County approves first bite from Park 2500

The first 190 homes included in last year’s controversial Park Ranch Holdings development agreement were approved 4-1 by Douglas County commissioners.

Commissioner Dave Nelson joined the majority, voting for the tentative subdivision map for Ashland Park, located along Toler Lane north of Chichester Estates in Gardnerville.

“This is a better project than the one on the books before,” Nelson said.

Commissioner John Engels was the sole vote against the project.

A specific plan for the 2,218-home Buckeye Farms Agrihood is scheduled to go before Douglas County planning commissioners at their virtual meeting 1 p.m. Tuesday.

Between the Agrihood and Ashland Park, the total comes to 2,408 of the 2,500 approved last year.

On Tuesday, R.O. Anderson Engineering’s Keith Ruben said that more than half of the 1,044 acres included in the agrihood is dedicated to farms, parks, trails and open space. He told Gardnerville Town Board members the total density of the project is 2.1 units per acre.

Both the towns of Gardnerville and Minden voted to recommend the project, with only Gardnerville native Mike Henningsen voting against.

“There’s not a chance that the vision here will be the same in 30 years,” Henningsen said. “You did a nice job of selling the vision, but I’m concerned it will evolve into something other than what the vision is selling.”

Ruben told the town board that under county code, any development of over 120 acres must have a specific plan.

A master plan amendment moving receiving area from the Sleeping Elephant Ranch across from Topaz Ranch Estates to Carson Valley was approved by Douglas County commissioners 3-2 last year.

The commission also approved a development agreement capping development at 2,500 units, which was the subject of a petition seeking to overturn the decision. David Park of Park Ranch Holdings sued, saying the county’s decision was administrative and not subject to an initiative under Nevada law. The petition was found to be insufficient, which was challenged in court. When the smoke cleared, the petition failed to garner sufficient signatures and a judge ruled that even if it had, it wouldn’t have been a legitimate topic for a ballot initiative.

Most of the project and all of the homes and commercial zoning are located in Minden, where the town board voted 4-0 to approve it on Wednesday.

The specific plan is proposed to work in five six-year phases, with each phase having its own planned development.

Included in the proposal are 75 acres of land dedicated to Muller Lane Parkway’s right-of-way, 460 acres of preserved land, including 286 acres in the flood plain and native pasture and 575 acres in a conservation village.

The county is required to build two lanes of Muller Lane Parkway across the Park property prior to Dec. 5, 2025.

The plan includes 90 percent single-family units and 10 percent multi-family units.

According to the proposal, 9,000 acres of development rights would be transferred out of south Douglas County.