Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Uh, one last comment of general interest. If your cell phone is on a ring or has a song like Baby Got Back, please turn it on silent. I'd appreciate it and everyone else will too. You don't want that kind of attention being brought to Thanks. I'm glad you asked that question. uh and uh part of the opening proceedings clock. I call the planning commission to order and uh I'll ask Commissioner Walder to lead us in the pledge of allegiance.

Please stand if you're able and join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The first item on the agenda is opening public comment. However, uh I will make a couple of comments. You heard mine before the start of this meeting of just general issues. There is a time limitation of 3 minutes with respect to public comment and indeed the presenters generally go over that three minutes because they have the burden of proof sometimes to have the planning commission do something that they desire or don't desire. And uh members of the public will have this 3 minutes, not because I am impatient, not because I have a short attention span, but rather so that everyone gets a chance, an equal chance to speak at the podium for all of the commissioner's benefit. So I'm we're not being mean when we cut you off at 3 minutes and we are merely trying to make sure that everyone has an opportunity. Public comment is uh limited thus to three minutes per speaker and it's always a topic over which the planning commission has jurisdiction, supervision or control. Uh the planning commission does encourage respectful consideration of all views of the public but remember it has to be something within the purview of the planning commission. If the content is disruptive

or irrelevant, repetitious, slanderous, I spoke to repetitious, slanderous, offensive, inflammatory, irrational, or amounts to a personal attack or interfering with the rights of others. The individual at the podium may be asked to stop speaking. In addition to open open public comment, public comment will be taken on public hearing agenda items, but I've asked that you hold for purposes of having being more impactful to hold those comments until the agenda item comes up. [snorts] Um, at this time, public comment will be taken on those items within the jurisdiction and control of the planning commission. And once again, as I informed everyone, there will be another public hearing uh opportunity at the end of our project beside pardon me besides the individual projects that may be coming before us. So, I will open public comment. opening public comment at this time.

Sir, person who is speaking, can they someone waiting in order to speak longer than three minutes?

I apologize uh that generally we do not allow questions from the public either to the chair or the planning commissioners, but we do not operate like a legislative body as you've seen probably on television. You cannot yield your time to someone. You cannot pack up a half hour by having people stand up and say, "Oh, I yield my time to that person, that person, that person, that." And next thing you know, we have a someone speaking half hour. So, there's no yielding the three minutes, no repetition. That was a good question and that's why I responded to it. Thank you.

Yes, sir. Jim Slade. Over the past 25 years, I've attended hundreds and hundreds of meetings of the board of county commissioners and the planning commission and made public comments at nearly all of them. In virtually every case, the issues that I addressed had no effect on me, me personally, or on my property. I merely spoke up for what I believed was in the overall interest of the county residents and the individual communities within the county. I strive to always do my own research, address the facts in each case, often spoke specifically to the required findings of each issue to make sure that they met both the letter and intent of the master plan and county code. Growth and development were issues were clearly uh concerned me, but I never endorsed a no growth policy, but rather sustainable growth. I know that the majority of county res voters agreed with me because they passed both the sustainable growth initiative and the growth management ordinance. I was also concerned about variances and special use permits, SUPs, and wanted to make sure that they met the letter of intent of the required finding as well. One example I'd like to share with you involves two different owners seeking the same type of SUP to enable them to create a bed and breakfast on their property. First, there was a historic Van Sickle Station Ranch on Foothill north of Mueller, surrounded by trees with only one home within a quarter mile, only another two or three within a half a mile. The owner would be there to make sure there was no adverse effects on her neighbors. There was no opposition to the request. I publicly re publicly recommended approval for that SUP and it passed. The second home was on Sierra Shadows in the Autumn Hills area of Foothill near the base of Kingsbury grade. The home had been operating an illegal airbnb on the property. They were caught, fined, and shut down their VHR. They appealed to the board and were denied. They came back and sought an SUP for a bed and breakfast there.

There were, however, about 35 homes within a quarter mile of that house and many more within a half mile. All the neighbors strongly opposed the request, citing concerns about noise, parking, and adverse negative effects on the quality of life and the right to the quiet enjoyment of their property. I publicly opposed that request and it failed unanimously. The commissioners noted that VHRs were forbidden in the Carson Valley and that they seemed to be trying to make an end run around that. They upheld the neighbors concerns about their quality of life, stating that it was inappropriate for such a use in that area. The point here is that all not all SUP requests are the same. It always depends on the circumstances, the neighborhood, and how the local community and its quality of life will be affected. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Slade. And uh thank you also for announcing yourself as the speaker and signing in. Uh Ellie, I know I know you will do the same, but for every speaker, you have to articulate who you are and sign your name so that our recorder gets all of the information when the minutes later come out. We know who spoke, what their position was, etc. Thank you, ma'am.

Good afternoon, Ellie Waller. I'm not able to stay through the whole presentations or public comment. So, I'm speaking now on agenda item one. Everyone has the right to make a request, but within the confines of the code of ordinances and Nevada revised statutes, the applicant's representative referred to the gang Gansburg special occasion home. Why wasn't actual information provided to the public and yourselves for comparison? Each site being analyzed is an individual property and location and should be treated as such. Citing undue competitive disadvantages irrelevant in my opinion. This is not ready for prime time and should be tabled brought back continued whatever term. Be reminded this is final and does not go to the board of county commissioners. I'm not sure if it could be appealed. Proof of occupancy to meet NRS, not just ownership to apply. Keywords to apply is required. The fire marshall disapproved twice. What has changed? Another reason this should be reconsidered. Staff response to uh h a finding the proposed special use will not be material detrimental to the public health, safety, convenience, and welfare and will not result in material damage or prejudice to other properties in the vicinity. will not uh how is that being determined? What is the criteria and whose criteria will not this affect others? Is there an evacuation plan? It's a two-lane road with over 100 plus cars that could be on site. Is the pro proposed parking area ADA Americans with disability compliant? Approximately over three dozen nearby residents oppose this. Um, this count does not uh

duplicate who signed the um petition. Next, my concern isn't about this. I'm concerned about the recent board of county commissioners decision to overturn granting the variance of the Neielson property for which this board denied. The president has set will allow others to believe it's okay to ask for forgiveness and not having a permit. This somehow needs to be remedied. The package presented to the board of commissioners and yourselves should have included options for what a fine could have looked like so the public could weigh in as well because I believe that's what's going to follow. This is an egregious violation by building an addition without a permit. The framing of the variance as the only issue is not acceptable. Future staff report should include to the planning commission and board of county commissioners more comprehensive information. Mr. Neielen admitted copability and the presenter Rob Amber uh applicant stated he attended because Keith Rubin um who was purported to do that didn't want to appear. That is very telling. District Attorney Richie asked directed questions of Mr. Anderson about the process leading up to the illegal building of an addition to his home with an expired variance. This gave me pause. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there further members of the public that wish to uh speak? Yes, there is. Very good. Thank you, sir. [snorts]

My name is Chuck Pa and I am the owner of the home and property directly across Foothill Road from 445 Foothill Road. Purpose of this letter is to address the proposed special use permit being requested by Tom and Miner Brooks for 445 Foothill Road. Uh, and my adamant objection to this proposal. Now, with that said, let me give you just a few of the reasons why I feel this proposed special occasion home would not fit the surrounding neighborhood. One, the most obvious would be the profound impact of noise on every person, animal for that matter, within a mile or more. I literally can hear the traffic on Highway 88, which is miles away from my home. Just to prove my point, you can imagine listening to rap music all Sunday afternoon and into the late evening, which depending on the crowd is a real possibility. Um, and then to have to listen to repeat itself again and again the following weekends. The reason most people who live here in Gardenerville in Douglas County is because of the open space and the lack of congestion. This venue would be an affront to that lifestyle and an absolute violation of the integrity of the surrounding area. Secondly, we need to address the exponential increase in traffic. As to my understanding, this permit would allow up to 250 people and on special occasions 500 in attendance. So, hypothetically, you could have up to 250 to 500 automobiles and trucks coming and going just from the property alone. Now, let's add to that 30 to 40 of this ridiculous number of cars and trucks, some with 30-foot horse trailers coming and going from the trail head immediately across from the entrance to the proposed special occasion home. And this would not even include the existing traffic on Foothill Road. Not only would this situation require most likely a stoplight, but would create an extremely dangerous situation with the 55 mph speed limit, which means cars are

traveling at 65 m an hour. Let us not forget what a typical wedding celebration includes, ladies and gentlemen. Alcohol and lots of it. All being unleashed on the form of drunken drivers speeding down Foothill Road where people's pets sometimes are and also people on horses, not to mention the pedestrian traffic. These type of traffic conditions would surely end up in a catastrophic fatal automobile collision on Foothill Road. This partial has already taken advantage of the subdivision cluster development policy offered by Douglas County to ranchers and large land owners in Douglas County to allow the owners to consolidate their subdivisions into smaller areas on smaller lots, thus allowing for the greater part of the ranch to remain whole with the condition that the land will forever stay in perpetuity as open land. It is obvious that the county planners have looked ahead in trying to preserve what open space is left and the tranquility that comes with it. Approval of this special use permit would be a direct violation and an insult to what the Douglas County planners have envisioned for the future of Douglas County. The area directly behind me, my property, and the trail head is a designated sensitive area for the local deer herd by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Is that it? All right. Well, I got a lot more to say, but

thanks very much. uh another member of the public to the general issues. Uh once again, I'll I'm not admonishing, but I'm suggesting that if you have a particular subject matter that's on the agenda, it's best to hold your comments until that agenda item because you'll have the advantage of listening to the presentations and and staff and you may have much more cogent things to say after you've heard other positions. Thank you, sir. Go ahead.

Thank you. My name is Rob March. Uh thanks for having us and thank you folks for bringing up this interesting uh project. I am a professional who's managed industrial, commercial and residential property for 48 years mainly in California, but my family has been here since 87. So I've enjoyed this beautiful place for since that time. I just want to address from a practical point of view how you manage this type of stuff. Th this is a bar. There's unless we're dealing with

point of order. Mr. Chairman, it seems he's engaging in discussion on the public comment on agenda item one and I respectfully request that all people unless they have to leave immediately withhold their comments until after the uh uh agenda item has been presented. Thank you. I'm speaking of that in generalities. Hold on just a moment. Yes. Uh because he asked for a point of order and I'll rule on that.

Yep. If in fact you have to leave, that is the exception to my guidance of waiting until that agenda item is called. But generally, you will not be allowed to repeat certainly not during that agenda item once it's called your comments if you take advantage of the general uh time which is now for the opening public comments. You will not be docked for that time. Go ahead, sir.

Thank you. Uh, thank you for the point of call there. In general, there's not enough information to make a decision on this from a management point of view, managing all the factors that are going to be discussed by many people, including the Brooks. There's insufficient information to make a determination of how this will be managed long-term or even near-term and how to deal with the consequences of not working through those details and coming up with either remedies or just simply a a you know a rejection of the entire project. I appreciate that the Brooks want to make some money to pay their taxes. That's a good thing. How they do it is up to them subject to how it impacts the rest of us and how it gets managed. I I suggest to the to the supervisors here that we secure a little bit more information about how this gets done versus information about fire and all the other attributes that are going to be discussed here. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Further public comment generalized Seeing none, I will move to the approval of the agenda. The agenda has three items on it. Uh one of course is the special use permit. The second is uh our rules for a discussion not for action. And the third is a presentation which I'm looking forward to by planning uh to us about the procedures uh development applications and respective roles of the county community and development staff and our position. Is there a motion?

Yes. I move to approve the agenda. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? May I call for a vote? All those in favor? I I. Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. The second item that uh we're going to cover before we get into the public hearings is the approval of the minutes of our last meeting. Mr. Chair, if there are no corrections, I will move approval of the minutes. It's been moved uh for approval of the minutes by our vice chair. Is there a second? Second. Commissioner uh St. John, you second.

Yes. I was not in attendance at the last meeting. I'm going to abstain on approval of the minutes. Understood. Mr. Chairman, I am going to abstain as well. Understood. Thank you both. Is there any discussion on the minutes, corrections, additions? Very good. I'm going to call for a vote except for the two abstensions of course. All those in favor? I.

Any opposed? The motion passes unanimously. This brings us to the public hearings. I'd like to make a couple of comments before we start with the presentations. And this is for everyone's um so you know what the process is. There'll be presentations by staff, presentations by the applicant. So you'll know the applicant's positions and the applicants consultants may be part of that uh presentation. Uh then there will be questions from the commissioners to either the consultants or to the applicants or to staff. uh then there will be public comment. After public comment uh if requested and I do not make that decision now uh there will be an opportunity for rebuttal but I don't make that decision now. We're going to wait until after we hear all the public comment and the presentations and staff and the consultants and then finally uh it will be called uh back to the panel the uh commissioners uh for deliberation and uh for uh motions if there are any and uh after those deliberations. So that is the process generally we're going to follow and we'll make ourselves available to get through uh all of the various positions that people may have on this. I will tell you the following. It has been uh brought to my attention [music] and indeed after a couple of years being here on the deis that sometimes rebuttal goes into new matters

after public comment for example new matters are brought up and then it is very difficult to have those rebutted because they're new. So I call upon the um presenters and the council for the pardon me the uh consultants for the presenters to put your case forward. Do not reserve something because frankly those new items will be viewed with scrutiny why they weren't brought up in the first instance. So with that admonition, let us start by calling for possible action, a discussion on a request for a special use permit DP250221 for a special occasion home on a 77 acre parcel located at 445 Foothill Road in the A19. That's agriculture 19 acre minimum parcel size zoning district in the foothill community plan. The applicants are Tom and Mina Brooks Brooks Family Trust 2004. The APN that is the parcel number is 1219-26-2-013. I now turn to our uh planning department [clears throat and cough] and Lucille Ralph is going to give us our first presentation. Thank you, Chairman Bruno. For the record, Lucille Rayo, senior planner. Um, a special occasion home is is defined in code as a single family dwelling which is owner occupied and contains historic features and which is

made available to the general public on a for-profit basis for special events. Such events may include retreats, seminars, weddings, um, and receptions. To qualify for a special [music] use permit to operate a special occasion home, the following three criteria must be met. Only owner occupied single family detached dwellings may apply for a special use permit to operate a special occasion home. The owner must demonstrate that the primary residence or accessory structures on the property have historic character that reflects the cultural and architectural history of Douglas County. The special occasion home must comply with all building and fire codes, including including ADA requirements. The Brooks Ranch has been operating since 1858 when the Berry family began ranching on this parcel. The existing historic barn was built in 1900 and the powerhouse was built in 1907. Both of these historic elements lend themselves to meet the requirements of a special occasion home. Staff reviewed the application and believe that the required findings for special use permit can be met. Findings are on packet packet page 59. [cough] [clears throat] It's also subject to the recommended conditions of approval on packet page 63. As a point of reference, the special occasion home code section was adopted as a way of giving ranchers another source of income. With that said, all of the venues in Douglas County that have been approved are conditioned to mitigate off-site impacts to the neighbors along with compliance with building and fire codes. For comparative purposes, I have a short PowerPoint presentation giving examples of a few approved special occasion homes in the valley. [clears throat] Here [gasps] we go. Glen Ralph,

before you uh continue, and I apologize I did not do this before your opening remarks. Uh are there any commissioners that have disclosures, disqualifications, or comments on this matter that they wish to make currently? Commissioner Low.

Thank you, Chair. I um reside my my house is about I want to say a quarter to a third of a mile north of this property and I have uh quite a few neighbors and acquaint acquaintances in the audience or have that have provided written documents on this item. Um, I received a text message from some of my neighbors regarding this item, which I immediately tried to stop the back and forth and submitted those text messages to staff for inclusion is in the public record. That being said, I do believe that my um consideration this item uh I I believe I can be impartial and take all the information that is provided. I don't believe that I'm disqualified. uh automatically from considering this item and I intend to go forward with it. But I did want to make that disclosure to everyone uh about my proximity to this property.

Thank you, Commissioner Lyall. Commissioner St. John, a number of the commenters are are friends and I did have a Super Bowl party within the notification zone, but I don't think that will disqualify me. and I have no financial interest in this um item. Thank you, Commissioner St. John. Are there any other disclosures, commentaries, recusals? There are none. My apologies, ma'am. And please continue.

Thank you, Chairman Bruno. For the record, Lucille Reo, senior planner. Um so, back in 2013 was our very first special occasion home, and that was the Jacobs Berry Farm. Um, the red star here is the location. Um, there's no rhyme or reason why I chose three. I just chose three that, um, we've worked on in the past. Uh, this one is as close as you can get to a neighborhood. Um, let me also state that I did check with code enforcement on recently to see if we've had any complaints with any of our event venues. And only about 10 years ago, they had one complaint about Jacob's Berry Farm, but no other venues that have been approved by Douglas County. [clears throat] So, I'm just going to point out some of the conditions of approval. So, we, you know, just to to show you that things have been conditioned in the other venues similar to what we've conditioned for their special use permit um before you today. So, for Jacob's Berry Farm, they're limited the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 10 p.m. Um, they asked for 300 persons. They were approved for 300 persons. I don't know that 300 people actually go there. I live almost across the street from this. I don't really see 300 people or even 100 cars going in that event venue. They're allowed 24 events per year. Um, and they're amplified music between the hours. Uh, so the planning commission had asked for uh to change the condition from 10 p.m. to 9:30 so they can have amplified music from 12:00 p.m. to 9:30 and unamplified music from 10:00 a.m. to 10 p.m. Um, I mean, we can go through all the conditions, but I don't know if that's really necessary. I think the important things would be noise, light, traffic, number of people, number of events. So, I'm just going to I'm going to unless you want me to go through all the conditions. I just want to highlight

what I think is most important to the public. I appreciate that. Uh um Miss Ralph and frankly the commission I assure you has read through the entire report and all of the information that planning has offered on this project. So, I don't think it would be necessary to go through all of the conditions. There is only one which I did not see uh addressed and that was the letter from the mosquito abatement group and could you enlighten me? Maybe I missed it.

