parking garage,” Neighbors told the Nevada Appeal.
One of the reasons the city is discussing a sales tax increase to fund the project is because the private fundraising effort foundered. Supporters said the effort by a group of citizens to put the Nugget Project on the ballot greatly hindered the fundraising.
Back in September, Neighbors stated that the Adams Foundation would kick in up to $8 million to backstop any shortfall in the fundraising effort.
This brings up a lot of questions. Why was the parking garage $12 million last year, and only $5 million now? If the foundation was going to donate $8 million last year, why is it only putting in $5 million now, and only for the garage?
And who is correct about the need for parking, Neighbors or Werner? Or, did Werner already know about the plans for the foundation to donate the money for the garage when he spoke last week?
Also, there was an expectation for obtaining $3 million in federal grants for the project, which have seemed to dry up. While I can understand that private local donors might have been put off by the petition effort to put the project on the ballot, I'm not sure how that could have affected the federal grants. Until those petitions are turned in and certified, there is nothing official on the books stopping the project. Perhaps supporters were over-optimistic about securing these grants.
These questions and more will be heard today at 2 p.m. in the Sierra Room of the Carson City Community Center. If you can't make it there in person, catch the live video here.
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