Reno Council Approves Boulevard South Project
This isn't news per se - the Reno City Council meeting where the South Boulevard Project was approved was a week ago - but not being able to attend in person, I was also unable to comment on the proceedings until I could watch them - and the video came out today. This is an interesting, multi-faceted issue: some things to like and some things not to like, and one or two surprises.
Of many projects on the horizon, perhaps none so transformative.
November 28, 2007. What a day the city council was having that day. They opened proceedings for the day at 10:00 am, and sometime in the 7 o'clock PM hour arrived at the convention center to take up the matter of Boulevard South, among other things. The convention center had been booked for that meeting instead of the usual setting of city hall due to the sheer number of citizens expected to attend and speak on the issue. They had already voted to move 10 million dollars around to get a cover built over two blocks of the ReTRAC trench, stat, in an atmosphere of hope and excitement. It seemed unlikely, to this outsider, that they would find the same welcome at the convention center that night.
Indeed, council found quite a group of people waiting eagerly for their arrival (the meeting was scheduled to start at 6), and Mayor Bob Cashell was in a hurry to get the item up for discussion, and the citizens up to to the mics. When Councilwoman Zadra suggested that the project backers should comment first due to some revisions to the plan that might negate some public commentary, the mayor agreed, but ended up insulting the project's architect, a man who has done a number of similar projects internationally, by saying (paraphrase) "I've heard from the project's backers, I'm not sure I need the architect to speak", but the architect did make a pitch for the environmentally-conscious design of this project, and would return throughout the meeting to address individual points raised by citizens and council.
By the time the first citizen was to step up to the mic after the appellant delivered very compelling written remarks, it was this observer's expectation that the negatives would come out, they would come out loudly, and they would come out angrily. But just as there were over 160 "support but no public comment" forms on file to under 150 in opposition, there were also more supporters of the project stepping up to the mic, including those from around the area, than there were opponents of the project.
On the subject of the project opponents, those who showed up to this meeting mostly read from scripts; they were all echoing similar points; their points were very good; and due to the relatively small number of them, they were able to get a fair and very lengthy hearing covering everything from the shadow impact of the building (apparently none, thanks to the fact that they'd done studies in compliance with existing regulations they were not seeking amendments to), to traffic impacts (the roadways have enough room for the project today, and to sweeten the deal, improvements to the roads will begin immediately to expand existing capacity and add in improvements), to an insightful lesson on EIS policy in Nevada (read: none - not as bad as you think. Ordinances prerequire common EIS compliance policies as a matter of course, essentially building the EIS into the design-build process).
This was a model council meeting. Cashell tried to keep the proceedings moving along smoothly by asking repeatedly that anyone who had nothing really new to add to the argument, please yield their time to the next speaker. This resulted in an amusing parade of names called out and a very industrial, team-like banter where those who had nothing to add would yell "nothing to add!" or something like that and Cashell would say "thank you very much!" and anyone who had something to add even if it was a repeat, would be invited up with a "Well come on up here we want to hear what you have to say".
Tentative project map of Boulevard South Project, Reno, NV
I was concerned that this council would be doing the wrong thing: approving a project pushed by money interests from elsewhere. This meeting showed that what is happening in Reno is that people are tired of growth out, they want growth up if it's going to occur. They want it to be of a certain quality which must include multiple uses, adequate transportation infrastructure including adjacency to transit, and must include urban open space as a component. This project is largely being advanced by local interests.
Councilwoman Zadra put forth a motion to move this project to the next level, not terribly comfortable with it but feeling convinced by what she'd seen that day, and it was clear that each person on the council was looking at something that could possibly fail. The build out on this project is said to be very long at perhaps 12 years, so the proof will really be in the pudding, as they say, but one thing is for sure: the popular notion of what Reno is to the residents south of McCarran Blvd, changed that day, in one fell swoop. We'll be measuring the aftershock for years.
An important condition that was placed on the project was that it will be LEED SILVER from Phase 1. Something that was NOT in the original proposal.
Thanks for the post.
Posted by: dave aiazzi | December 15, 2007 at 09:59 PM