For the record, Lucio Rayo. So at that time uh mosquito abatement was not involved in development applications. It wasn't until I'd say about maybe 10 years ago where they came forward and said, "We need to have our eyes on some of these projects and we need to be working with the property owner um and have some conditions if they're going to have people out there. You know, the the biggest thing they're they're concerned about is West Nile. So, they want to make sure they spray, make it safe for everyone. So, that's that's why you see a condition and the letter attached to this as well as the Gansburg project. Um, we had a letter for that one as well. And then the next one, sorry.

Okay. Um, the next one is the Twisting T-Bar Ranch. It originally was called East Fork Ranch. It's right there on the river on Centerville. Um, they had to do some work on their rightway. Um, endot required. So, they had to they had to do some uh they had to spend some money on having a turning lane. Um, again, their hours are 9:00 a.m. to 10 p.m. 24 uh they ask for 24 per year, 250 people. Um, the next one is Gansburg and that's on Waterlue and they asked for 250 guests. and their hours are 9:00 a.m. to 10 p.m. They ask for 30 per year with another uh also 250 per event. Um amplified music is uh I from 9:00 a.m. to 10 p.m. And that's the end of that. Do you have any questions before I move on to the applicants representative with Wilson Engineering for their presentation? commissioners. Uh just one with respect to this current application. Are they going to be required to do anything special for that mosquito abatement which came into being 10 years ago?

There is a letter in the packet. So she does want to enter into an agreement with them. I guess some some uh type of uh basically an agreement that they contact her so she can I say her because the the district manager is a female. Sorry, Christa Jenkins. Um, so the district manager would like them to be contacted so that she can come out and spray and make sure everything is safe and there are no incidences. Would that be an additional condition recommended by staff? It's uh it's in the conditions of approval for for this special use permit. Okay. So, um, Chairman Bruno, I I had a process question. Commissioner St. John, go ahead.

I had a pro process question. Thank you. Um the letter from the fire district, is that required to be approved at this juncture in the process or is that something that gets taken care of downstream during a building permit or during some sort of a site permit?

For the record, Lucio, senior planner. Um yes, it's it's a it's condition on this special use permit. They're going to have to do something. They're going to have to widen their driveway. They have to have a hard surface. So, anything that the fire department's going to require um will have to happen before they can open for business. So, conditions um I'm not I don't quite understand the denial or or the the email that I received from Amy when she's saying she denied it twice. We had a pre-application meeting which typically the fire department does not give a green light to any project until uh something is submitted to them. plans are submitted to them that they can review and approve. So, as far as I know, um it's kind of like the cart before the horse. You really can't give an approval if plans have not been submitted to the fire department. So, I know Zach's going to speak to that. So, um maybe maybe that maybe your question will be answered, but there will be a site improvement permit. There will be um a building permit. So there there will be things for us to control what's you know what's happening and that the items that are required happen

um before you go on Lor [clears throat] Jim um I did attend uh several years ago an event at Twisting Tea [music] Bar um they they weren't required to do any other parking But the parking that's on site and thank you. Chairman, may I move on to the presentation by the applicants represent? I appreciate it very much. Thank you, ma'am.

Here we go. Um, I'm going to introduce uh Zach Wood with Wilson Engineers. I'm sorry. What? Oh, I'm I'm sorry. Tom Brooks is doing a presentation. So Tom, when you want me to go to the next slide, just say next slide. [snorts]

Good afternoon. My name is Tom Brooks. I am the applicant. Uh, I'm a proud fourth generation Neadan descendant from my great-grandfather, Jean Yu Hart, who came from the vast country to Nevada as a sheep herder. My wife Mana and I are the owners of Fay Canyon Ranch, which has been in my family for 30 [music] years now. Next slide, please. We are here today requesting a special use permit for a special occasion home on our ranch. Our intention is to keep the land agricultural, steward the spectacular viewshed, and preserve the historic structures on the property. We've always been good neighbors and will continue those good relationships. We are aware that there have been several negative letters received and we are here to provide factual answers to everyone's questions. In preparation for this meeting, Mana and I spent time talking to our neighbors and explain the details of our application. We wish to make it very clear to our neighbors, these were some of the first questions asked, that we are not asking for permission to build any new buildings nor host concerts. None of those are have been on our radar. [snorts] All of the buildings that we will use are existing buildings. For good reason, this has been a long process as required by our community development department. Over the past year, we've done the work, verified that we are meeting all the county codes and requirements, and we we will be minimally disruptive to our neighbors. Next slide, please. [snorts] The history of our ranch began in 1858 with the Barry family. It was handed down to their daughter, whose last name, by way of marriage, became the current namesake, Fay. Subsequent owners included Deluchcci, Tip, Carry, Sprog, and eventually became the Dressler Ranch. It was the home of the Dresser family members Fritz and Minnie Drestler, Ernest and Emma Drestler, and Bud and Ruth Drestler. The barn, the white building shown in

the picture, built in 1900, is the only white barn in the valley, which was a trademark of the Dressler family. [snorts] In 1999, we completed a significant restoration of the barn, replacing older beams and structural elements, as well as new wood sighting that we had milled on site from Lodgepole Pines. The powerhouse, the brick building shown here, was built in 1907 and is said to be the first place in Carson Valley that electricity was generated from a Pelton waterhe off the west fork of Luther Creek. Our ranch house sits near the original house site among the old orchard and house garden. The ranch is our home. It's been in our family and it is our intention with this special use permit to continue preserving the ranch and its historical structures. We've continued operating it as a working ranch for the past 30 years, raising cattle. And as many of of you have seen this past year, we have recently begun farming lavender in a partnership with Sierra Shadows Lavender Farm. Please don't confuse that with the Airbnb issue that was talked about earlier. Different business altogether. The historic white barn, powerhouse, and old orchard with its magnificent trees have been well-maintained and provide a beautiful historic backdrop for events. Our intention is to host 25 events annually out of 365 days a year. Just 25 for private parties, family reunions, some weddings, as well as agricultural and historical events which could include dark sky and stargazing evening lavender education events, pollinator education field day. And once future renovations are completed and approved, we would like to offer barn tours, history talks, and photography opportunities.

Next slide, please. [snorts] Over the past 5 years, we've performed significant improvements on the ranch. We've renovated our well and installed a backup generator, improved our water delivery system throughout the ranch, and are increasing our pasture land. To better defend ourselves and our neighbors in the event of a fire, we have reduced the amount of brush and expanded defensible space throughout the property. We've planted over 100 native Jeffrey and Ponderosa [music] pine trees in the upper part of the ranch, emulating the natural environment of the foothills. Our intention is to further improve and maintain the ranch as it has always been agricultural. The colored area on the slide indicates the 4 and 1/2 acre area that we have voluntarily restricted our event space to so we won't adversely affect our neighbors. Next slide, please. Shown here are the distances from our event boundary to our neighbors property. The nearest being about 460 ft, others further. Next slide, please. Shown here are the distances from the event boundary to the nearest neighbors homes, a distance of 610 ft or greater. Slide, please. The larger events that we are requesting would not exceed 250 people and we feel the majority of events would be 150 people or fewer. [snorts] We would also like to do additional small events that showcase the history and agricultural heritage of Carson Valley showcating showcasing the beautiful ranch that we do have the pleasure of owning. [snorts] Events will be held near the ranch house

in the old orchard and lawn area, and you'll see more detail of this in the next few slides. The barn would currently be a backdrop only and will not be used for events until we've completed additional renovation. And the structure is approved by a structural engineer for occupancy. The ranch house would only be used for small private parties or as a preparation space. Next slide, please. [snorts] The next few few slides show how we will operate the event venue. I'll briefly highlight the different areas. So shown here in green is our entrance road off of Foothill Road which would be improved to meet fire code standards and ADA accessibility as well. Next slide. Shown here is the emergency access. This would not during events be open for the public, but be a secondary entrance as required by East Fork Fire for access additional access. Next slide. Shown here in the brown is the parking area with handicap. The little black line shown at the top right of the brown area would be the handicap accessible areas. Please [snorts] note that all parking all parking would be on site, not on Foothill Road and not on the entrance road previously shown in green. Next, next slide, please. Back one, please. So, shown here is the vendor parking area still within the 4.5 acre area. [snorts] Next slide, please. So the area shown here in green, we have voluntarily restricted our event site to the central area of the ranch in the orchard and around the ranch house. This

area features well manicured lawns, abundant large shade trees, and provides the best sound dampening area on the ranch. Next slide, please. This slide shows the location of the ranch house. Next slide, please. [snorts] The arrow here indicates the historic barn and to its right is the 1907 brick powerhouse that you saw in the previous picture. [snorts] And from this point I will turn it over to our engineer Zack Brown with Wilson Engineers for more technical Zack Wood. Zack Brown's a singer. [laughter]

Chair Bruno commissioners. I'm Zach Wood. I'm a professional planner and land surveyor in training with Wilson Engineers on behalf of the applicant. Um [clears throat] my background includes 15 years of local government planning where I led processing for special event permit plans that were extensive in terms of their scope participation and risk to the overall public including the death ride, music events. Uh, so I have a lot of background in mitigation of special event permits. Um, I agree with the staff's recommendation to approve the permit and the conditions. We did submit a letter uh, chair that requested some changes to those recommended conditions. Those were specifically regarding the noise curfew hours. And uh at the time the commission deliberates, we'd be happy to address any commission comments about those changes. Um specific to fire safety and access, predominantly the existing access is quite adequate. There's plenty of horizontal space. The applicant knows that their uh ranch gate will have to be removed or modified to meet horizontal and vertical clearance. um as well as all the improvements that would be required with the site improvement permit to meet this standard of a 20 foot wide uh structural traveled lane to allow access onto the site. Um so the applicant expects that improvement uh to be made and does agree to uh to make that most critical. So having emergency access to the site uh is is guaranteed with the applicant's application. Um I will uh point out that the access is I

think close to 500 feet 5 to 600 feet from the ride ofway to the parking area. So there is a lot of room. There's probably 10 or 20 car lengths of room for vehicles to enter the site off of Foothill Road before they queue up to park before they have to um pause and find their direction onto the site. They will probably go directly to the parking area which is uh for all parking standards more than adequate space to host the 250 requested participants. Thank you. Next slide. Um, in addressing those same life safety and fire safety requirements, the applicant has made improvements already, expects to maintain those um, and does have additional uh, improvement features on the property or will install them as a requirement of the subsequent permits. So, those include the extensive defensible space fuel reduction mitigation that's already occurred. Um parking by its definition creates that because you have to clear land to park cars. Uh but the applicant has done much more. There's surface water on site. There's a uh existing water supply system. Um I won't comment on the technical feasibility to use that um in current firefighting, but that's an existing feature of the property right now. So, if you took a poll of uh A19 land and other properties that would um not be within a improved fire protection water system, this is a is an asset to the property. Um and we're good. Thank you. Next slide. Um, our comment letter when we requested the change to the recommended uh

conditions really was related to consistency with those existing uh special occupancies that the staff described. Um, based on the curfew for 8:00 p.m. for cut off noise, if you're in a midsummer wedding, that means there's no noise and dancing while it's still light. So 10 p.m. was just made uh as a request. That's the applicant's uh preference to get the use to the same standard that some of the other special occasion homes uh are allowed. And we also still agree uh with the staff recommendation if that's the planning commission's prerogative of 8:00m if needed. Um yeah, I'll just share one anecdote. Um, I think this speaks to the whole spirit of this type of permit. Uh, I was able to enjoy the Twisting Bar Ranch barn at a kids's birthday party. And as a aside, one of the other parents, because usually you're looking down trying to keep track of kids, uh, he was looking up as was I. And that was [music] because the framing and the construction of that barn drew our attention. our backgrounds in carpentry, our backgrounds in ranching told us that this is special up here. This is a unique opportunity and I believe that that was the intent of the special occasion uh use to allow more people in the community to have access to these historic resources and enjoy them the same way. Um Tom's Barn is amazing in that regard. Next slide. Um, most importantly is [music] the existing physical conditions of this property lend themselves to meeting all of the required findings for approval of a

special use permit. Um, just physically it's isolated as much as possible. It's not the biggest ranch, but it does provide significant buffer from uh sensitive residences and neighbors uh in terms of physical distance. um the applicant's operation plan. So the the proposed mitigations, the way that this uh venue will be operated as submitted in the application is very detailed, is committed to safety and committed to um to addressing impacts to adjoining property owners. So that operations plan we didn't prepare as professionals. Um, by the way, I'm not a professional engineer. Um, that's from the applicant. That's their commitment. They are the property owner. They are the resident property owner. So, you usually don't uh party out your own house uh and impact it first. Uh and then finally on this slide, uh there is some limited lighting at the property now and all the future lighting improvements for guest safety will be compliant with um dark skies, shielded, etc. Next slide. Um Tom did an excellent job uh noting that to meet infrastructure requirements for events. Um and I just want to point out that most of these events only require temporary improvements. Tents, temporary bar setup, trailers, all these improvements that really host the 250 max uh leave with the event. the the barn and proposed use of it obviously is the more significant improvement. Um but you can see here that the the property's infrastructure as well as its physical

characteristics um will u will host without issue to straining infrastructure. Thanks. Next slide. Um again we agree with the staff recommendation that the findings per county code can be made. Um just providing this slide as uh a response and our application information included this as well. Uh so we can move on to the next slide. Um we just wanted to highlight these I think in terms of the broader planning policies of the master plan. Obviously highlighting agricultural uses, making the theme of historic ranches a highlight to the county and the community is what this project is achieving if it is enacted. Um, at the same time, its intent is not to create a true special event venue, an amphitheater power for extreme uh amplified music. It's meant to be compatible with the neighborhood and is based on the physical buffers based on its ability physically to meet those uh improvement requirements. Uh and then finally, you don't have to look hard for uh qualified archaeologist and historic resource surveys that all point to this barn that all point to this barn among many others in the valley from 2017 and in the 1980s that recognize that these are the historic uh assets of the community that are worth preserving by the applicant uh achieving this use permit. It allows for his continued use of the barn even if it isn't storing hay, but to keep that

structure maintained and available uh through the use permit. Um if that's the last slide, there's always more. Um, so, uh, I think we've in our application and through the comments, um, from Tom, uh, have addressed that here are some specific features of our application that meet objective requirements of the county right now, whether they be from fire protection or in uh, [music] title 20. Um, so, uh, we believe that those findings are met that are required to be made to approve the special use permit. And go ahead, one more. I'd say Tom should probably make the last comment, but I just met him in the last uh, month. I think he shares the same vision that I do as someone here in planning um, which is stewardship. how do we improve uh the landscape? How do we improve our existing uses? And what can we do to do the next thing better? Um he's already doing that and I uh as his representative uh would say we agree with the staff recommendation and we hope that the planning commission does as well to approve the use permit. Um if you want to add anything else Tom thank you chair. Thanks.

Thank you sir. Further comments?

Go ahead, sir. Tom Brooks again, the applicant. Uh, just to say that all the things that we've we've spoken about, they're there in your packet. there's much more detailed information that includes our operation plan. Um I think Tom Delair can speak to the the East Fork Fire issue and there was a confusion in who goes first I believe. Um he can probably cover more of that and we are happy at any stage along this process to answer any specific questions that you have. Thank you.

So that is the conclusion of the presentations and comments from our planning department. I'm now going to allow questions from the commissioners. Commissioner Walder. Thank you, Mr. Chair. First, I'd like to say that uh I do appreciate everyone being here today. Uh citizen involvement, I'm going to steal Bryce's thunder here, is always very important. We listen very carefully to the citizens who uh submit their comments and show up. And I did read there were 134 pages of comments uh that I got at 7:17 p.m. last night. I read all of those comments and uh I appreciate everybody's input. I also did make a site visit to uh review some of the comments that were made. I didn't go onto the property. Um um but I did uh look at the noticing sign. Um I somewhat agree with the the individual who made the comment that it's a little bit camouflaged. I would like to see them all bigger and near the road so that everybody is fully aware of what's going on. Uh I do uh uh recognize though that uh we do have a noticing radius and that's why probably most of you are here. Uh I'm not sure what the noticing radius was Lucille, but uh that's an important part of the public uh involvement process and uh I think we've uh we've met that requirement. I do have a couple of questions uh and I'm going to throw these out generally. So Lucille, you may be able to answer them. Some of them uh Mr. Brooks, Mr. would you may be able to answer them. When you come to the podium, please uh state your name and speak uh right into the microphone so we know for the record who is commenting on each of these things. And AJ uh I know you're always paying attention, but I may toss one or two that you may have to uh to weigh in. Uh first of all, on the uh on the conditions um packet page 64, uh condition number 12 says, "The barn is limited to 100 people. Please post signage stating maximum occupancy." Where are you going to put everybody else if you got 250 people?

Tom Brooks, the applicant. Uh, use of the barn would be only permitted for parties of 100 or less. Okay. But if you have 250 people, uh, the door is closed. Be pardon? Doors are closed. Not Not able. Um, you're I'm confused. 100 people are inside the barn and you have another 150 people who were invited.

