The Carson City Board of Supervisors voted Thursday to advance two major agreements for the Lompa Ranch East development, approving a bifurcated dog park and a downstream flood mitigation project.
The approvals represent the next steps for the Lompa Ranch North Specific Plan Area, a master-planned community that includes housing, commercial spaces, and parks.
Find additional meeting coverage at the link below:
Road Redesign Leads to Split Dog Park
The primary focus of Thursday’s parks discussion centered on a three-acre park situated north of East 5th Street and west of the intersection of Airport Road and Butti Way.
The park has long been a requirement of the development agreement and must be constructed by developer CC Nevada, LLC before the issuance of the 250th certificate of occupancy.
The design of the park shifted significantly to accommodate a new traffic routing plan. Consultant Ken Krater told the board that North Lompa Lane was initially slated to cut directly through a 24-acre residential apartment neighborhood.
“When I first started looking at this site … North Lompa Lane at one point was planned to bisect this 24 acre apartment project and tie directly into Desatoya Lane,” Krater said. “As a longtime traffic engineer, that just didn’t make any sense at me to me whatsoever — that you would encourage folks to drive into a residential neighborhood where they really don’t need to or want to go.”
Krater redesigned the extension of North Lompa Lane to parallel the freeway and tie directly into Airport Road and Butti Way. The new roadway bisects the three-acre park property, prompting designers to split the facility into a 0.6-acre small dog park on the north side and a 1.3-acre large dog park on the south side.
“We brought in an architectural firm to [design] a park for smaller dogs on the north side of the road and larger dogs on the south side of the road,” Krater said. “We’re going to have a crosswalk and we’re working with staff to put in a flashing beacon there to have a safe crossing.”
Both parks will be double-gated for secure entry, include large turf lawns, decomposed granite surfaces, and drinking fountains with pet bowls according to the agenda. The design also includes a 20-space parking lot on the south side. The developer will build the $2 million park and fund a maintenance association to maintain it, though the land will ultimately be dedicated to the city.
The board approved the park agreement in a 4-1 vote, with Supervisor Maurice White casting the lone dissenting vote.
“While I do not necessarily disagree with the dog park, in fact, I think it’ll be probably pretty cool, I do have to say that on two occasions I have voted no on this project both on the zoning map amendment and the LMA lane extension,” White said. “I feel I should just remain consistent and not support this today but I think a dog park’s a good idea.”
Flood Mitigation Strategy Shifts Downstream
In a separate 4-1 vote, the board approved a Flood Volume Mitigation Improvement Agreement that allows the developer to fulfill its floodplain requirements off-site on city-owned land.
Carson City municipal code requires that any development built in a floodplain must offset its impact to ensure that floodplain storage capacity is preserved.
“Typically, a development will do their own mitigation on site,” Stephen Pottéy, Senior Project Manager said. “Typically, what that looks like is, for any amount of fill in the flood plane, you have an equal amount of cut.”
Because the downstream channel of Eagle Valley Creek is constricted, the city proposed that CC Nevada, LLC perform the excavation downstream to provide a wider benefit to the community.
Under the agreement, the developer will excavate 56,000 cubic yards of dirt on city parcels at the Wastewater Treatment Plant and the Moffat Open Space.
The development team’s hydrologist Amy Misnikowski said the downstream work will lower water surface elevations enough to formally remove the city’s Wastewater Treatment Plant, Emergency Operations Center, and Corporate Yard from the FEMA 100-year and 500-year flood zones.
However, during these discussions, Supervisor Curt Horton asked if the hydrologists had modeled the water flow to include the Mexican Ditch flume, or if their modeling stopped prior to that point.
Misnikowski confirmed they used the FEMA effective model, which stops just before the Mexican Ditch flume, and id not include any modeling downstream of that structure.
In response, Horton told city staff that this was something they may want to look into, considering the waterways are connected and changes to one could affect others.
Public Works Director Darren Schulz said the project accomplishes a long-standing public works goal.
