Projects seek town endorsements in Gardnerville and Minden

The town boards of Gardnerville and Minden will be hearing requests for design reviews from two projects this week.

A 116-unit multi-family project that has been on the books since 2002 goes before the Minden Town Board on Wednesday for a major design review and tentative subdivision map.

The project would be located four parcels consisting of 9.49 acres on either side of Monte Vista Avenue located north of Jake’s Wetlands.

Minden Town Board members are scheduled to hear a presentation on the project at their meeting 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the CVIC Hall.

The original project was approved for 145 townhomes, according to the town.

Access to the project would be from Bella Rosa Alley and an additional alley that would intersect with Monte Visa.

The town board and the Douglas County Planning Commission will provide recommendations to Douglas County commissioners.

A major design review is scheduled to go before the Gardnerville Town Board today for a 20-unit triplex project on 4.45 acres next to Gardnerville Elementary School.

Called Martin’s Creek Townhomes, the projects only entrance would be on Giles Lane in Chichester Estates. The Gardnerville Town Board meets 4:30 p.m. in the town offices.

In his report, Town Manager Erik Nilssen said the developer originally sought 51 units, but because there is just one entrance, developer Santa Ynez Valley Construction is limited to 20 units. There is no proposal to subdivide the parcel, with one owner leasing units.

One sticking point is that no detention is being provided because runoff will go into Martin Slough.

Before a 2017, county code allowed discharge into an approved water way, but Nilssen said the county eliminated the exemption.

“It appears the developer is trying to eliminate the detention requirement based on redacted code,” he said in his report. “Code also make no allowance to eliminate the stormwater mitigation requirement based on the amount of additional stormwater generated.”

The property has never been annexed to the town, though it is required to do so in the master plan, which designates the property as multi-family residential.

While that designation allows up to 16 units per acre, the density of the project is 4.4 units per acre.

Single family homes in Chichester Estates are north and east of the project, with the other two sides being occupied by the school and the Hellwinkel Barns to the west.

The project is expected to generate 144 vehicle trips per day with a dozen during peak hours. That’s far below the requirement for a full traffic report.

The only street inside would be private and would include six guest parking spots and three RV parking spots.