No. No, Commissioner. So, the size of the event. So, if we were to contract with an event that was 100 people or less, they would be allowed to use the barn. If the if the person we contract with for an event was larger than 100, they would not be able to use it. It would only be at most a photo backdrop from outside of the structure. So everybody will be outside. That is correct.

Okay. Thank you. Now, uh number 13 says the home is limited to occupancy of 11 people. Um and then I think Lucille, you've got it phrased per table, 14.5 of the International Building Code, but I believe Mr. Brooks, you said that you have planned to use the House for smaller events. Did I mistake uh what she said or what the Lucille has got condition on number 11?

So in preparing the staff report, I met with Tim Davis, building official, asked him um based on the size of the house, what would he what would be allowed based on building code. So that's why that section is in there. Um if if they want, I don't know how they would get more in there as far as an event is concerned based on building code. Um, the house might be used for maybe a bride getting ready, something to that effect, or maybe a small dinner party. Um, Mr. Brooks is going to have to speak to that. Mr. Brooks, are are you clear on what the condition number 13 says and that is that acceptable?

So, we were confused as well by the 11 per table. Is that based on normally those things in hospitality are based on square foot how many square feet and you can put you know x tables there. So there may be three tables of eight would be the standard that I would be used to. The reference to 11 per table I did not understand and I would need further clarification on what that is. Our intention with the interior of the house would be as a preparation space um or perhaps a serving space for caterers uh as all events would be uh done with outside professional caterers so they may have a place to put their hot boxes and then deliver it out to the the people at the event.

Okay. There there may be some confusion. We may not be able to clarify this now. Uh, but I would think that's a important consideration that you need to work out with Lucille or with the uh the building officials. Absolutely agree. Tom or AJ, did you want to weigh in uh on this one as well? I think the the word per table is confusing. I would think of a table as a table where people sit around. I think the reference in the Yes. per the table which is clearly identified as table 104.5. But Tom or AJ

um Tom Delair for the record that is that is correct. Um Commissioner Holder, that's it's it's a it's a table in the in the reference that 2024 International Building Code. It's actually the IC um A117 document and and you can you can Google that and find that information online, but it is um that is the table that is being referenced for the occupancy of the home. Okay. I I'll move on, but go ahead, Lucille. But I think this needs to be clarified for you folks.

For the record, Lucille Reo. So, when Tim and I were discussing this, it was for assembly. So, he's looking up assembly in that table. Um, and so that's how he came up with the number. I he had the site plan, he had the floor plan of the house, and so that's how that number came out. Perhaps if table was capitalized instead of small, it'd be clear. noted.

We'll we'll we'll let you folks work that out down the road, but I think it's important to make sure everybody's on the same page. Um fur further on on the conditions, number 24 says all food shall be provided by a licensed caterer. Uh I would assume you're serving alcohol at these events or some of these events. And uh would the caterer then would be required to uh have a uh permit for use of alcohol? And AJ, I'm not sure if you need to weigh in, but Tom, you may know the answer to this. So um because I think it's an important consideration that we make sure all the rules are complied with not just that you have a licensed caterer Tom Brooks the applicant. So um we would again need further clarification um on it from the county, but our understanding and the way [music] we would operate in our our other business is that alcohol is served by a trained server so that someone who is intoxicated is not getting additional alcohol. So yes, and we are fully in agreement with having a professional caterer do those things.

Well, again, I think the the devil may be in the details on this. So, I would encourage everybody to be very clear as to what you're required to do because we don't want uh uh anything to uh happen that's outside uh what Douglas County requires of of any facility. Nor nor do we. And I'd like to stress to all the commissioners that this is our home and and we want to do a few events there to highlight it and to [music] help us pay the bills and do some restoration on the ranch. Um and we don't want people coming and trashing our home either. That's not our intent.

Thank you. Uh and then lastly on the conditions number uh 27 amplified music is limited to the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. And I know uh Mr. Wood you addressed this uh and we can uh hash it out further when we uh uh deliberate but I think uh uh there was some confusion and this was noted in the public comment too that page 65 conflicts with page 59. 59 says 10 p.m. and page 65 says uh 8:00 p.m. So if you want to weigh in on that uh u uh Mr. Brooks or Mr. Wood now uh go ahead and do that. Um but that I think may be a matter for us to deliberate on when we come to the uh the point of approval, disapproval or amendments to the conditions.

Sure. one one once again as Zach mentioned I [music] believe there was an additional uh memorandum sent to you and our question was if all of the other venues are stated at 10 p.m. why was it set at 8? Um our our thinking on this is we've we have very purposely restricted our use area to that very center of the ranch that has the most trees, the grass, the sound absorbing things and to try and make that that area where we use Does that answer the question?

Yes. Thank you. Um, lastly, and I again I think this is something that uh we may need additional parties at the table to discuss that the uh the whole role of East Fork Fire Protection. And uh I think Mr. Mr. Brooks, you're probably best able to answer this, but uh um in the materials was a a uh Wednesday, October 29th, 2025 um uh document from the East Force Fire Protection District uh about your submitted plans have not been approved. Uh and then there was further communication from uh Amy Ray on Wednesday, February 24th uh saying, "We've denied your plans twice." U perhaps Mr. Brooks, uh, for our edification, you could just walk me through the walk us through the timeline. Um, and please, Mr. Wood, you can go ahead too, but I'd like to be clear of when you contacted East Forcefire or when they contacted you and what you have subsequently done to try to satisfy them or why they are not satisfied. Now,

certainly hap happy to discuss this subject. This has been [music] difficult. Um, so when we first started the process looking at a special occasion home, we started reading title 20. Uh, as you know, that can be interesting, um, difficult to interpret. And there were three different sections that we thought might apply to us. And when we went to county staff to ask which applied to what and what rules were required for each, even they had difficulty trying to figure it out because some of those codes had never been used. uh guest ranch for example I don't think it's ever been used but it's there so what is this so as we started that process additionally with the fire department we asked we did a pre-planning meeting everybody was on Zoom and our intention was to pay that fee and get that input from them so that we understood all at this point we wanted to do was to understand what the permit entitled what we needed to [music] do and how to do this in a respectful way When during that meeting, fire marshall just said essentially read the code. We then through our engineer asked for an informal sitdown or zoom meeting just so that they might give us some hints as to how they would like us to design our site to meet their requirements. The answer came back an email that uh we will not give any advice unless there's a formal plan. So [snorts] we then submitted a formal plan through our engineers with drawings. Um and they reviewed that and denied it because they were asking for the complete um analysis which included a lot of structural or soil analysis as I understand it and other things that would have cost significant funds. We looked at the process and said we need to not put the cart before the

horse. it made more sense to come in front of the planning commission to find out the conditions and see how this would go before we went back to East Fork Fire. And so I think we have a case of the cart before the horse. And as my understanding is what we've done, we've not broken any rules. We have just followed the procedure and are waiting for the next step. And I'll let Zach answer from there. [snorts] Uh thank you chair or commission walder. If that answers the question to your satisfaction or I can provide more comment.

I think the more information we have the better and as I said we may not have all the parties at the table during this meeting. Uh but that is a very important concern. Uh that's part of the findings. Uh health and safety is always something we have to uh look out for. So I'll reserve any further comments or uh opportunity to comment. uh until other people have had questions. And did you need me to comment further, chair? No. Thank you very much. Uh thank you. Sorry. Uh our uh district attorney has a comment.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. AJ HS for the record from the district attorney's office. Just to clarify, this is just the planning approval for the the the special occasion home, but to operate the business of the special occasion home, obviously, there would be additional approvals that would be necessary. For example, you mentioned alcohol, there would need to be a liquor license. Caterers can have their own liquor license. They can come in with that to to sell alcohol there. Um fire approval is also necessary anytime you want to open any kind of business. Right? So there's there's multiple steps. Typically the planning approvals come first and then the the regulatory compliance comes as they get closer to actually opening the business. So I think that's what's what's happening here.

Thank you AJ. Uh further questions from the commission. Commissioner St. John first. Thank you, Chairman. I had a couple of uh clarifying questions. Um the first one's to planning. What is entailed in a three-year project review, which was one of the conditions?

For the record, Lucio, senior planner. Um, we put a condition on there for them to come back in three years for the planning commission to review. Um, staff can report back to planning commission if there have been any code enforcement, any neighbor complaints, um, if they've, you know, been doing everything they were supposed to do as the permit states. So, it's a review of of how the um the business has been operating and if the planning commission wants to revoke their permit. Now, let me also state that if it within if they were to receive this special use permit and they began operating and there were all kinds of complaints, [snorts] the community development director has the right to come back to planning commission and say, "We need to revoke their permit. They're not meeting requirements." There's been lots of code enforcement complaints. So, there's multiple triggers here if there were an issue.

Thank you. But it's a condition. Um, next question is, um, you have a list of agencies that need to review the plan, but the fire protection district is not on that list. Is was that just an oversight or um or am I reading the wrong list? Yeah. On on page 63, the following agencies uh will will do be part of the design review application. I see the I see INDOT, but I don't see the fire district on that list.

Uh number uh condition number 15, applicant shall submit community development department. Okay. Proof of Okay. East Fork Fire. I was looking at the wrong list.

Thank you. Thank you. Um, I was curious about the traffic projections. Now, I know the report says the peak hour traffic is projected to be 70 trips in an hour. Uh, I guess I'm having a little bit of a hard time figuring out how that happens when you've got a parking lot that's big enough for 120 cars. And it's my experience people don't show up that early or leave that late from weddings. But it seems like the hour before and the hour after there's going to be more than 80 trips. Just curious. Tom, do you want to speak to the traffic in the study that they provide to us on most applications?

Oh, yeah. Tom Delay for the record. So, the they they had a traffic engineer do a a letter that's included in your packet. I saw that.

Yeah. They that's what their engineer decided, you know, did in their analysis. Showed how many I guess they were assuming two and a half people per car. I'm I don't know how what the math is on that, but I'm assuming that that's what happens. And I think within the peak hour, it's within an hour. So, if it's maybe some of them show up early and help start setting up and I I have no idea how they do their analysis on that, but that's what the information they provided to us. Um mainly to to determine what kind of um movements needed to happen or improvements needed to happen out on out on the road out on the main foothill road.

Understood. And that that leads me to my next question. Um I know that that is an INDOT road and that their normal requirements is for an approach that has I believe a a full lane where you're actually going off the road and then turning into it. Now, to avoid building that that exit, I guess it's also an acceleration and deceleration lane, uh, the applicant would have to actually get a deferment from INDOT to just build a simple driveway. And I'm wondering what's being proposed here. And I guess my follow-up question to what I just heard was if if the number was over 80, what additional traffic requirements would be made?

Tom Deair again, uh, for the record, the INDOT is going to have to evaluate that on their road. Douglas County, we can't make that determination for them, but this is an INDOT maintained road and so they're they're going to have to submit an application for that if the use goes forward and they are approved. So that'll be part of the process before they actually can open business, they have to show that that INDOT has approved what what the plan is for the um for this venue.

Okay. Well, since I think traffic certainly is is a issue that's been raised thus far, I would ask the applicant, are they planning on building a standard uh driveway approach that includes an an acceleration deceleration lane? Or are they planning on asking for a deferment from INDOT for just a simple driveway? Again, the this is Tom Deair for the record. They endot is going to have to make that call. I don't know if they've submitted to INDOT. Maybe Zach can elaborate, but uh but I don't think that that application has actually happened yet to see. I I believe the INDOT per their requirements. I just looked it up on on their INDOT system and it looks like there's about 670 vehicles on the road today. Um, which I'm not sure would warrant a turning lane movement. Um, but it could. I mean, that's that's INDOT needs to make that call.

Can we ask the applicant if they're going to ask for a deferment or not? Yes.

I mean, since traffic's obviously an issue. Thank you, sir, for approaching the podium. Yeah, Zach would on behalf of the applicant. Um, where the application is in process, I can't affirmatively answer what's going to happen with this, uh, improvement to the ride ofway. The application is submitted does not include that type of improvement as part of the project description or the project features. That's because if we were to do that and follow the process that's being recommended by staff um and then have another agency that actually has jurisdiction over what those traffic movements are to be um not require that improvement then the applicant is stuck building a improvement that's over the capacity. So, with the site improvement permits, with the engineering permitting process, we believe that that answer will be uh determined by the appropriate officials and we're not trying to get ahead of that with the site plans that we've submitted already. Um, and we did start dialogue with uh with NDOT through preparation of the um the trip generation letter. So there at least for our firm and representing the applicant we have been um you know considering those issues that would come with encroachments and improvements in the right of way if that responds to the question.

Thank you. Further questions from the commission. Commissioner Lyle. [clears throat] Thank you chair. I have a question of the applicant about the residency on the on the ranch. Um this in the application you didn't uh indicate that this is your primary residence. So the uh when my my mom passed in 2019, it passed to my wife and I. We currently don't live at the ranch. We rented it for a temporary period of time. We gave the occupants notice about a month ago. Okay.

They uh have currently we're in for in um an agreement to purchase a home which suits us well. They've been great tenants. Uh they've taken care of the property reasonably well. Um so our intention is to reside at the ranch. It is our our home and we're headed back to it. Okay. And yet you're still going to have activities in the house? Not overnight. [music] Not no like like we're saying but use using it as a space for servers or for just for preparation. Okay. That's really our intention. All right. Thank you for clarifying. [snorts]

Further questions uh from the commission? Mr. McClump. Commissioner. Uh thank you. Um do you intend does the um owner intend to be on the premises during these events? Yes, we do. In the event that we might be out of town, um then there would be a a a fully authorized representative to deal with any situations that erodess. Okay. And I know you are still waiting for the fire department to weigh in um on the emergency access road or the secondary access road that you had. Is that suitable for fire equipment? Should

somebody need an ambulance or a fire truck that you would have nothing would block that? It already meets the uh width requirement. Uh the secondary gate would need to be widened by 4T. Um and the soil geotechnical analysis that we spoke about still needs to be done, but I can tell you that I stood there in the 97 flood with water running every which way. Um and it's not muddy. It's amazingly firm ground. [music]

So, we're not concerned at all that the geotechnical will test out that all that is. So, one of the questions that I think you may be leading to is that within the parking area coming off of the main drive, there are two entrances, kind of an entrance and an exit. Um, and that would be two-way um under the 20 ft. Uh, and within that area, there would be a [music] throughway, which you'll see in all the notes in our submitt. um that would be kept clear for emergency vehicles at all time and to just generally create a good traffic flow and and if someone needed to for personal reasons have to leave while people are still coming in they can get out.

Certainly. Yeah. I I it's it's not our requirement that that stays closed. My understanding is that it is East Fork Fire's um requirement that that emergency access would stay closed during events and everybody would have to come through the main drive. We're we're we're open to whatever makes it flow the best for the community, but that would be their their requirement that we're still trying to get some straight answers for. And the other uh is you still intend to go forward this even if it if the music has to stop amplified music has to stop at 8:00 PM.

We are certainly open to discussion on some of those those times um and numbers for events. Thank you Commissioner. Um oh Bryce, you have questions. Go ahead.

Thank you Mr. Chair. Uh, Lucil, can you just clarify because I still think there's some confusion and knowing a little bit about the process, I think it's important to clarify. Um, it is not uh a condition of our approval today to have East Fork Fire's recommendations or approval to to approve or deny a special use permit. Today, East Fork Fire will be engaged after the special special use permit. If it's approved, that's when they'll be engaged. It's not necessary to have their approval or denial, nor would it make any sense for them to even weigh in at this point. Is that correct?

For the record, Lucille Rayo, that's correct. And that's why we have conditions on there. There are steps. There are things they're going to have to meet to make this work for them. Even if they got approval today from you, they still have things they have to do. And if they can't meet them, then the permit does not move forward. Thank you. But they don't need East Fork typically would have no involvement at this stage of the process. Correct. For the record, Lucille Rayo, that is correct. Um, yes. A further comment, our vice chair. Thank you, ma'am. I was hoping to get a TDR out of this, [laughter]

but you said very clearly no new construction. Chucks. Um I have a comment and um I found it very constructive uh that planning does have a uh re-review at 3 years uh that is spontaneous in the condition uh should the special use permit be granted. Why do I say that? The applicant desires that it be permanent subject to complaints. that is to say only uh reviewable when there is a substantial complaint from the community or otherwise from planning etc by u some inspection of which I don't know. So, I am um I I'm pleased that it is a spontaneous condition of this special use permit should it be granted that it comes back to us and the public will have an opportunity after having experienced uh all of the circumstances under the various conditions to weigh in again. And uh and I thought that was uh something that wasn't present in the other special use permits that is in this one. and I was just commending planning for their foresight. Thank you.

I just want to make a comment. Um, as you know, you have the ability to change any condition that is before you in the staff report. You also have the ability to add conditions. If the 3 years doesn't work, you want to make it one year, 6 months, or add or change any other condition. We can do that here. I just want to throw that out for thought and conversation. Thank you very much, Blender Ralph. Are there any further questions uh from the commission to the presenter or staff? Um, Commissioner Cluts.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, just coming back to uh Commissioner Walders's question earlier, uh, Lucille, maybe you can weigh in on, um, why was this particular application changed from 10 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. as opposed to the others? I I know precedence is irrelevant and I'm not suggesting that we do that here. I'm just trying to understand why it was changed from 10 to 8.

Well, to be perfectly honest with you, I've been doing this for a while and I just based on where it was located um up against the mountain, I honestly thought the music might bounce off and carry more than it would down in the valley in some of the other venues. And that that's that's why I added that condition. Code allows 10 p.m. Um that was my thought process. But certainly again you can change it to whatever what whatever you guys want. If you want to agree with the applicant that it should be 10 p.m. then we can certainly change that condition.