“Since I’ve been here, this mitigation of this type has been on the table,” Schulz said. “We can either build a flood wall to the north side of our treatment plant … or remove material [within the floodplain] so that there is more [water] storage. We haven’t got to it because of the cost of it and other competing priorities, so this is an opportunity to take it off of our list.”
Open Space Manager Lindsay Boyer added that the creek in the Moffat Open Space is currently restricted and overrun by noxious weeds.
“Right now it’s really not functioning as it should,” Boyer said. “It’s not providing the wildlife habitat that it should. And so by doing a project like this where you’re expanding and increasing the flood storage … we’re putting in those hosts of native plants.”
To cover future maintenance, the developer will provide the city with a $71,177 financial endowment to fund 40 years of weed abatement and silt removal.
Supervisor Stacey Giomi supported the agreement, noting the significant financial savings for the city.
“To get this essentially for nothing, in my opinion, is something we shouldn’t look a skew at,” Giomi said.
The approach did draw criticism during public comment. Resident Denny French argued against using public open space to solve a private developer’s mitigation requirements.
“I’m opposed to having our open space be a way that some developer can [use to] not have to do the mitigations on their own property,” French said. “The disregard though I think for our open space in this particular situation is rude. And it’s not done with malice; I think it’s just done for convenience.”
In response, Supervisor Lisa Schuette said that conversely, she saw the flood mitigation project as an improvement to the open space area, rather than something that would harm to detract from it.
Boyer confirmed the project would “absolutely be an improvement of the existing open space,” as the developer’s excavation work will directly benefit the local ecosystem.
“Moffat has been on our radar for a while for restoration to make it more functional; this is a win-win for us,” she said. “We’re getting it for free, we’re getting a maintenance endowment to take care of it … I see this as a no-brainer, honestly.”
A look at the Lompa Ranch Master Plan
The recently approved park and flood mitigation agreements are two components of the Lompa Ranch North Specific Plan Area, an approximately 251-acre master-planned community that spans both the east and west sides of Interstate 580.
Situated in central Carson City between East 5th Street and Highway 50, the development encompasses residential housing, commercial spaces, planned parks, a future school site, and a network of connecting pathways. The Carson City Board of Supervisors originally adopted the specific plan for the area in March 2016, followed by the formal development agreement in October 2017.
Construction has advanced in various phases over the years. The initial phase included 189 single-family homes and 360 apartment units. More recently, the board approved Blackstone Ranch Phase Two, which added 204 single-family lots across 59 acres in the northern portion of the historic ranch, situated between East Robinson and East Fifth streets.
Meanwhile, the Lompa Ranch East section — the site of the flood mitigation and dog park projects — is slated to include approximately 384 apartment units spread across 13 buildings. Consultant Ken Krater noted that resolving the area’s floodplain challenges allowed the developers to maximize the density of these apartments to benefit the local workforce.
“If we did the mitigation work on site, it clearly wouldn’t have those same downstream impacts, but also you would have less housing,” Krater said. “This is a great workforce housing project, so more units is going to provide more workforce housing and is also going to bring more tax revenue to Carson City.”
Alongside the housing, the specific plan includes requirements for recreation and open space. In addition to the three-acre dog park on the east side of the freeway, developers must build a 10-acre park on the west side near East Robinson Street.
Draft designs for the 10-acre facility feature a “ranch themed” children’s play area, a ranch-style shade structure, and interpretive panels detailing the history of the Lompa family and the original ranch.
The community’s provisions also require the developer to install a neighborhood splash pad or water feature, a north-to-south walking path, and an east-to-west multi-use path to connect the different sides of the development.
As with the dog park, the larger park and open spaces must be maintained through a landscape maintenance district or maintenance association funded by the development, ensuring the city is not liable for ongoing upkeep.
Supervisor Maurice White has frequently voted against various phases of the project, including the recent park and flood agreements, as well as the prior Blackstone Ranch subdivision. During the 2023 approval of the 204-lot subdivision, White pointed to the burden that the development places on the city’s infrastructure.
Adding more roads to the city, White said, will “increase the already fraught road maintenance challenge the city faces every year.”
