Flash Presentation of All Ballpark Info

Click below for a multimedia presentation of all the Ballpark information approved by the council today. This is from their powerpoint presentation posted for the press.

Stadium Approved

Groundbreaking is January 1. So that’s that! It’s approved, the land deals are approved, everyone’s happy with what they got, the city council is almost more elated about Herbert Simon’s plans for retail on several blocks surrounding the stadium than they are about the stadium. I didn’t get to watch the meeting, that nasty thing called work got in the way, and trying to watch a City Council meeting successfully online is brutal. The entire project is over $90 million, and the stadium itself is $42 million roughly. Just one final stop on the government train to Washoe County to approve the car-rental tax deal, and we’re good to go! The amazing thing about this deal was it was put together in a mere three months. The deal includes a land deal for Siena Communities which includes the parcel next to the Artist Lofts, the Men’s Club lot, and property along Commercial Row. The City would get a loan from the developers for $10 million to relocate the fire station. I ‘think’ the city may be following the Trench Master Plan idea of eventually combining a police and fire station over by Keystone south of the train trench. So Siena gets decent land trades for their Freight House District parcel, and hopefully received more usable parcels out of the deal. It will be interesting to see what they do with the parcel adjacent to Riverside Lofts. Design plans can take months or even years so let’s not expect something overnight.

City Council Tidbits

Here’s some tidbits and highlights –
- A Reno fire fighter asked to speak publicly and cautioned the council against rushing to move the fire station in the ballpark proposal further west without a solid study. He suggested that it could adversely affect response times. Council took his advice seriously but suggested that there would be adequate time to find a better relocation spot than the initial suggestion between Vine and Keystone.
- Also, an RTC official spoke publicly to voice more concerns about what the baseball deal and the possible abandonment of the portion of Evans between the tracks and 2nd st would do to the operating efficiency of the new RTC station proposed just north of that possible closure. He was told that those concerns would be considered before a final decision was made.
- Action on baseball stadium related items F3.0, F3.1, F4.0 and F4.1 was deferred until a special meeting scheduled for Thursday Sep 20.
NOTE: Item F3.0 contains a new set of properties in paragraph D in addition to what was discussed at the last meeting. “D. Real Property commonly referred to at the “Industrial Parcels” located at 1035 East Commercial Row, more specifically identified as APN 008-360-06 and 008-360-16.”
These two former RR parcels representing something like 4 acres are just south of the tracks way over by Sutro street – yet the city is may be preparing to include them as part of the deal with either SK Baseball or as part of the Siena land trade.
- On item L4 (Trench Covers) Dave Aiazzi wanted staff to come back to the Council at the NEXT COUNCIL MEETING and give their opinion on the viability and legality of a proposed scheme whereby the city would “bond” future property tax revenues from The Montage in order to augment funds available for trench cover construction.
- On item L5 (mix of downtown business) Gustin wanted staff to come back at the NEXT COUNCIL MEETING with a plan to enhance downtown – seemingly by reducing the number of new bars / liquor sales sites. Apparently the Downtown Improvement Association (merchants group) wants to see more growth in other businesses and less bar / liquor outlet growth.
- Council accepted the report on the eco channel, but did not approve splitting the project off from the 2nd whitewater park. It wants to find a way to do both and request more info in early October.
- Council wants a comprehensive plan for Post Office, eco channel and whitewater park.
- Council also wants to get back in October to the 10 North Virginia plaza deal – and hopefully actually MAKE a decision.
- Nearly all of the baseball items in the Redevelopment meeting will be continued at the next meeting.

Reno Fabulous

Join the fun and see your photos here by sharing your photos of Reno’s places and people in the Reno Fabulous Flickr group. To see all the photos, visit the group page. If you are using Internet Explorer, you can run your mouse over the photo below and click through the slideshow. Sorry Firefox Users, I can’t get this option working for you yet.

Goodies in upcoming meetings

- September 12 City Council meeting;
- J.4 Staff Report: Status report of the Downtown Low-Flow Eco-Channel and potential direction to
staff regarding proceeding with the option of the Low-Flow Eco Channel and/or a proposed Whitewater Park Extension.
- L.4 Discussion and potential direction to staff regarding an Action Plan for the ReTRAC Cover.
- L.5 Discussion and potential direction to staff regarding the desired mix of Businesses Downtown.
- Sept 12 Redevelopment Agency
- Pretty much this entire meeting is devoted to various aspects of the baseball stadium deal.

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