Thank you. Uh I need to say that I did go out to the site and take a look and uh planer row is absolutely correct. It's almost like an amphitheater. Uh and uh that concerned me and that assuaged my fear when when I saw eight until I looked at it closer and it says 8 and 10. But I appreciate that very much because I think you're absolutely correct in terms of location. further questions. Uh then I'm going to close this portion of the hearing. Uh we've been going an hour and a half. I I'm going to if it's all right with the uh public, I'm going to start the public commentary so that we get you out of here before the ice storm hits uh which uh I understand is imminent this evening. So I'm going to open it up to uh public comment. Please state your name, sign your name,

and you'll have three minutes. Not from when you say your name, but from when you start your presentation.

Okay. My name's Kelly. I'm here for my parents. Um, they are neighbors of this property. Um, directly to that question that you were just [music] bringing up. Um, if the noise ordinance goes to 10:00, the music stops, how long is it going to take for people to get out of there and the noise keeps going, the cars are going, they're chatting in the parking lot, you know, all that stuff. So, if it's 8:00 and they're out of there by 10, that would be great. I mean, 10:00, they may not get out of there by 11, 11:30. and the neighbors are right there. Um my other thing was um the foothill foothill road and the entrance. Um it's 55 miles an hour there. There are lots of deer, bears, mountain lions, etc. crossing the road there. There are also a lot of bicyclists and there is no bicycle lane there. Um, how are they going to do the traffic? There's also F Lutheran parking lot there for the trail. People are going to be turning left, coming from the south, turning left. It's adjacent or very close to the entrance to his drive. Right. Um, I'm just wondering people coming around the corner there, if traffic's backed up, they're not going to see them. It's it's that's my main thing is those two things is the time and the traffic and the the road. What's going to be done there? That was my thing. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Kelly, what was your last name? D A Y. Thank you. Uh, next speaker, please. Would people please try and speak directly into the microphone?

For the record, my name is Chris Lang. I'm a resident off of Greenacre Drive to the north. My family [clears throat] is opposed to the approval of a special use permit for the proposed special occasion home at 445 Foothill Road. approval will cause a decrease in surrounding property values and deny many the quiet enjoyment of their home. Calling a large event venue in a residential area a special occasion home is a lot like calling the I and Paw solar power facility a farm. This proposal is more like a nightmarish vacation home rental with all the noise and all the traffic. Only exception is that nobody spends the night. Instead, they all drive away all at once in the middle of the night. Presumably, a lot of these events could be weddings. Most outdoor weddings are held during warmer months. That compresses that 25 uh events in a year to a smaller amount of time over the year. Warmer months are when people enjoy their own backyards and want to open windows at night to cool their house. Bands, DJs, and even symphonies regularly produce sound levels well above 100 dB and [snorts] can seat 125. A noise level of 120 dB at the venue site will be 90 dB 300 m away or 78 dB 1,200 m away at my house. Sound levels over 85 dB are harmful. Um I would like to maybe suggest that the commission impose a 65 del maximum as uh they have for Twisted Tea Ranch. um the owners to be commended for wanting to spruce up this historic property. That said, it is grossly unjust to require the surrounding property owners to subsidize a single property owner's commercial venture with a drop in their property values, degradation the quality of life, or the

loss of quiet enjoyment of their homes. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next speaker. Good afternoon. My name is Paul Eiser. I'm going to be very brief because I got to get to a doctor's appointment. I'm going to hand my written statement to the clerk. I just want to emphasize a couple of points. The cart is before the horse here. As it has already been said, I don't see how you can issue a permit before you have all the ducks lined [music] up. My other points are in my written statement. Anything further, sir?

I release. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Slade. Go ahead.

Jim Slade, Lee Allen Drive. County CR code requires, quote, "Only owneroccupied single family detached dwellings may apply for a special use permit to operate a special occasion home. This property is not owner occupied, so they may not even apply for an SUP." End of story. On page 69, however, Wilson engineers tried to mislead you by referring to the Fay Canyon Ranch as the quote primary property of a specific trust. The Brooks, however, do not live on the property as they have admitted. They live in a home with in a different one of their family trusts with a tax rate based on it being owner occupied. Wilson is being deceitful in claiming something completely different. County code also requires, quote, "The special occasion home must comply with all building and fire codes." Yet, the East Fork Fire Chief and Fire Marshall sent an official letter to the staff last week that said, quote, "This property does not meet the requirements of life, safety, and county code to have this business. We have denied their plans twice." unquote. This property and nearly all the surrounding properties are full of sage brush, which is highly flammable, and I think that is perhaps one of the reasons the fire department won't support this. Finding C requires that the proposed use will not generate vehicular traffic hazardous or conflict with anticipated traffic in the neighborhood. The applicant blightly states that since events occur primarily on the weekend, conflicts with traffic will be negligible. The applicant and staff both failed to mention it. Right across the street is the very popular Futher trail head, misidentified by the applicant on page 96 as a private residential driveway. It is most busy on weekends with the parking lot regularly filled with both cars and horse trailers. Especially on weekends, there are great many bicycles riding along this stretch of foothill, which has virtually no paved shoulder. This area is perhaps

second only to Genanoa where the speed limit is 25 in in the number of deer that regularly cross the road yet foothill has a speed limit of 55. Car d deer collisions are not only dangerous to the deer but also to cars and their occupants. To claim that traffic traveling along highway along foothill at 55 plus miles an hour to get to a wedding is not hazardous is disingenuous. And on page 88, it it states that it is physically impossible to meet spacing requirements for of ND dot per some set set of anyhow. Finally, there's a reason that this requires an SU because this type of use is appropriate only in certain areas. Let's compare it to the Gansburg ranch on Waterlue which asked for a similar SUP. Um that had only one home within a quarter mile and less than four within a half mile. Yet here there are 35 homes within a quarter mile and 55 within a half mile. Gansburg was owner occupied, had a 15 mph speed limit, did not have the same fire danger nor bicless deer or a popular trail head across the street. All of which create hazards for this foothill property. You should deny this request. Thank you, sir. Our next speaker. Thank you. By the way, I thank everyone for lining up like this. It makes it very efficient. Um, thank you commissioners for listening to me today. I wasn't going to say anything. Uh, my name is Steve Christian. I live at the end of Green Acres, which is approximately one mile from the site. Uh, my neighbors have bigger fish to fry, but I you brought up an interesting uh thing about the sound and the amplification from the mountain. I want to tell share a little story with you. I'll be brief. Uh, for my 50th birthday uh party, which is

more than just a couple of years ago, my wife had a surprise birthday party for me and she hired a band that played from uh 6 until 10. And I don't remember the the the music being unnecessarily loud, but it was a band. It was loud. So, uh during the course of the night, and I think we adhered to the 6 to 10, uh time frame, u a a person that lives up by this venue site on the very end, I think it's Lee Allen or something like that, they actually called Douglas County Sheriff's Department and claim and complained about the noise at my home. Now, that's one mile away. Okay. One thing and what you folks brought up, a couple of you brought up is the amplification of the sound. In the summertime, we have a southwesterly wind that prevails and it comes right out of Luther Canyon. It's a natural amplification of the sound. So any amplified music coming from this venue site is going to be heard by everyone downwind from it. And if this project did get approved, uh, and I don't know the folks that are applying, uh, I would say any amplified music there, it's just going to be too much. And if they are approved, I'm just hoping I I enjoy the the music they're listening to because there's no going to be no way to turn it off.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. Our next speaker, good afternoon. My name is uh Tom Casha and I see the special use permit DP25-0221 is not a neutral permit. It does not enhance the neighborhood in any any way and actually detracts from it by lowering the quality of life for the neighbors in the surrounding area. They say that they going to have approximately 25 events a year. Well, that's going to be concentrated in the summertime and potentially every weekend we're going to be listening to loud music, which is something that we really don't want to hear when it's in the summertime. We have our windows open trying to go to sleep and listening to the loud music. That's not conducive to a good quality of life. Um there's a dog that lives 200 200 yard well what I want to say is 200 yards is nothing. I have a dog that lives 300 yards away and I hear him all night long and that's just one dog. [snorts] Our concerns is with the noise and the traffic. It's not with the historic buildings that they have up here and they're going to preserve. That's wonderful, but that's not our concern. What uh what is the uh noise footprint that's going to take place? Has that been calculated? Has anybody know how much decibb are going to be coming out of that speaker is going to be traveling down the valley? Just like the previous gentleman said, it does travel. It just it's amazing that you what you can hear in that valley. I just want to know if that's going to

been addressed. Um, also the F Luther parking overflow. They said that they got plenty of parking. Who's to stop anybody from going over to F Luther parking? It's public parking. they can go over there and that's going to cause it's full enough as it is with no events and I just want to know if I can ask can I have a show of hands of the people in this room? I don't know if that's allowed. No, it actually isn't, sir, but we'll hear from them. I'm certain.

Okay, that's why I asked. [laughter] [snorts] So anyway, by approving this special permit, it would not be protecting the general welfare of the residents and property owners, which is one of the stated goals of Douglas County Planning Commission. Therefore, we ask that you deny this permit. Thank you.

Thank you very much, sir. Our next speaker. Hi, my name is Ryan Dunham. Uh, I completely agree with my neighbors concerns on the noise, the traffic, all the negative things, but I want to clear the air on some other confusion that there might be with the applicant. I am the nearest neighbor. I live at 581 Black Bear Trail. My wife and I bought our home there two years ago. I've never seen these people [music] or met them in my life. So his perception [music] of being neighborly and great to all of us might be a little bit muddied. Um the owner occupied thing that goes along with it requirement is my biggest concern which a lot of our neighbors have voiced and that was really all I wanted to say just introduce myself. Thank you.

Thank you very much. I appreciate uh your comments and uh your agreement without uh repeating extensively uh what we have already heard. That was very succinct and I appreciate it. Our next speaker, good afternoon. My name is Natalie Taylor and I'm a fourthg generation native Nevadaan and fourth generation to live in Carson Valley. My great greatgrandparents Henry and Mary Marquet settled in Carson Valley in the 1880s on Genanoa Lane. You can still see the three blue silos of my Aunt May and Uncle Frank Settlemire who took over the homestead upon the passing of my great great grandparents. My great greatgrandfather Mark purchased my family's ranch on Centerville Lane in 1914 and then sold it to my great-grandparents Charles and Ella Anderson in 1919. [music] My roots run deep in this valley. I'm here today to express my support for Tom Brooks, a fourth generation native Nevadaan, and his wife Mana, and their request for a special use permit for a special occasion home on a 77 acre parcel, the origins of which began in 1858, and which parcel was once owned by my cousins Bud and Ruth Drestler. From my brief review of the letters provided to the county by the protestants, it appears the major concerns are preserving the coveted rural characteristics and safety on Foothill Road. With respect to preserving rural characteristics, the Brooks family is committed to preserving the land and its legacy. Tom and Mana have put approximately 49 acres under a conservation easement to ensure the property cannot be developed and will stay as it is intended to be a working

ranch. With respect to road safety, perhaps it would behoove the county commissioners to consider reducing the speed on Foothill Road from 55 miles an hour to 45 miles per hour with a double yellow center line as been done on Centerville Lane, Mottzville Lane, and Muller Lane, which are far straighter lanes with significantly fewer streets and driveways [music] than on Foothill Road, or perhaps slower yet to 35 mph or 25 mph to address the safety concerns expressed by the protestants for cyclists, walkers, runners, horseback riders, and local wildlife. From my brief review of the application and county staff recommended conditions for approval and associated staff report, it appears the SUP is consistent with Douglas County code and therefore there is no basis to deny the request. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you, Miss Taylor. from [snorts] uh traveling from east to west on Genanoa, you can still see in very faded letters your last name on the top of the silos.

Our next speaker. Thank you, ma'am. Yes.

Good afternoon. Um, my name is Donell Woolstein and this is a letter or I'd like to um give my support for the special use permit. Uh, dear members of the planning commission, I am writing to express my strong support for the proposed special use permit on the 77 acre agricultural parcel currently under consideration. This proposal represents exactly the kind of forward-thinking agricultural diver diversification that Nevada needs to support, protect, and encourage. The property in question is already committed to agricultural use through a conservation easement on 49 of its 77 acres, ensuring permanent protection from development. This easement guarantees that the land will remain agricultural in perpetuity, a far more certain outcome than what exists on most neighboring properties without such protections. The proposed special use permit would allow the property owners to generate sustain sustainable income from their agricultural investment while maintaining the rural character and open space that all residents value. The future of farming is agurism. Across the United States, agurism and agretainment have become essential components of viable agricultural operations. From farm to table dinners in California to vineyard weddings in Oregon, ranches are diversifying their income streams to remain financially sustainable in an era when traditional agricultural income alone cannot support the connections um cannot support the land. These activities keep land productive, preserve rural heritage, and provide authentic connections between urban populations and working landscapes. Nevada, however, has fallen behind. While neighboring states have developed clear guidelines and pathways for agricultural diversification, Nevada property owners who wish to pursue legitimate agurism activities on their land must navigate an uncertain regulatory landscape, fighting for approvals on a case-byase basis. This creates unnecessary barriers for land owners who are doing exactly what we

should encourage. Keeping land agricultural, investing in rural communities, and creating sustainable business models that preserve open space. The current proposal is no different. Instead of recognizing it as a reasonable use of agricultural property with strong environmental protections already in place, some have chosen to oppose it with unfounded speculation and worst case scenarios that bear no resemblance to the actual proposal. Addressing unfounded concerns, the property owners have demonstrated exceptional respect for their neighbors by going doortodoor to explain their plans and answer questions. Rather than engage with actual proposal, some neighbors have constructed alarming narratives about noise pollution, drunk drivers, and traffic congestion, none of which reflect what is actually being requested. The facts bear repeating. This is a request for a special use permit for occasional events on a 77 acre property, nearly twothirds of which is permanently protected as agricultural land. Sp special special occasion events on agricultural properties are by their nature infrequent and well-managed. They do not transform the character of the land or the neighborhood. They do not generate the kind of daily traffic associated with commercial development. They certainly do not pose the environmental threats that would come from subdividing the land or converting it to residential use. Outcomes that the conservation easement now prevents. It is worth noting the irony. NE neighbors concerned about preserving rural character are opposing a proposal that does exactly that. The conservation easement ensures this land will never be subdivided, never be developed, and will remain open agricultural space forever. That is more protection than most properties in the area can claim. Community investment and scholarship or stewardship, sorry. The property owners are not outside investors seeking shorttime profit, short-term profit. They are community members with deep roots in this area and in Nevada. Their commitment to the land is evidenced not only by the conservation easement, but by their ongoing investments in agricultural use. They've welcomed agricultural partnerships, including me, to plant an acre of lavender on their

property. This lavender will contribute to the beauty of the landscape and create agricult additional agricultural opportunities in the future. Another example of how diversified agricultural use benefits everyone. The choice before the planning commission is clear. or support a reasonable proposal that keeps land agricultural, generates sustainable income for responsible land owners, and aligns with best practices across the western United States, or succumb to unfounded fears and deny a use that poses no legitimate threat to the community. I strongly urge you to approve the special use permit, and in doing so, signal that Nevada is ready to support the future of agriculture rather than stand in its way. Thank you very much. Thank you respectfully.

Thank you very much. our next speaker. Uh for everyone's information, as uh the time approaches 3:00, I will be calling for a 10-minute break just for everybody's edification in the event that you have to make a call or something more urgent comes up. Uh we have about 10 more minutes of testimony and then I'm going to have a break. Okay. Thanks.

All right. Hi, my name is Jessica Perry Dunham and I'm a fourth generation Neadan. Um, I think my first concern is owner occupancy. There have been lots of gray area in this application and that it was applied for prior to even um knowing that they weren't residents of the property. And again, I live at 581 Blackberry Trail. Never seen you in my life. So, them saying, "Yes, we came by and we talked to our neighbors." No, that did not happen. The other thing is the traffic analysis. It doesn't include cyclists. So at the very cyclists, equestrians, pedestrians, farm equipment, trail users, horse trailers, vendors, setup crews, all of the above, which you've already talked about. At the very least, an independent comprehensive traffic and safety study must be required before the approval is considered. And we talked a lot about fire, which was my next concern, so I don't have to go into that too much. Um, but it all starts with owner occupancy. Thank you.

Thank you very much for being so succinct. I appreciate it and so does the commission. Our next speaker. Hi. Uh my name is Mark Palmsky. Um uh number one uh yeah I'm surprised that the owner does not live on the property and if that's a requirement to even [music] submit the application should be just done not considered at all. Um, nobody certainly came to my house and [music] uh said, "Here I am. I'm going to do great things and they're not doing great things." Um, I'm actually appalled. I'm in line of sight, line of sound of the property in question. I live in Horsey Circle and I was not notified by anyone. One of my neighbors called me up and said, "Hey, we got a problem here." Uh, so I am appalled that nobody told me about this. Um, I'm concerned about noise. I'm concerned about fire. I'm concerned about traffic. Um, the traffic study did some really funny math. Um, they seem to just arbitrarily pick numbers so they could get below that 80 threshold and not do a study. Um, uh, the guy said he does the the, um, uh, death ride. He didn't consider bicycles at all. There's bicycles all year round and especially in the summer. We know that all all this traffic is going to be in the summer months. Somebody's going to get killed by this. Um it's just not good for this community at all. Uh I ask the board to deny this, please.

