Park Cattle hosts planning meeting

Park Cattle Co. is holding the last in a series of meetings tonight to discuss on the future of the property that surrounds Minden and Gardnerville.

Chief Executive Officer W. Bradley Nelson said the company has invited members of the community from several different points of view in order to work out a plan for the property that borders on the towns of Minden and Gardnerville.

No plan has been presented to the county for the 4,500 acres under discussion. Park is holding the meetings on its own to gather information.

"We haven't presented a plan for the land, because don't really have one," he said. "I'm new in Valley and our consultants are new, and they just need the back-up and the information from the community about what the important values are."

Tonight's will be the fourth meeting, Nelson said. Any new zoning or other issues will still have to go through the county process.

"It was going to be part of the process no matter what," Nelson said. "We didn't want to send out a mass invitation. We were hoping to get the people we thought were most knowledgeable about the issues. That's why it wasn't sent out as a broadcast."

Nelson said so far residents have shown lots of interest in recreation and keeping open space.

"They like the visual quality of the Valley and they'd particularly like some certainty about what's going to happen with the land in the future," he said.

"Our bottom line is that we're looking to explore balanced community development. We want something that preserves both our land owner rights and meets the interests of the community. This is Park Cattle's approach to be a good corporate citizen. The family's had an interest here for 100 years."

What: Park Cattle Co. planning meeting

When: 7 p.m. Wednesday

Where: CVIC Hall in Minden.