The City's Guiding Principles:
The city’s vision is guided in seven Guiding Principles: Well-managed growth; access to open lands and recreational opportunities; economic vitality; vibrant downtown and gateway corridors; livable neighborhoods; unique history and culture and; a connected community.
This week, we’ll be taking a look at the Master Plan draft currently under review by the city and its leadership.
A Master Plan is essentially the city’s blueprint for the next 20 years, which includes guidance and goals for growth, housing, economic development, natural resources, aesthetics, and much more.
The first Master Plan was adopted by Carson City in 1958, followed by five additional updates, the last being in 2006.
You can read the full overview in our previous reporting here.
The first topic covered by the Master Plan is the goals and priorities for well-managed growth.
As of 2022, the city had a population of just over 58,000 residents, making it the 10th largest city in Nevada.
Based on current calculations, the city’s water and wastewater facilities have an estimated buildout population of 76,000 people.
“In the 2006 Master Plan, the City committed to striking a balance between supporting denser, mixed-use developments that blend residential, commercial, and recreational spaces and preserving traditional residential neighborhoods to accommodate future growth,” the Master Plan reads. “As a result of this commitment, the City continues to encourage compact, infill development within the City’s Urban Services Boundary and discourage intensive development in hazard prone areas.”
In the 1970s, the city implemented a Growth Management Program to ensure that adequate water and wastewater facilities exist for future development projects, and that those future projects will not negatively impact the city’s ability to provide existing residents and businesses with water and wastewater services, according to the plan.
Today, the Growth Management Program regulates growth by limiting the number of building permits for residential units each year, and by establishing a water use threshold for commercial and industrial development.
“Well-managed growth is also essential for preserving the natural, scenic, and environmentally sensitive areas in and around Carson City, such as the Carson River and Prison Hill,” the plan reads. “Community members value and want to protect the open spaces, wildlife habitats, and historical sites that provide active and passive recreational opportunities for residents and visitors, and maintain access to the vast public lands that surround the City.
Goals
Each one of the guiding principles includes a number of goals to achieve them.
Carson City will continue to prioritize development that makes efficient use of the land area and water resources the City has available for growth, that fosters the provision of infrastructure and services in a cost-effective manner, and that balances development with conservation of the natural environment — particularly where open lands abut the Urban Services Boundary. The City will also take steps to become more resilient in the face of natural disasters, such as wildfires and floods, through the implementation of hazard mitigation policies and sustainable development practices. Mindful collaboration with local organizations, as well as adjacent local, state, and federal agencies, will be essential to achieving the goals in this Chapter.
The main goals to achieve well-managed growth include:
Promote the Efficient Use of Land, Water and Infrastructure
- Ensuring the land use map represents a level of growth that may be accommodated with available water resources and sewer capacity
- Concentrate future development within the Urban Services Boundary and accommodate limited, low-intensity development in locations not currently served by urban services
- Provide a range of land use opportunities including residential, mixed-use, commercial, employment, public and open space at a variety of scales and intensity
- Continue to encourage the creative use of vacant and underutilized sites through infill, redevelopment, and adaptive reuse
- Require private developers to build and pay for capital facilities like local streets, access, new water or sewer lines, etc. that are needed to support their developments
Mitigate risks from natural or human-caused hazards like flood and wildfire
- Discourage intensive development within then Wildland Urban Interface to limit impacts of potential disasters
- Discourage development within the 100-year floodplain
Protect sensitive natural and visual resources
- Protect environmentally sensitive areas by protecting mature trees and limiting hillside development
- Protect the city’s dark skies by limiting light pollution
- Ensure utility equipment like cell towers or wind farms do not detract from the city’s visual quality
Encourage the use of innovative, low-impact development practice
- Using sustainable building materials, energy conservation and water conservation
- Incorporate pollinator-friendly landscapes and preserving trees
- Support urban agriculture efforts to expand local food production, reduce food insecurity, and support educational opportunities.
Priorities
From these goals, staff is recommending the following priorities, which means that the city should begin working towards these goals immediately following plan adoption:
Promote the Efficient Use of Land, Water, and Infrastructure
- Recalibrate the water model to reflect updated density and land use assumptions reflected on the Land Use Plan, and in land use policies in Chapter 10. Ensure that the model accounts for planned uses on sites identified as a priority for infill, redevelopment, or adaptive reuse.
- Adopt and enforce residential adjacency standards as part of Title 18 to establish clear expectations about the mechanisms that will be used to promote compatibility and connectivity between residential neighborhoods of varying intensities, and/or between non-residential or mixed-use development that abuts an existing residential neighborhoods.
Mitigate the Potential Risk and Effect of Natural or Human-Caused Hazards on Life, Property, and Infrastructure
- Review and update Development Standards as part of Title 18 as necessary to ensure they align with Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) codes (e.g., provide multiple access points, maintain defensive space in forested areas, and construct homes and outbuildings of fire resistant materials).
- Maintain an interactive map of documented hazards (e.g. floodplain, earthquake faults, and WUI) in Carson City to help existing and prospective residents and property owners make informed decisions about potential risks.
- Consider adopting a disaster response and recovery ordinance (e.g., procedures following disasters) to streamline decision-making about rebuilding and permitting in the aftermath of a significant hazard event.
- Continue to implement planned improvements to public buildings and infrastructure to improve the City’s emergency preparedness, communication, response, and overall resilience in the event of hazard event.
Protect Sensitive Natural and Visual Resources
- Develop and adopt comprehensive standards for wind, solar, and geothermal energy facilities to address considerations such as facility size, siting and screening criteria, decommissioning requirements, access, and others as applicable.
Tomorrow, we will look at the second Guiding Value of the Master Plan: Access to Open Lands and Recreational Opportunities