Sir, before you leave the podium, how far are you from the property? Do you know? Um, I would say about a th00and ft line of sight because I'm considering whether you were within the notice area. Um, I don't know what the what those limits are. What is your address? Uh, 462 Horse Thief Circle. 462. Thank you very much. Sure. Before I start, could I turn on my phone because I have some things saved on my phone? Uh, yes, ma'am. For that purpose, absolutely. Okay.

However, if you're expecting calls to come in,

no, not at all. service.

Okay. My name is Ruth Robertson or it's I go by Ruthie and I live on on Old Foothill Road. And I didn't even know about this until I saw a posting on Next Door. Um there's a couple things I I the the information that I got was short. I mean within three days of this posting. So I am a little bit confused because it says owner occupancy. The the definition of owner occupancy is that the the owner has to reside on the property at all times and that's not the case. The there is seem to be a gray area in all these permits for these special use. I'm all in support of agriculture, but they are not taking in consideration the staffing that is needed for 250 guests. Guests are guests. They are not staff. So the the road on Old Foothill is 55 miles an hour. It is not controlled by county. It is controlled by NDOT. the speed. The F Luther parking lot is 287 feet beyond the the main entrance and that is the only place that equestrians with horse trailers can park for the entrance of Futher. It is used by hikers, bikers, dog walkers and um uh uh people experiencing our valley. So that that if people are entering into the main driveway that really puts a concern of of traffic backed up and the safety of the people trying to exit Fail Luther Luther is a for service BLM. It's everybody's property. We have the right to to use it. We should not in any way hindrance it or or create a liability. Um,

international fire code is 20 20 feet there. Uh, in my opinion, there should be aprons going into in and out of these places or this spec pacific. Um, there's only 131 parking spots that that that works down to 1.9 persons, not even two persons per vehicle. A lot of people, if there is a venue there, there's most of the public isn't going to know that there's a venue there. There's going to be one person coming from Lake Tahoe from that direction or from the opposite direction that's going to go exceeding the speed limit. Everybody exceeds the speed limit on Foothill. I've been passed at 55. I don't even like to drive 55 on Foothill. Um, so let's see. And it says that the they want 8:00 to 11:00 on the first memorandum I read. That's 15 hours. Why is that when everything is supposed to be done that is being taken down for staffing as well? Um, you know, I'm all also that that this property is also in a conservation easement. It's also deferred agricultural. it is uh value through the county is taxable value is 558,31 and so I don't understand this is a commercial business a commercial business is uh generating income and so is the zoning going to be changed or at least the tax base

thank you ma'am thanks very much our next speaker we'll get one more in and then I'm going to call a break. So, you have uh 258 right now, less [music] than seconds. You want to take a break and then I'll uh It's your preference. Do you want to wait until after? Please enjoy your All right. We'll uh we'll take a break now until a few minutes after 305.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is your 30 second warning. We're going to start in 30 seconds. I am now uh calling the recess at a conclusion and let us proceed. Sorry folks. If you have further conversation, please take it outside. We're going to start again right now. Thanks very much. Before we go to our next speaker, um I'd like to ask our district attorney about a very important issue concerning notice requirements on public issues such as the one that is our agenda number one that everybody has been speaking to thus far. So, um, our planner, Miss Ralph, and our district attorney, I don't know which of you would like to talk about the process, but I think it would be very helpful and enlightening for all those present.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. AJ from the DA's office for the record. Anytime there's a project that requires um approval, uh and that project is a planning application that requires compliance with our title 20 of our county code, there's a noticing requirement. And for most projects, um including special use permits like this one, there's a requirement that notices be posted on site and that was complied with here. Um there's a minimum sign size that was complied with here. There's also a requirement that the meeting be uh notice of the meeting be published in the newspaper and that was done in this case. And then finally, there's a requirement that a rad a radius be drawn around the property. In the case of this property, the code requires that the noticing radius be 1,320 ft. And so what staff do is they they use uh computer software to draw a circle around the property and anyone within that radius receives a notice uh by mail. The mail is sent to the mailing address that is on file with the assessor's office and staff did confirm that in this case all of the noticing requirements were complied with. The object of course of these noticing requirements is so that people have an opportunity to be present at this meeting to be heard and uh and many people have had that opportunity and are in the process of being heard. So noticing has been complied with in this case.

Thanks very much. C may we continue with the next speaker please? [clears throat] Uh, hi. My name is Richard Basher and I I am an exact adjoining neighbor of Mr. Brooks and uh I've had a few uh occasions to uh discuss certain issues with him about uh since he took over the property after his uh mother passed away who was a wonderful woman very pleasant and always gotten along good with all of them. Uh I have concerns his tenants very nice people have young children and uh they would have uh like a birthday party or a summer camp out. They'd pitch a tent out back and I can hear the kids talking in their tent from my house. I'm at least 250 yards from the back of uh their their fence line at the back of the house. Um, they play music. I can hear it very clearly. Uh, I can only imagine what a band's going to be like. And it and it has to be that acoustic effect off the mountain there. There's just something about that neighborhood where any noise is amplified. I mean, the cows sound like it's the great migration of cattle, you know, whenever whenever they're there. And and the other item is I I know Mr. Brooks did everything he could properly to uh clear the land behind my house to make it uh more usable for cattle. And they had a big burn pit that they did properly and they cleared a lot

of trees and the old barn that blew down and uh they burned it in the pit and uh they covered it up with dirt and everything and uh unfortunately I guess they didn't get enough dirt on top of it and a big wind came up and uh the sparks came off of that and torched all the grass around the fire pit over into a couple of his buildings all the way down the fence line towards the furthest property that adjoins his thing. Thank goodness it was in the daytime and the fire company got out there and there were probably 20 firemen, half a dozen vehicles uh necessary to put this out. If it happened in the middle of the night from somebody flicking a a cigarette out uh from the event, you know, we we all know that, you know, people like to flick their cigarettes when they're partying and drinking and whatnot. Uh a breeze comes up in the middle of the night. Nobody's going to see that fire. And there's grass all around that property. That fire that I'm referring to covered at least two acres on the property. Went all the way out into his uh cattle pasture. Uh and wildlife. I mean, it it is a wildlife access area. We see deer, bear, uh bobcats. Mountain lion was camping in my neighbor's backyard drinking out of her swimming pool. There's a lot of animal life that travels across the road plus all the other traffic issues uh there. Uh that that's all I I wanted to say.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, sir. Our next speaker, please. Good afternoon. My name is Milus Scruggs. I live at 340 Foothill Road. This is what I got in the mail. This is the official county mailer. This is the circle that the district attorney was just referring to. My property is seen right here at the bottom of the circle. I am three doors away from the uh parking lot for the uh trail access and across the street from um Mr. Brooks's property. I've been there since 1996. I knew his dad uh and I knew the property before they purchased it as well. Um, for what it's worth, his uh father was a very nice guy and uh he said the thing he liked the best about the property was how quiet it was. Uh I'm a professional musician and have designed sound spaces uh for many decades. I'm retired now. The thing about decibb is very elusive. Um, it is a quite special area as far as the way sound travels and I'm speaking as a professional here. Um, I can hear human conversations of voices quieter than my own is now in the parking lot of the trail head from my backyard on a regular basis in the summer. When my neighbors next door play music outdoors in the last 25 years, they've done that twice because we can hear everything that goes on. I can hear the tinkling of the little bells on Kim Pausnine's sheep herd, which is further away than the

driveway is for the trail head. to uh allow amplified music in this neighborhood also creates the impression that loud music is something that the county has sanctioned. The examples given earlier where there were three properties picked out and there was only one complaint of loud music is a bit deceptive in that people think that the music is allowed so they don't complain about it. They don't know what it's like to live without the loud music and they think it's part of the environment. They used to rehearse the band behind the high school there before they built all the the buildings around it. And once they built the buildings around it, all the people started complaining about the band rehearsing there. Well, if they didn't like that, they shouldn't have moved in there where the band rehearsed every morning. The same is true in an opposite way in Foothill. [music] It's as quiet as can be. And the idea of somebody just even opening up their car doors and cranking up the music and leaving it that way for a few hours would be quite a change from what we have now there in the way of a sound environment. And I think that it would be uh something that we would all object to. Although I don't know if we'd all be uh I think we're too nice to go up to one of our neighbors and tell them to turn it down. If there was an official permit given for a place to have parties and weddings, I think the people in the neighborhood would be reticent to confront the owner and tell them to turn down the music. Nevertheless, the music would be a big problem for all the rest of us living there. Secondly, I wanted to talk about the traffic. The traffic uh is a 55 zone on a Nevada state highway. When they put in the veterinary clinic on on Highway 88, they made Marty pay for that exit lane there and it was

in the high hundreds of thousands and he personally had to shoulder that uh payment or they wouldn't allow him to have an exit lane there and they were going to make noise about how you couldn't turn off there at all unless there was an exit lane. So, I think that with 250 cars, uh, which is not unreasonable because many of us just drive with one person per car, the figures on this of having to stay under 80, it seemed to me that that's pushing three people per car. None none of that really makes sense. There's going to be a lot more cars than that. And in parting, Foothill Road has a special designation designed to attract bicyclists as a scenic place to go ride your bicycle after which bicycle traffic drastically increased.

Mr. Shouldn't the response of the county be then to decrease traffic or decrease the speed limit or do something to protect the cyclist? Your your time is up. I'm so sorry. Okay. Thank you for listening. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Do I reregister? Oh, sorry. You uh spoke this morning. I did. Okay. Is this something different, sir? It is. Very good. Then go ahead and please do write again because you're going to be uh you're going to be in the minutes twice. Thank you. So this morning, I believe that uh this is about planning versus living with the consequences.

Can you repeat your name for me, please? I don't remember it.

This is Rob March. Thanks. This is about planning versus living with the consequences. This morning I put my cap on dutifully so that my hair would matt down. Well, it didn't because even though I planned for it, by this time the hair didn't go down. In 1860, the uh Kingsbury Grade was built for as a gravel road or or for mining basically. And it was designed specifically for that. In 1968, it was improved to its current standard and the road uh speed is 35 to 45. I can tell you as one of those clowns that ride up that that hill all the time that they're not going 45. Most of the time the big trucks that are going up are going 55, just going up. So the speed limit there although designed reviewed by planners and thought to be the right thing is not followed. So it's living with the consequences. Now I can slow down my speed fortunately so that I don't get killed. But the bottom line is that people do what people do. I also live right off of Foothill right where um Arlene Marie Lane is and I ride my bike there and 55 miles an hour when you're getting zoomed by and tagged almost is a frightening thing. But at the end of the day, I take the choice of taking that risk because I enjoy the sport. But the point being is those big gravel trucks that are driving past me sometimes and suck me into their truck are going far faster than 55 miles an hour. My point is living with the consequences. I mentioned earlier that planning versus living with the consequences is different. The death ride, which I've participated in, is a wonderfully planned event and fine-tuned, but it's only a week. Let's

face it, it's only a week. And this is a permanent fixture that we're planning to put into the community. Planning is not living. It is anticipating things but it is not living with the consequences. And there are many things here that have not been really thought through from a code and planning point of view. Plenty of things have been talked about today. But from an actual living with this, it hasn't. That's my point. And I wish you to consider that. I think more research is really needed to fine-tune this to allow the folks to make money, which I'm happy that they're trying to do and keep all of the good things that come from owning large plots of land. But at the end of the day, without real study from people that really understand consequences, then there really is no planning. It's just simply hypo hyperbole. Thank you.

Thank you very much, sir. Next speaker, please. Uh, my name's Rick O'Donnell and there was a case um that involved my house before I bought it with tenants that live there and there was a gentleman at the end of Leland that had a problem with the people in my house's dog barking all the time and it literally went to court. They threatened to sue, you know, they sued the tenants in my house because the sound travels so far there, but the they basically uh these guys were going to jail or they had to have their dogs vocal cords cut. And this was from a house that was further away than the Brooks's property. Um, just an example of how the noise travels. Um, also the current tenants on the Brooks's property, their kids ride little quad motorcycles around that are super quiet, four strokes, not modified. We can hear them in our house. I mean, clear as day and it's super quiet and it doesn't bother us, but um, receptions, loud music is it's it's going to be a big problem in the neighborhood. [music] It's just the sound travels, which Milo also, I mean, he explained this. You guys probably heard enough of this, but you'd have to sit out there and go out, go turn a car radio on at their house and set up on the hill where we are and you'll understand [music] how how gnarly the sound travels and bounced around with the rocks and stuff behind us. Um, that's what that's all I would say. But

thank you, sir. I appreciate it very much. Uh, sir and I you spoke already. However, once [music] but he spoke twice. I I know I understand that he said it was something different. You you were both passionate and dramatic and we have a good memory. More dramatic. Okay. And it's something different. And it's something different. Something different. Please go ahead and continue. Thank you, sir. Um my feeling is if you people Can you state your name too for me? Special do what?

Oh, hi. My name's Chuck Pa for those that forgot. Oh. um you're going to open up or you're going to create a precedent, okay, that's going to open up a Pandora's box. Now, let me give you an example. I'm an avid dirt bike racer, gun guy. I'd love to put a motocross track on my property, which adjoins their property. um if you improve the or or approve this, the noise made by the new dirt bikes is actually probably going to be less than these bands going into the night. Whereas a motocross race would be over say 3 4 in the afternoon. And if the guys wanted to shoot on the big bore rifle range, um the noise would probably be less because it would be behind Burns. It would be hard, I would think, for you to deny that if you approve this. So with that said, um also I was the individual that made the F Luther Canyon trail head possible. That was my property, right? Well, I I I agreed to that and then I regret it now because the people come in with all these good intentions, it never seems to stay or go in that direction. So regardless of what you know these people, the Brooks say they're going to do, it's never going to go completely in that direction. So it's going to be far more than, oh yeah, there's only going to be 25 cars and No, it ain't. It's going to be a lot more. It's going to be a lot more drinking, too. So with that said, um I'll sit down.

Thank you, sir. Uh, may we have our next speaker, please? Hi, my name is Mike Hulcom and I want to start off by first saying I apologize. I was not here at the beginning of your open public comment half hour ago. I my Tuesdays are now an Uber day for my mother for nail and hair appointments that I have to run her to and from. So, I was gone. So, if I repeat something that's already been said, I apologize in that sense. With that said, I have been inside this same building going through the same deal that Mr. Brooks is getting ready to go through in a much more tense situation than what this situation is right now. So, I feel for him in that sense. I have a hard time somebody telling me that I can't do something when the code says that I can do it. That's a hard line for me. My concern with this uh event thing that he's trying to put on my driveway is going to be the closest the second closest driveway to the entrance to this place. My concern is folks riding their horses every day up and down that road. Typically, most weddings are on Saturdays. Not always. If you're going to do 26, that's half a year. That parking lot at that trail head is a nightmare on Saturdays. I'm just concerned about all the extra traffic. Again, I do not want to say that he cannot do this because again, the code says that he can do it. So, I am in agreement with that part of it. My concern though is the safety of everybody going up and down that road from the horse guys, your uh your ranchers with their hay trailers, things of this nature. So, um I just hope that that's taken into consideration. You

talk about the noise like everybody's talking about. I fully agree with what Rick said about those dogs. Yeah, I live two doors from those dogs. I never slept at night because those dogs barked and they took its vocal cords out to try to calm it down. It was a sad deal. So, I get it. Sound travels really well around that property. My concern is is like, okay, if somebody's parking out on the road for this project or for this for this event, who's going to come and enforce that? Two years ago up above our house on the California side, they had an event up there. Somebody had a special use permit. Obviously, it's not within this group that was involved in that. They literally blocked my driveway going in out of my house cuz they ran out of parking. How's that fair? How's that right? So, those are the concerns that I have moving forward is is who's going to enforce this if that's where it comes to. Thank you.

Thank you very much, sir. Our next I'm gonna speak about something different. Could please. It's Kelly day. I I understand and you covered several topics already. This is completely different. It is. Go ahead. Point of order, Mr. Chairman. If we allow one person to speak twice, we'll have to allow every person to speak twice. That's a violation of our rules. we could get overturned on procedural grounds. You you can't just introduce a new subject and ever have everybody speak twice.

Mine's a real quick one. Uh we have closing public comment. Okay. But mine's real quick. I just have a question. No, no, no. There's a point of order that's pending. Yeah. If I make the wrong decision, we get overturned regardless what we do. Okay. However, I generally side with the public. So, I am going to go in contravention to my commissioner's desires and allow you to speak twice. Okay. This is your second time. Yes. Please. I hope it's new. Thank you.

Okay. My concern is trash after the events. Are trash trucks going to come in early in the morning after the event and pick up the trash and take it out? I mean, that's just noise. And then my other thing was not a wedding or anything like that, but he mentioned stargazing. That will usually be during the summer when the weather's nicer and it's going to be later at night cuz the days are longer. Is that gonna affect the time frame? That's all. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next speaker, please. Hi, my name is Jim Richardson. I live at 500 Foothill Road. I bought it 39 years ago. There was nothing between me except one house and Heritage Home Ranch uh and 88. Um what concerns me about this fire issue is I haven't heard anything about the Wooi wildland urban interface. Okay. As of January 1st in the state of Nevada, uh, your insurance company no longer has to offer you, uh, wildland fire insurance. I don't if you were aware of that. Also, ROI is if you live a certain distance from a fire hydrant, uh, East Fork Fire requires you to put up, it were three options, now it's only two. a sprinkler system with a standalone tank and an approved delivery system to that sprinkler system. I was I've got four acres up there. I was going to build a silly little threecar detached garage and uh we met with the East Fork Fire Advisory Board and um this uh is in case you ever need a fire truck. Okay. And I um at the time I asked the staff, I said, "Well, wait a minute. I live farther than that from the sheriff's office. Do I have to put up a fee in case I ever need a deputy?" And I was

told uh then, "Well, that's different." No, it's not. There are folks, and it doesn't matter if you Yeah, I border Forest Service land, but that doesn't matter. There are folks down off of East Valley that have had their insurance cancelled because of these new rules. And I haven't heard anybody address that yet. The creek that goes through, they're calling it Fay Luther Creek. Okay. I've always called it Fay Creek. That goes right through my pasture. And over the years, I was with the sheriff's office for 25 years. and uh a fire a source of water up there is very important. Um and they the East Fork fire even though that creek runs across my land uh about 3 ft deep 12 months a year it still wasn't sufficient for suppor fire suppression that they wanted for my four acres. So I asked, well, what is this WOI going to cost me based on the square not uh excuse me, not the square footage, the volume of the largest structure on the property? Um, I had to come up with $9,000 as a one-time tender fee to East Fork Fire uh before I could even move dirt. Yeah, it this is a fact. I'm not making this up. Um,

sir, I'm going to have to ask you to have a concluding comment because your time is up. So, okay. [laughter] Well, I thank you for your time, folks.

