Reno: College District News

An interesting item from the 6/11/2008 Reno City Council meeting:

F.1.1 ORDINANCE, INTRODUCTION Case No. LDC08-00202 (Terranova-UNR Housing) Bill No. Ordinance to amend Title 18, Chapter 18.08 of the Reno  Municipal Code, entitled "Zoning," rezoning a ±13,510 square foot site located on the west side of North Virginia Street, ±50 feet south of its intersection with 15th Street (1457 and 1461 North Virginia Street) from MF30/WUNP (Multifamily - 30 du/ac/West University Neighborhood Planning Area Overlay District) to MU/UNRC (Mixed Use/University of Nevada Regional Center Planning Area Overlay Zoning District); together with other matters properly relating thereto. [Ward 5]

This blog has talked before of building a college business district around UNR.

Characteristics of this neighborhood:

• Multi-story
• Multi-family apartments
• Street level retail
• Sidewalk fronting
• Parking underneath or behind

This project is not designed yet; the applicant sought rezoning to comply with the University’s 2004 Master Plan, which is at odds with existing CIty of Reno zoning in that area.  Interesting fact, however:  If UNR had acquired the parcel and was planning to develop the parcel itself, it would not need to appear before the Council to appeal for a zoning change.  It would merely design the project, get the required building permits, and build it.

Local residents showed up, thankfully none to protest the destruction of the neighborhood’s single-family character.  That character was long ago destroyed by the presence of all those college students – single-family homes most always become multi-resident rooming houses whenever adjacent to universities and colleges.

The neighbors showed up to remind everyone about the fact that the sewer main in the area is already over capacity, and that parking will be tight and this project needs to account for parking for its residents.

Luckily the developer is aware of the problem with the sewer and so is the city, so it should be addressed before anything gets built in that location.  And parking standards are already in place for that parcel even if it is changed to the MU/UNRC zoning, which would require one parking spot per unit to be provided by the project.

Nuts and bolts aside, the broader implications of this development – multistory, multifamily zoning occurring on the main street next to the University – is that soon, the building line and the character of the neighborhood around UNR is going to be changing.  Existing homes on the main drag are likely to go away and be replaced with the kind of buildings a city should have on its main street next to the U.  The student population directly adjacent to UNR will rise without an extension of the built area, which will put more people on the sidewalks and eyes on the street at all hours of the day and night, a good thing.

This blog would go so far as to recommend the eventual transition away from adaptive reuse of homes on all main streets in Reno – focusing on Wells, Keystone, California, Virginia, 4 – 6th Street between Keystone and Wells, and a few other streets.  Where feasible, each house being replaced should be moved to another area of town where an old house would add character to a neighborhood.  Houses of significant architectural value to the neighborhood which cannot be moved should be integrated into the urban environment as best they can be; some examples of this can be found on California Ave.

Straightening out these building lines, getting more uniform interaction with the sidewalk in these neighborhoods, will do a lot to anchor the single-family districts that residents rightly wish to preserve, and relieve development pressures inside the districts.  We look forward to seeing more developments like this pop up in the future.

Comments

[David]

Where is the district supposed to go? Is it along Virginia Street, or in NE downtown?

Either way this is great for UNR and Reno.

[Ken]

I think what you'll see is actually the evolution of two or three "college districts" around UNR. Here's how it'll go:

1. centered on the corner of 15th and V, running north a couple blocks and south all the way to 10th street
2. South of 10th street, bounded by Sierra and Lake Street, north of 7th street. (may include some additional I-80 air rights)

The "gateway" district that Mike talks about on DTM is I think actually different than the college business district as it does not touch the University directly, but it'll also be a new district that will appear.

Finally the U's master plan calls for the furtherance of development in the Enterprise Drive area, which could mean the N Virginia & McCarran area takes on more of a district character. That's a bit of a long shot, though.

The parcel I refer to in this post is located at location #1 above and is back on the council's agenda for tomorrow's 10 AM meeting.