Thank you very much, sir. Mr. Slade, I have two brief different comments. First of all, somebody said recently, Jim Slade, someone said recently that this is allowed by code. It is not. The applicant is allowed to apply for a special use permit. It must meet the county code and all the required findings, which is a discretionary act. So, it is not allowed by code and it does not meet the county code or the required findings, which is why you should deny it. In addition, they can't build on this property any more homes because all the development rights were stripped off of that entire parcel in the creation of the first clustered subdivision in Douglas County, which is Lee Allen Drive where I live. Um and thirdly, the profit motive of one person, one family should not trump the quality of life and the rights to the quiet enjoyment of the properties of 55 different families. Thank you.

Thank you. If there are no further Very good. There are further public comments. Thank you, ma'am.

My name is Jessica Stumba. I live at 460 Foothill Road. Um, I agree with everyone who is opposing this, but one thing I do want to bring up, um, most importantly, it is definitely not owner occupied. I see the tenants pick up their trash constantly. Um, we The other thing I want to point out is that, you know, they are trying to say that they're trying to just pay the taxes and make money off of this property. Their taxes are less than my taxes are on two acres. So, that is not hard to cover. So, I I don't know. This whole thing is very frustrating because it's going to affect all of us here in this room and not them because they don't live here. So,

thank you, ma'am. Public speaker. Thank you.

Uh my name is Brenda Palonski. Uh, okay. I respectfully oppose the request to allow commercial or special events in this residentially zoned area. Residential zoning exists to protect the safety, privacy, quiet enjoyment, and long-term stability of neighborhoods. Homeowners make significant financial and personal investments based on the reasonable expectation that residential zoning will be upheld. While I understand the applicant's interest in using the property for special events, this proposed commercial use is fundamentally incompatible in a residential setting. A lot of my concerns mirror much of what's already been discussed. Just there are a few that I might expound on. Traffic and parking is a big issue. I see the fact that Foothill Road is a byway to 88 either way, either direction. So coming out of their property, they're going to turn left to go to 88 to go to 88 or going to they're going to turn if that's congested, they're going to go right down Foothill and then connect some way to 88 the other opposite direction. That road is a 55 mph speed limit. It's a two-lane road with steep shoulders and or with steep uh no shoulders but steep drop offs the whole entire way. There's if you're if you're a resident, which most of us are along Foothill and you're driving 55, there's no limit to the amount of

passing that you will experience going down that road. people pass you easily and you're driving 55 and they're zooming past you in and going into oncoming traffic. It is already Foothill Road is a designated wildlife area viewing point, meaning by virtue of what it says, it's full of wildlife. In addition to the wildlife, there are ranches along that area, cattle ranches, sheep ranches, and many of the ranchers use Foothill Road to move entire herds of cattle from one ranch to another consistently. Um there are tractors that travel that road. Um bicyclists. We have races that connect from Kingsbury all the way over to Fredericksburg Road on any given day. Again, if you're turning out of their driveway, which they will be doing, and going one direction to hit 88 or left to go to 88 or right to go to 88. Either way, at Frederick'sburg Road,

ma'am, you have to conclude. Okay, I will conclude with just the fact that between Foothill Road and Fay Luther Trail and Fredericksburg Road, there's a significant amount of bicycle, [music] equestrian, livestock um that that travels that road. And thank you. I don't know how you're going to control that.

Thank you. Is there any further public comment? Seeing none, uh there is time as I indicated for a rebuttal. No new facts, no new circumstances on the topics that you've heard and some that you've all that you've addressed. Do you desire a rebuttal?

This is Zach Wood. Uh chair, just a question on the rebuttal format. If the commission or chair would like to ask any questions during the deliberation, we're available. That is fine. Why don't we turn it to the uh commission if you have further questions for the applicant after you've listened to the public. Commissioner Walder.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do have a procedural question or two that I'd like to get clarified uh with the district attorney's office. First of all, AJ, on the packet page 54, uh, in the background material, it says, "To qualify to apply for a special use permit to operate a special occasion home, the following three criteria must be met per DCC 20.664.240." Uh, AJ, could you uh read the applicable portion of that uh county code and give us your opinion on uh the status of uh where we're at today?

Thank you. to AJ HS from the district attorney's office for the record. Yeah. So, this in order to qualify for a special use permit to operate a special occasion home, there's a threshold set of requirements that must be met. Once those are met, then you would analyze the special use permit application under the normal special use permit factors. So sort of the threshold factors that the that need to be present in order to proceed would be first uh only owner occupied single family detached dwellings may apply for a special use permit to operate a special occasion home and you've heard testimony today from uh various individuals on that topic. You would use that information that you've gained today to make that finding or not make that finding. B, the owner must demonstrate that the primary residence and/or accessory structures on the property have historic character that reflect the cultural and architectural history of Douglas County. You also have some information that you've received on that point. And then C, the special occasional must comply with all building and fire codes, including ADA requirements. There are some other factors that are they they speak more to requirements than they do qualifications. So, I don't know that I'll read all of them. For example, it says special occasions may include and then it lists a number of types of occasions and those aren't necessarily requirements that have to be met. Just there are requirements that are imposed if the special use permit is granted. But I think the two primary ones are that it be a a single family detached dwelling that is owner oper owner occupied and that either the residents or accessory structures on the property have historic character.

Thank you AJ. And if I may if I may continue and uh as I understand it the planning commission is the final decision authority [music] on this matter. Although if we would reject the uh application that could be appealed to the board of county commissioners. Am I correct in that uh process question? That's correct. Special use permits are issued by the planning commission and there is no subsequent proceeding absent an appeal. Further questions? Commissioner Clutz.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um Mr. Hams or Mr. Ra, maybe you could answer this. If if the application uh were to be denied, does the applicant have the ability to reapply at a certain time or no? For the record, Lucille Reo, Community Development, yes, they have one year. They can come back in one year and and apply, come back to the planning commission. [cough and clears throat] Further questions, vice chair, is the speed limit on Foothill 55 the entire length?

For the record, Lucille Rayo, I I think when you get to Genanoa, it slows down to what is it 25 and then is a 45 and then up Jocks Valley it's 45. My question is I'm wondering if it's [music] when you hit the trail head if it slows down because you're nearing the curve. For the record, Lucille Rayo, I do not believe it is.

Okay. And also, if you have a southwest wind, doesn't that mean it's blowing from the southwest? Okay, that's what I thought. And so the sound would be coming up from the southwest. It wouldn't be blowing towards south. It would be the sound would be going towards the north, right? Okay. [snorts] And the county can't lower the speed on Foothill. NDOT has to do that. Correct. All right. And I looked up Foothill Boulevard and it's being advertised all over as a Carson Valley Scenic Drive. So my question is, is it fair to any of the homeowners on Foothill that they should be held hostage to that advertising? There are a lot of beautiful old ranchstyle homes on there where like the guys who raise cattle or have sheep or have cottage industries on there if they want to have art trails or whatever. Should they be held hostage to the Harleyies that do their motorcycle drives on Foothill or the people who come with their horse trailers or people who do scenic drives or the car rallies or anything else that go up and down Foothill? Mr. Brooks, for example, if he wants to have a um a quilting show or whatever on his property or a small reception, should he be held hostage to not be able to have this because he may have 25 cars or 50 cars coming and parking on the property? That's an issue for me

because it will be increased traffic on a summer weekend when there are increased traffic due to advertising that it's a Carson Valley [music] scenic drive. I think that's unfair to him or to any other property owner along Foothill. And I I think a dog barking in the evening is a lot different than music. It's a lot sharper and it's more irritating and it's more startling. But I I think that the hours that Lucille put in the pack at 8:00, cut off the amplified music is fair. And I think that the type of music that's playing at 8:00 is of concern as well. I don't think rap music at 8:00 at night is is fair to the neighbors. So, that's a consideration and I think that um it's it's worth a shot. I I do think this is worth a shot and I think that we should bring it back for consideration and it is monitored by the county for complaints and if there are complaints then the SUP is reviewed. I don't think I think that um it's just an opportunity for an agricultural property and you've done a lot to preserve the property. I like the idea. I was sitting here when we approved the Gainesburg and they've done wonderful things and I have no gut objections to it. I sympathize with the neighbors because I live

upwind from TJ's corral and let me tell you that is really noisy. Very, very noisy. But it depends on which way the wind's blowing. Some nights I have to have the windows closed till 9:30 and other times I can have them open all night. It just depends on which way the wind's going. So I support this and I think that uh we should restrict the time to 8:00 and I think we should uh actually restrict it to 20 events in the beginning. And there you have it.

Thank you. Uh, Madame Vice Chair, Commissioner Clutz, you have questions or do we want to bring it to the commission for deliberation? Yes. Okay. Do you have questions? My comments for then. All right. Do you have questions, uh, Mr. McCullip, or do you wish to bring this to the to the I think I'm ready to deliberate on it.

All right. Uh in view of the fact that there was no rebuttal, questions have been asked. Uh I am going to return this to the commission now for deliberation and decision. First I have one question of our district attorney on a matter that Kirk has brought up and that our district attorney has read which I did and I'm a little troubled. The facts that we've seen today, the evidence is that the property according to Mr. Brooks is going to be occupied permanently in a month after the tenant leaves. The statute looks like it requires such occupation at the time of consideration of the special use permit. Are we bound to deny because it is not satisfied or may we continue or what should we do because the property by admission is not occupied currently.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. AJ HS from the DA's office for the record. Again, I'll just I'll just read it so that we're all fresh on what the requirement says. It says only owner occupied single family detached dwellings may apply for a special use permit to operate a special occasion home. When the applicant did apply, they indicated that they satisfied that requirement and that response is in their justification letter um which begins at page 67 of the packet. You did hear testimony today that they don't currently occupy but will occupy. I don't know that that it it's ultimately up to you to decide whether the whether any particular [music] finding is met. Staff have taken the position that the finding can be met so long as a condition is imposed that requires the owner to occupy at the time that the special use permit is being [music] used. If you do, if you disagree, you could take a hard stance and say, you know, we we think they have to be occupying today. Um, which then you could if that's the basis for your decision, you could deny on that basis or you could continue it a month. But ultimately, they they have indicated that they do plan to occupy. So, we could come back in a month and review it again or you could take staff's position or you can take sort of a hardline approach and and just say that they don't qualify. But really you have to look and see can can a condition that is imposed ensure compliance with the findings that are required. If you think that the condition can ensure compliance then you can vote to approve. If you do not believe that the condition is sufficient to ensure compliance with code then you

can vote to deny. Thank you. Uh any further questions or shall we deliberate? Comments? Who would like to start it off? Mr. Cluts, Commissioner.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um first of all, I I just want to I want to commend you, Mr. Mrs. Brooks, and your and your family. Um just for uh the work that you've done to preserve the ranch over the years. Um you a lot of times as we sit up here we see just the opposite um of you know applicants who want to reduce open space and master plan amendments and all of those other things. And so I want to commend you. Um as a native Nevada myself, I think that it's it's one of those and multigenerational. I think it's easy to come in and and tell a rancher what you can or can't do uh with your land uh because of how it may affect somebody else. However, you are doing all of the things that you're supposed to do or not supposed to do that you should do um just in terms of preserving uh open space and and [music] a land. Um I also um support and will continue to support uh our ranching and agriculture communities um in identifying other ways uh to supplement your income. Um you know most people look at the ranching community as these wealthy people who are just trying to make another buck and I don't know your financial situation and it doesn't matter. I know that most ranchers, many of which I have relationships with, are land rich and cash poor, um, and doing everything they can to make ends meet. And so I'm in full support of agurism. It it exists throughout the country. Um, folks are using their ranches to support, you know, hunting, um, other activities that were mentioned prior. uh and so they do

it as a way in which to continue to preserve the legacy of the ranch um for future generations. And so I commend you for that and I'm sure they're not going to get in your way. Um, I do believe that the the conditions are met with the one exception that I do believe that we need to condition that you do own and occupy uh the the um the residence um if this permit is granted that that be a condition. Um, but I I believe all the other um conditions have been met and I I've said many times as I've been up here, I strongly support this community and the voices of everybody. Uh, I empathize with the concerns that exist. Things with regards to speed and traffic and all those things have been addressed to the extent that they can be and that we have the purview that we have the purview. I want to be clear that we have the purview in which to address and so fire, traffic, all of those other things, code enforcement will all be done at the secondary level as they are with any special use permit. Um, so [clears throat] I think the 8:00, although I know weddings would like to go longer, I think that that is a fair compromise given the location of this particular venue and the proximity of the neighboring residents. And so I think that, you know, a good compromise is one in which both parties leave unhappy. And so um so with that said, I'll I'll be in support of this special use permit.

Thank you, Commissioner Cluts. Commissioner McCulla,

I think um we heard a lot of comments about noise and that's concerning. Um, but we all live in areas where neighbors have parties and uh I have a neighbor about once a week is louder than they are the rest of the time. They're good people. Um, I don't think that should necessarily stop a a use that I think is beneficial to the community. I think agurism is one of the things that we're going to need for the ranching community to survive in our county. I think we can talk about open space, but one thing is say you can have open space, but you can only do this on it. And I think that's a little frightening. I think we need to support that. I think that we need I would like to to not only do I I agree with uh Commissioner Gluten in that um 8 p.m. should be the noise limit. I also would like to see it come back to us in two years for review so that we can see if all of the um claims of horrible things and see what happens and uh gives a chance for um for Mr. Brooks to uh to run a reasonable business and um he knows his neighbors concerns and if he wants to see this goed beyond the two years and he's going to do everything in his power to make this work and hopefully to make it work for the community. And again, I think we're going to be seeing more of this kind of thing. It's going to keep the ranching community alive in a time when so many ranchers are going under and it's difficult to have a ranch. Um, a previous president said the the the price of meat was the was greedy ranchers were to blame. And yet most ranchers I know were trying to make enough money to pay their taxes. So, um, I'm going to say I I support this. Again, I like the 8:00 p.m. for the

curfew on the music and we know it's still going to go through the fire and endot and everything else. You still got a lot more to do than just this. So, there's there's more to do and hopefully some of that will help your community. I am concerned with um with traffic on Foothill. I like to get in a nice day, get in my convertible. I love to drive on Foothill and um I find it's a very drivable street. I'm sure there are times when people are moving livestock, whatever that may not be. And um I think ENDOT has to do their part and their due diligence, which may be lowering the speed limit. But I'm in favor of this. I think it's what's good for the county and I have and I heard and understand all the comments from everyone. Took two pages of notes on it and um with that I think I support this with those limitations to your review and 8 p.m. Thank you. Thank you Commissioner McKillip. Further comments Commissioner St. John.

Yeah, I go I'll go in order. I have a very simple mind and this is easy for me to

Yeah, I don't think so. Chairman, thank you though. Um I am of a different mindset. I am not feeling that the project is fully baked at this point. Uh I would urge the applicant to request a continuance. Um, I cannot make findings B, D, or E. I think when you have, and maybe I'm maybe it's because I'm new to the planning commission, I haven't seen so many commenters and and and such a one-sided issue before, but you know, we've had over 54 written comments, many of them from couples, not that's more than 54 people. And we just listened to 21 uh uh commenters here at the podium, all but two against the project. And so many good points were made um that I I cannot support that we're saying that this project is compatible and preserves the character and integrity of the adjacent development and neighborhoods. you've made it loud and clear and I trust your judgment better than my judgment because I don't live there. But when I have that many people come out and say no, it does not preserve or uh is not incompatible with the character and integrity of the neighborhood for reasons that we've heard. Traffic, noise, nobody said anything about odor, so I guess we're good there. uh visual not not really a big issue, but really the noise and the traffic issue. Uh so I trust the neighbors. I trust the folks that came here today to know what is

compatible with your neighborhood and I'm not going to be the one to tell you that you're wrong. Um I think uh uh finding D on road improvements is not baked. I do not trust INDOT to make the decision on whether an axel del lane is needed. I know what their standards are. I've gotten a driveway permitted on Foothill a little bit further to the north and I went through a variance process and I was not required to build that XL DEL. We just had a gentleman speak about the uh the vet uh facility on 88 and I don't think that vet facility is going to have see anything close to 80 trips per hour. That's a lot of sick kitties. Actually, it's I think that's a large animal vet. But anyways, that's a lot of uh sick donkeys. Um I don't trust that 80 number or the 70 number. I think when you've got 130 folks parking spaces where up to 250 people, you're going to see more than 80 trips in an hour. I've done traffic studies. I I know a little bit about that. I'm not going to disparage the consultant who who who used um you know uh method and means and methods that are accepted in the industry. I get that. But it defies my logic to think that a a gathering that big isn't going to uh create more than 80. What that triggers, what additional traffic analysis that would trigger, I don't know. But again, I don't trust INDOT to require the XL DEL. I think that is going to be required. I'm

concerned about the conf the conflicts with FA Luther and uh just the nature of the uh the scenic drive and it is a scenic drive. So I I'm having a hard time uh complying with D. Um again if I were forced to make a condition I would say that we need to condition that there XL del lanes at the main driveway. And I know that's expensive. I know what a just a simple apron cost just to the north. Um but I think it's going to be required for that kind of crowd. Uh uh finding E is on noise. We've heard plenty of evidence here from folks that have been there a long long time that, [sighs] you know, indicate that noise is a problem. And whether it's unique to the uh auditorium effect or the amphitheater effect or or however it's caused, it's a problem. And you know, there were no studies. I don't know why there wasn't a demonstration. I mean, if I was the applicant, I might be considered, you know, setting up some boom boxes and cranking them up to whatever. I guess I heard 100 dB was the limit on property. And then going to the neighbors and going, "Hey, how do you like how do you like that noise?" You know, and if you can't hear it or if it's light or something, okay, fine. But, you know, um I've just heard too much evidence from the folks that are there that have been there for decades and are complaining of not complaining can hear, you know, just regular conversations 300 yards away or whatever the testimony was. So, I I have a hard time making any of those three findings. Again, if I were pushed on the noise issue, I would I would be more comfortable with

conditioning it uh to turn the music off at at 6:00 p.m. I think. U you know, I I I I wonder if this would have been more favorably received in the neighborhood if the hours of operation were not to 11:00 at night. uh with with automobiles coming and going, uh doors opening and closing, radios, things like that. I wonder if it would have been better received had the operating times been limited to say 7 p.m. with the music going off at 6, but I can't support a 8:00 uh noise off in a 11:00 in date in that neighborhood because of what I've heard today and what I have read in 54 plus commenters uh from the last couple of days. Again, I'm not here to tell you that you're wrong. I'm here to say we listen. And what I'm hearing is I can't make those findings.

Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner St. John. Uh, Commissioner Lyle.

Thank you, Chair. So, um, this is this is a difficult decision to make. I uh I grew up in a ranching family and know firsthand how difficult it is to make a living and ranching and to keep the property in production and um not look for other ways to um remedy that cash flow situation. Um I don't think that this is a bad project. I think it's in a bad location. Um I do have some issues with the veracity of the application and um specifically the representation that it is currently owner occupied which it is not and the traffic study I feel is is terribly flawed. The assumptions in that traffic study cannot be supported. Um this is not a destination wedding. This is not where um people come from. all the resident or all the um uh guests come from out of town and carpool together to the wedding. This is a this is going to be a local venue where people come from all over the valley and they're going to be driving one and two per car. They're not going to th those assumptions that we're going to have three people per car and they're all going to go one direction to get to the the venue. those are not supported by what I know is fact for Fen Valley. Uh I'm concerned about alcohol service. I'm concerned about trash and debris blowing in the wind. I'm concerned that the tents and the portaotties are going to be coming and going every weekend during the summertime. Um, I'm a little concerned about the fire comment, but I do understand that the fire department will not give their approval until everything is ready to go and they nothing can happen until the fire

department gives their approval. My biggest concern is noise because I do live there and I live in a location that is several hundred yards away from my nearest neighbors. And sorry neighbors cuz I see some of you out there. I can hear your conversations at your house. When you're talking to your husbands or your wives and you're saying something about something, we can hear it at our house. Um, this location from a noise perspective is is like an amphitheater. It tr it truly is. That noise echoes back and forth. Um, we can hear dogs barking. We can hear the the bulls and the cows. Oh my goodness. when they're when they're weaning those calves, it's like a horrible u stampede that's going to come through your house. Um I the only way that I could support this project is to have no amplified music at any time and limit the number of uh event days to maybe maybe 20 and take that number of applicant or guests down to 150 and that's the only way I could find a way to support this application. I think it's a good project in a bad spot and so I don't feel like I can make the findings for supporting this project.

Thank you, Commissioner L. Commissioner Walder.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. All my fellow commissioners have made excellent comments and excellent observations and I think it speaks volumes to the amount of work that each of you do and study each of you do and thought and careful consideration that each of you do. So, I'm proud to be a member of this planning commission. and Lucille, I want to thank you all so very much for your hard work. You're caught between the crossfire so many times and I uh I I do appreciate your hard work. Um I do come down on the fact that uh several things can't be met. So I would be opposed to this. Uh I believe that the uh uh item that AJ mentioned that I asked him about uh requiring owner occupied single family detached dwellings may apply is uh not met at this point. I believe uh finding C uh the proposed use will not generate pedestrian or vehic vehicular traffic which will be hazardous or conflict with the existing anticipated traffic in the neighborhood that cannot be met. Finding E. The proposed use incorporates features to minimize adverse effects including visual impacts and noise of the proposed special use on adjacent properties that cannot be met. And um finding H, the proposed special use will not material not be materially detrimental to the public health, safety, [music] convenience, and welfare and will not result in material damage or prejudice to other property in the vicinity. So for that reason, I would oppose the uh uh applicant's uh special use permit. We could parse it nine ways to Sunday into including limiting the number of events uh adding other restrictions limiting sound but I think the best thing to do is uh oppose this and uh if it is uh not approved they do have a right to appeal to the board of county commissioners. Thank you.

Thank you Commissioner Walder. that uh if anybody is counting leaves it uh 3 to three and uh I have a tremendous uh concern about a number of items that have been raised by the public and in the materials. But I am also assuaged by the comments that I read from staff and some of the things that I concern, pardon me, consider with respect to the Brooks application. The first uh item that I'd like to address very briefly is um is traffic. And I think that the uh traffic study if it if it is adequate, if it is understandable, it it indicated that it would not uh be violative of of uh condition D. Uh the next uh concerning noise uh the profound uh issue and and I apologize for making one comment I did maybe prematurely because now it's being attributed to the amphitheater effect but I will say that that the topography is such that it would probably be very easy to hear what's going on in the ranch on anybody that lives on the hillside or on both sides. So I am mindful of that fact. Uh the next item uh is um the operating hours and I am concerned about the comments I heard from Commissioner St. John, Commissioner Lyall and Commissioner Walder about that uh circumstance. However, when I boil everything down, I need to have one issue that troubles me uh resolved. And

I guess I ask the attorney general, can uh we fashion a special use permit where the current requirement to live on the property is not satisfied. That is to say, can we condition upon within say 45 or 50 days that that the applicant lives at the property as a condition of effectiveness. In other words, I'm reading it temporally. You follow me? Not as a restriction so that I have to read it strictly, but temporally that you got to live there and you got to stay living there to satisfy the permit.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. AJ HS from the district attorney's office. I think that would be consistent with how other conditions are often met. For example, compliance with the fire code is a condition. Um, in most situations, the planning approvals come first and then subsequent to the planning approval, the applicant goes about complying with the other conditions. What you're proposing is consistent with that. It would be a condition that's imposed [music] that must be met prior to use of the permit. So, I I think it would be permissible.

Thank you very much. Our attorney general's uh uh was probably reading through my notes, but uh that uh was what I was hoping would be the answer, not knowing it was the answer, but I was hoping that was going to be the answer. So, let me say that I support this um special use permit with the addition of the following conditions. First that the owner occupies the property within 60 days so that during the time in which the special use permit is uh operable the owner occupies the property and satisfies the code requirement. The second which I think is is critical is the 8:00 p.m. uh cutoff for amplified music. I realize that's a compromise. I agree with Commissioner Klut's comments. Nobody's going to be happy with that, but uh I think that that is a good compromise that will allow uh events have amplified music. Yes, it's still going to be sun sunny outside, but I have an comment on that, too, that the operation should close down at 10:00. That way, you're not listening to cars going in and out of the venue after 10:00. So th that's another condition that 8:00 uh no more amplified music. You operate until 10 p.m. [music] because I'm sensitive to the decibel level in that area. I also agree with um Commissioner Casey's comment and uh that it be and also Commissioner Lyles that it be cut down from 25 uh to 20. And the reason why the number of events should be cut down is is uh in my opinion because the property I'm trying to make

a square peg fit into this round hole. So the bottom line is to satisfy ourselves and to satisfy all of the neighbors that it be reviewed in two years. and it be reviewed as whether it bothers the this is m commissioner McKillip's idea that it bothers the neighbors in terms of traffic after it's permitted if there's no ingress and egress problems from Nevada which we have no jurisdiction over noise if it cuts off at 8:00 p.m. and the operations cut down at 10. So, you will have a 2-year review with 20 events. You'll have a two-year review of all of the circumstances that we place and requirements on this special use permit so that if they're not satisfied, if it's still a tremendous problem, then it comes back to us and a different decision may be made. However, it will allow the agricultural activity to be maintained. Some uh profit, some uh income can be maintained on this property and it will not materially change the I'm hopeful the neighborhood, but if it does, we'll know about it in two years. So, those are different items than any special use permit that we looked at. I admit it, it's much more strict, but I think it's appropriate and I'd support it if those conditions were added to the permit.

Do I hear a motion? Uh, uh, Mr. Chairman, if if if I may, can I for Oh, sorry. [laughter] If I may, if I may, sorry. For the record, Lucio Rayo, so those conditions are in the staff report. We need to modify them and I will call out the number. Was that what you were going to say? Okay. So, um, yes. I apologize. I missed. Yeah. Just so we're not rewriting conditions. So, it's 1921, 22, and 27. That would need to be modified as you described.

That's in uh my notes. I don't remember. The time period uh was 3 years and I've [music] cut it to two and I can't remember that one. That's 19. Okay. Mr. Chairman, if if I may, go ahead. Uh, Commissioner.

Uh, so I I [snorts] would be in support of of those modifications. Um, assuming, of course, that the applicant is, and if they're not, [music] they can choose to to withdraw. However, I I guess the one hangup I have is on condition 21, it already says the facility shall always, I guess should say, be operated by the resident owner of the home. I I guess I'm not in favor of of dictating when that occurs. I think as a condition, they're not going to get the permit unless they occupy the home. So 30 days, 60 days, 120 days. I don't feel like I should get hung up in that. It's a condition. It has to be met. I would assume that that staff prior to issuing the permit is going to ensure that that's the case. And so I'm okay with the rest of them. I just have a little hang up with that.

Commissioner Klutz is you're correct and put a time limitation on it frankly for the convenience of staff that you could look and see if the applicant actually lives there within a certain period of time and you lose the ability to have the special use permit if you don't. That that's really why I did it. and and I said 60 days which is 2 months. So uh with that I conclude my commentary except I ask the applicant to come back and I must give you the opportunity to either reject what Commissioner Klutz myself Commissioner McKillip have been outlining and say no just please deny us and we'll go try on appeal. Oh I'm so sorry. and and vice chair vice chair was with us. Tom Brooks for the the applicant. Um could we ask for a a quick 10-minute recess? We are not opposed to a lot of what we're hearing. Um we've heard a lot of comments from our neighbors that not all of them we expected the depth of. Um and if we could confer amongst ourselves and come back uh in 10 minutes, um I think we're we're headed down a good road. That is fine. Uh we'll take a five minute recess uh which isn't really enough time to get a burger, but uh we'll be back at uh quart a half hour half past the hour. Thanks.

All right. This is your uh 202 warning. Warning. 20 seconds. What?

Yes. They take their seats or step out in the hallway if it's a critical conversation. I call the uh planning commission back to order in accordance with our break. And uh and we're going to hear from Mr. Brooks, the applicant. Mr. Brooks. Thank you, Tom Brooks, the applicant. Uh, so we've heard our neighbors loud and clear here, and as I mentioned a little while ago, we were not expecting this level of dislike of our project. We've tried to always be good neighbors and um live in quiet peace just as they they would like to. um and preserve the ranch and that is our main objective. So we um we have what we would like to propose back to you is is very similar. We'd like to reduce the number of events to 20 with an 8mm curfew up to Yeah, bear with me one second. Sorry, let me clarify this. Okay, so we're we're looking for 20 events, amplified music ending at 8:00 p.m. and events finishing at 10 p.m.

That's correct. Additionally, we we want to do this differently. We're not looking to be a wedding factory. We want to showcase that agriculture. So, we would like to request an additional 10 events, 50 people or less during the daytime, let's say ending at 6:00 p.m. with no amplified music. I can't agree on behalf of the planning commission without us uh deliberating, but uh those are your modifications, sir. Th

those are the ones we're proposing. Yes. Our our our aim here is to do this a little differently and respect the neighbors at the same time. Yes, sir. I understand. I'm going to close public comment. Close questions of the applicant. Return it back for comment to the planning commission. Commissioner McKillip. So, um, 10 extra events that are daytime only, no amplified music, I think is a pretty good compromise.

50 or fewer. 50 or fewer. That's right. Okay. I think that's a pretty good compromise. Um, still the two-year review. Yes. So, in that condition, we still have the 8:00 p.m. Um, end of amplified music for the 20 events and no amplified music for the 10 additional events. Still talking about a 10 p.m. for the 20 events. 10 p.m. has to be over and done. Um, still has to be owner occupied. I can go with that. Thank you, Commissioner McKillip. Commissioner St. John,

I'd be more comfortable with the earlier music cut off time. Um, I guess I don't go to enough weddings, but usually they're over by afternoon and the and the reception, you know, you don't you don't you don't want them go too late for some of the reasons we heard. So, you remain a nay. I I under those conditions. Yeah, I'm still concerned about the the noise and the traffic. Thank you, Commissioner St. John. Commissioner Lyall, I'm still nay. Commissioner Clutz.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh the the applicants u modifications to the conditions are acceptable to me. Uh in addition to the uh reducing the review to two years. Um, and I think the condition regarding the occupancy is is already clear and so I would support the way it's currently written. Would you uh become a nay if the 60 days remained? Not if I made the motion. Very good. Uh, I'll go on to uh, Commissioner Walder.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I appreciate Mr. Brooks's willingness to compromise, but I am still a no. uh based on the same reasons before. I don't think the applicant meets the uh required conditions and I don't think uh the findings C, E, and H can be met. Uh thank you, Commissioner Walder. Commissioner, Commissioner Casey, Vice Chair. Yes, I will accept the compromise except Jim. It's not no amplify music for the 10 events. It's no music. Okay. Just want to clarify that. Thank you. Uh, Commissioner Lyall.

Um, I actually had a member of the public asked a question um that probably needs to be answered for everyone's clarity. Um, the 2-year review would be 2 years from approval or two years from occupancy or what when would the 2-year uh time frame come for the review back to the community? [music] In my mind, it is subsequent to occupancy and at the time of effectiveness of the permit.

For the record, Lucille Rayo, I would recommend from from the date of the planning commission's approval if they choose to approve it. This way, we have a timeline and we have a date to go by, not who knows when they're going to finish. So, we have a date. If they don't get it together in a year, that's on them. It you know what I'm saying? If they if they haven't met all the conditions, if it takes them a whole other year, it's still based on the date that was today's date. I appreciate that's what I would suggest.

I appreciate that. Uh that would allow the neighbors to have less than a two-year review. Do you understand my thinking? So they would be review or we would all be reviewing this in less than two years because it's at least 60 days before this is up and running. Does everyone understand? Okay. Uh do I have a motion?

Mr. Chairman, I'd like to make a motion. Uh prior to that, I just want to confirm one thing so that I can uh support your change. Um, I would just like to ask the applicant if it is reasonable that the occupancy be within 60 days. We have no problem with the requirement. Uh, the home has not had any any modifications or work done to it in in 24 years. And our plan would be to go in and do a lot of new flooring and redecorating and things. We also don't know yet if we're going to have to put in fire sprinklers, which would be another issue with the fire marshall. So, I I would ask for a longer time period. Um, so that you know, I really don't want to live in a construction zone if you if you mind.

Thank you. I'm prepared to make a motion and Mr. Chairman, you can tell me if you're willing to live with it. Um, so I don't Can I have Thank you. Sorry, my computer went dead. I move to approve DP25-0221 and grant a special use permit for a special occasion home at 445 Foothill Road subject to the amended recommended conditions of approval because the required findings are met. I don't recall exactly what those numbers are. However, I will try to recap them. Uh, the three-year review will be reduced to 2 years. Uh, the events will be 30 events. However, 10 of those events will be daytime events that will conclude at 6:00 p.m. No music with 50 or fewer occupants. The other 20 events, music is permitted. However, amplified music is to cease at 8:00 p.m. and the curfew um basically the end of everything will be 10 p.m. Did I get that correct?

Okay. That is my motion. and and I would uh propose that the condition that is already stated in the conditions by staff um regarding the occupancy uh prior to the permit being issued um should satisfy this because they can't do anything until the permit is issued and they can't have a permit until they occupy. And so I believe that that is already covered. So that is my motion.

Second. It's been moved and seconded uh in accordance with certain modifications to the conditions uh including one that was agreed uh or all were agreed now by uh by the applicant. Um I want to make one observation in the discussion portion and that is now the review the complete review of how this works out is less than two years. It's coming back to us in less than two years uh to staff for a review and comment from everybody and it's incumbent upon the applicant to get that house finished and occupy it. Otherwise, it could be a review in a year and a half. I don't know if everybody's following my timeline. So I am agreeing with that uh because it it has its own self-governing um timelines built in. So I agree with uh the mover and the seconder. Are there further discussion? All right. Uh let's now vote. I think this one should be individual because it's so tight. Uh Commissioner McKillb.

I vote in favor. Commissioner St. John. Nay. Commissioner Lyall, nay. Commissioner Clutz, I. Commissioner Walder, nay. Commissioner Casey, I.

And Commissioner Bruno, the chair, votes in favor. So, it passes. Thank you very much. Uh, may I move to the second item on our agenda? Uh, can we take a couple of minutes because I have a feeling a lot of people weren't really interested in the rules. Yeah. All right. Thanks very much. Uh, Commissioner St. John, if you could uh take your seat. And folks, I I know that uh there's a lot of conversation uh and please take the conversation outside. We have two more items on the agenda that we've got to resolve. Thanks everybody for your participation. The next item on the agenda is for presentation only concerning review and discussion of the

commission bylaws. Yeah, you're number two. Yeah, I think you're number two. It has my name on it, so I'd better start. Uh I wanted us to review at least yearly our bylaws and particularly uh pay attention to certain things that are not the most clear in the bylaws. Congratulations. For example, we have a series.

Sir, you're a great guy. That's all right.

There is a resolution in 2022 which is in our packet. it was incorporated into the bylaws and it makes it clear that the preference is to always be present in person at a planning commission hearing if you are a planning commissioner. What it does not do is say when and when uh it can't be that we use Zoom. Zoom came into uh uh quite a bit of use in 2022 largely driven by co 2020 it came in well it came in but it was used a lot in 2022. We're now at a position where it's probably not diseased driven, but then we have a slight competing directive with respect to our presence in person and the ability for Zoom. And so I wanted to talk about that issue and any other that you believe should be reviewed in the bylaws. And since it's only us, I'm going to turn it over to our planner first, our chief planner.

I just wanted to make sure O'Neal, for the record, what do you want me to do? [laughter] I just wanted to make sure everybody was awake. I'm here.

That's how I That's how I used to do when I was a lecturer in law school. I'd call on somebody in the dark. Uh comments from commission I'll I'll weigh in. I believe that um as much as we can be here, we should. I think our dialogue and our discussion is very valuable. I think Zoom is a second choice because certainly it's better to have that participation than not, but it is a different it is a different experience and I think that it's it's a little harder to really understand the the meaning of what's going on in the room with your when you're only looking at that small view. I feel like um if we need to change the bylaws in order to acknowledge that Zoom is a a um viable alternative then certainly we should we should do that but I think in person is is going to be always preferable. Thank you, uh, Commissioner Ly, Commissioner Casey.

This change was initiated when I was chair the first time around, and it was because we had a problem with commissioners showing up in person. They felt it was more convenient to zoom in and at the time it was a hassle for Colleen to deal with Zoom. It was expensive at the time, but it's not as expensive. And also, we wanted to discourage the use of Zoom. It is so easy to plan to be here in person once a month. And our big consideration was weather. People coming down from the hill and travel for work. Bryce was on the planning commission at the time. He travels for work. and we had someone else on the commission who was working and they had to travel for work. So there are specific circumstances, illness. Commissioner Rice has had illness or accident and travel issues and he's had to miss a lot of meetings, but he is always present on Zoom when he's not and the commission makes allowances for that. But if you're going to take a vacation, I think I've missed one meeting for for vacation. And I haven't zoomed in because my husband scheduled the vacation. Now he knows no second Tuesday of the month

I am here. I'm not traveling on vacation. So he knows that if I don't feel that it's that big of a burden to not be here the second Tuesday of the month. It's it's once a month. So it was it was very important to me that we really hit home. If you're committed to being on the planning commission, you can be here. And if that it's that big a burden, then move off and let somebody else who wants to make that commitment. I could be wrong. And that's why we made this change in the bylaws to make sure that planning commissioners knew they needed to be here in person unless hampered by travel for work, travel because of weather or illness. I'm done.

Thank you. Uh, Commissioner Casey, I have a slightly different uh, opinion only because uh, weather becomes uh, becomes an issue potentially, not this winter, but uh, for uh, for Commissioner Walder and I, we have a difficulty getting over Dagot Pass. And I I did last year or year before, I can't remember, when we had the real snows. I stayed with my father-in-law here in Genanoa and made it to the meeting. I don't have that option anymore. He passed and I sold the house, so I may need Zoom. Commissioner Cluts. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, I agree with everything uh that Vice Chair Casey [music] said. Um it is it is challenging for me at times and I think if you want to encourage um members of the public who are still employed and not retired I think there there has to be some flexibility or else you're not going to get people wanting to serve in this capacity if you know for me my family and my job come first and then my community engagement um comes third. And so [music] um I have thoroughly enjoyed uh being on this commission and being with my colleagues. I I believe at times I provide value. Um I will support whatever decision uh the commission makes. Um however having that option available, I will do everything in my power to be to be present and I have for the most part with the exception of the last couple which were unfortunate. [music] Um but uh if it's if it's the position of the board that you need to be present, I clearly support that. And if a time comes where I'm no longer able to serve because I

can't meet that commitment, uh then I will um respectfully resign. Uh but if that option is available, I will do everything in my power when I am traveling to to be to be here and contribute to the extent that I can. Thank you, Commissioner Clutz. I I think that it as it's written now, work is a reason to be on Zoom. So I I hear everything you said. I agree with everything you said and and I think we should just proceed accordingly. No further discussion. Yes, Commissioner St. John.

Yeah, I I I agree with I think what I heard uh the vice chair say that if you're in town, you need to be here. If you're in Tahoe, you need to be here. I mean, I lived in Tahoe long enough that I know that sometimes you can't get out of Tahoe and therefore the weather exception is a good one. And I think it's legit. Um, I have had the the the fortune, good, you know, good or bad, I'm not sure which, of of being out of town for for two meetings. And I was able to to uh to to join the meeting by Zoom. And as a user of Zoom, I felt like I was almost in the meeting. I mean, I didn't feel detached. I felt like I could hear what was being said. I could see what was being said. I could see the presentations. when the camera was on the board, I could see the board members and they could see me. And so to me, you know, I would hate to lose that option. I think it's just too valuable, especially for a citizen board of volunteers, you know, you're you're you're on holiday, a grandchild is having a a birthday party, you know, you want to be there, and you can't always control that. But I I agree with with I think with a sentiment that we need to make it a priority. If you're in town, by golly, you need to be, you know, uh here in a chair. Um but I think I think we still need that flexibility because the option is we're not going to have possibly uh quorums. We wouldn't have had a quorum last meeting had I not called in. Um or maybe you would have. You had a very thin thin quorum. Uh but I think it's

it's more important to asssure that we get a quorum and hopefully a complete quorum uh than to eliminate an option. But again, I I agree with the spirit. If you're in town and you're you're well, you need to be here. And that's a commitment we all made when we when we applied for this job. Very good. Then we will pro Oh, before I say we will proceed accordingly. Uh, Commissioner McKillb.

Uh, I've have been in my share of Zoom meetings. I've ran meetings where people were on Zoom, one person on a board. Some meetings lend themselves to Zoom a lot more than others. I think a board meeting where people are [music] making motions, where where uh someone's trying to second something, they don't even hear that somebody's already done it. I'm not saying we shouldn't have Zoom. I think I I agree that every effort should be made to be here. We certainly don't want to exclude people, but I think everyone should understand that there's an awkwardness and especially and I've chaired meetings where one of the board was on a Zoom and it's just it's just awkward. It's not impossible. You do it because you want you want your quorum. you want people to participate but it's not I'll just say it's not ideal but it's an option we should have

very good then we will uh proceed accordingly I wanted to say one thing before we go on to item three u which Kate's been waiting for us to uh to get to for the last three hours uh and and that is thanks to everyone on this commission I realize that I am a little lenient with the public I realize realiz that I allowed some folks to talk twice. Uh, and I realize that it [music] extended the time and maybe didn't add tremendous substance, but I thank everybody for for my patience, for me being too patient perhaps, and I I appreciate that very much. As we proceed, let's go to agenda item three.

Sure. Um I I see an I was just reviewing the item and I see that each member if we're not here we need to notify uh development coordinator and commission chair by 5:00 p.m. on the day prior to the date that we would be unavailable. Now previously we were just notifying the former chair. we were not notifying the uh the staff if we were not going to be here. And it it also seems like five o'clock the day before seems kind of late to be letting folks know you're not going to be around. I just want to throw that out there out of court courtesy. I usually let you know people know weeks and weeks in advance. But uh the first question is is do you want to be notified solely or do you want us to follow the letter of of the item and notify both parties?

I think we need to notify both. Okay. Uh particularly because of recordkeeping and of Zoom and I think I'll propose something to everyone that will require a few more days before the hearing so that staff may react to an absence that will be in zone. Okay. I would think that would be very fitting. Thank you, Commissioner Walder. Uh, thank you, [music] Commissioner Brun. Uh, Chair Bruno, the reason we have 5:00 p.m. is because, uh, weather doesn't come up till 5:00 p.m. sometimes. So, I think I'd prefer to keep it the way it is. Moren crafted a very good compromise uh, at the point I think uh, it stands.

All right, then. Uh, I'll take that under consideration and maybe you'll never see a modification during my tenure. Thanks. Let's get to uh let's get to agenda three.

The Kate Morales O'Neal Planning Department. For the record, um, I can say that we've never had an issue with any of you letting us know in a in a good time frame. I I I feel comfortable with the 5:00 p.m. Um, what's important is allowing Colleen know. Uh what I would request though is if you do require Zoom, there's a little bit more to it and so earlier notification would be good. Now there's going to be those isolated incidents where weather comes in at Tahoe, but those are exceptions. So we would just ask that if you are going to be at zoom you give us you know at least 3 to 4 days notice because then we have to let so you know there's things we have to do on our end just to make sure that that and you know staff goes on vacation if Colleen's not there. I would also ask that I am CCD um as well as Colleen you know send it to Colleen just in case she's not there I'm getting the notification so on and so forth. Yeah, in my experience, just my le in my experience, and I can't speak for Kirk, but I'm fairly certain in his experience, planning commission members have always been great. If they're not going to be here, they let us know a week in advance or as soon as they know they're not going to be present, and that's days in advance and then we let Colleen know.

Thanks. Can we uh with those thanks also for everybody's perseverance through agenda item one? I have to thank you for your good thinking and perseverance. Go to agenda item three. Mr. Chair, if you could just read item three into the record.

Thank you. This is for presentation only. a presentation by Douglas County Community Development Department on land use planning and development applications and the respective roles of the Douglas County Community Development staff, the planning commission, and the board of county commissioners. Thank you, Kate.

Thank you, Chairman Bruno. Kate Morales O'Neal planning department for the record I have in my notes good afternoon members but it's officially evening so good evening members and everyone in in attendance which is Jim so thanks for hanging around Jim um so this will look familiar to you there there is a couple I did an additional slide this year um on TRPA I thought that was a good thing to add just to give a little background about that and their jurisdictions So at that let's get started. So what is planning and why do we plan? So I want to begin with a few statements from the American planning association uh that do summarize our role in planning how important it is in our communities. So the goal of planning is to maximize the health and economic well-being of residents in ways that reflect the unique needs, desire, and culture of those who live and work within the community. Cities and counties need to consider what can and should happen to a community, how it should grow and change, and what should offer it should offer residents 10, 15, or even [music] 20 years in the future. Planning establishes goals and policies for directing and managing the future growth and development of a community or region. So the mo most important thing I believe in planning is proper planning and how it helps us improve our community and its members. So how do we accomplish this? Well, the first thing is let's look at some key opponents um to proper paneling. So first we have develop a common vision. This will increase buy in effectness buy in and effective effect effectiveness of plans and save money um by avoiding

duplication. Uh sizing facil facilities properly and promoting efficient and cost-effective investments. Um, proper planning creates a sense of place and reinforces sense of community by incorporating architectural, environmental, and aesthetic elements as part of the planning to connect people to their community. A good example of that was the justice center and how we the I say we the the hearing planning commission and board of county commissioners involving the community in what it was going to look like. So, that was a good example of really trying to get everybody's input. It also um creates and enhances property values, proper planning. How do we do this? By enhancing property values with a community that plans for parks, trails, playgrounds, transit, and other amenities. In relation to planning for parks and trails, this directly relates to how planning safeguards public health and safety. Planning provides opportunities with access to phys physical activity and healthy foods. Public safety is protected with strong building codes and other regulations to prevent fire as well as designing buildings, parking lot, streets, and neighborhoods to red reduce opportunities for crime. Proper planning provides public facilities and infrastructure by preparing communities to meet future demand demands for public services and facilities such as water and sewer systems, roads and transit lines, fire and police stations, schools, parks, and libraries. Proper planning improves economic development. Wellplanned communities offer residents and businesses a range of convenient and affordable choices. That is an area that

the county is currently working on. Um, I like the term attainable uh choices, but that is something that is in our master plan and that we are continuing to work on. Proper planning protects the environment and conserves resources by identifying important natural and cultural resources. Conserve these resources and protect the environment. Lastly, proper planning needs to set clear expectations for all those involved in the process. Land owners, developers, builders, boards, and a county staff reviewing applications in order to help minimize any conflict. What is the master plan? The master plan is very important as any part of land use in Nevada. The Douglas County master plan was updated in 2020 and due to the uh update to title 20 and its uh importance um staff updates uh staff anticipates that the next update to the master plan will be in 2027. NRS requires a master plan to be created when a planning commission is has been established. The master plan is adopted by the planning commission. then the governing body. The master plan is a long-term general plan for physical development of the county and is typically looking 10 to 20 years into the future. The master plan identifies current issues and needs in the community. Again, it is a general plan that summarizes goals but does not indicate detailed regulations. We see more specific or detailed regulations in our Title 20 development code. Hence why we're working on this huge overhaul of title 20 and why we wanted to um push off the master plan update once we're

done with the overhaul of um title 20. It just makes more sense to go in that order. Lastly, the master plan um includes actions to achieve goals. This is seen in the imple implementation part of the master plan. What are the actions and how do we get there and accomplish those goals? Now that we see what the plan is and why it's important, let's look at how we implement the plan. First and for foremost, it starts with title 20 and zoning land. Zoning land for uses. Zoning is what separates a community into zones in order to regulate land uses. And the goal is to make sure uses are compatible with surrounding neighborhoods. In Douglas County, we utilize title 20 to regulate development and determine whether to approve or deny a project. Some of the provisions from the development code we look at when determining the validity of a project are zoning and land division to flood plane regulations, growth management, as well as processes for applications for planning, engineering, and for building permits. Let's take a look at who does what in the planning process. Beginning with the community development department staff. Staff is responsible for day-to-day implementation of the master plan and title 20 of Douglas County development code. Staff reviews development applications per master plan and code. Staff is responsible for providing a high level of customer support. We track staff tracks and issues building and zoning permits, reviews plans, and responds to development questions. Uh over this past year, um just the planning staff alone uh had over 2,000 inquiries. So, between

inquiries and questions and public counter when people come in, um I do take, you know, kind of try to keep track of the phone calls and the emails. And it's it's it's such a um really commend uh the planning staff and what uh my staff is able to do is pretty it's it's amazing how much cuz I I usually don't handle the emails or the phone um when they they go to the planning inbox. So you're talking Colleen, Lucille, and Linda and then some support from the counter staff. So to handle those type of numbers is astonishing. Staff also prepares public noticing for hearings. Uh staff provides technical advice to planning commission and the board of county commissioners during public hearings. And staff administer administratively hears minor development applications as allowed by code. For example, a design review minor variance and tenative parcel maps. So this slide is important one regarding our advisory bodies in Douglas County which are the town of Genanoa, the town of Minden and the town of Garderville. Uh per Douglas County code 20.08, all zoning permits and tenative parcel maps and subdivision maps within town boundaries must be reviewed by the town prior to final action. There are some exceptions like sign reviews and temporary permits or surveys. Uh no final action shall be taken until a formal written recommendation has been received by the director or hearing body. Uh the there are timelines that are set by NRS for some of these items to be heard by various boards and commissions. So failure of an advisory board to make a recommendation may not operate to deprive an applicant of statutory rights. Actions by an advisory body are evidence to be considered by the final decision

maker. um depending on the application again that staff planning commission board of county commissioners and Douglas County will work to implement town design standards to the great great to the greatest extent possible and commissioner u mccelp I didn't forget about you because I remember last year you had mentioned um general improvement districts so those are also important to mention um when there is a applicable application um county staff does require that um if there is a project um stay within the ranchos that that they need to go to the general improvement district that we require that you have gone to the district and presented the plans and they have sent that approval over to staff. So we do require that. So I did want to mention that um the general improvement districts. So you as the planning commission body is a very important part of the planning process. A planning commission is required by NRS as I stated earlier and Douglas County um has a population of more more than 45,000. Hence why we have to have a planning commission. The planning commission has seven members appointed by the board of county commissioners. Members serve a four-year term and planning commission meets second Tuesday of every month. The planning commission reviews various applica applications such as amendments to the master plan, zoning map and zoning text amendments as well as subdivision maps and plan developments. The planning commission are a recommending body just as the towns are. So you as members are not the final decision decision maker with the exception of items like today which was an approval for a special use permit major variance requests including variance to improvement standards. The final decision maker in the process is the board of county commissioners.

The commissioner's role is also vital in the planning process as commissioners evaluate recommendations from planning commission staff analysis and public input. Final decision maker on master plan amendments, zoning map and text amendments and subdivision maps. Here's appeals of special use permits and variances from the planning commission. So this is just a brief flowchart of how the process works beginning with a typical application and how it proceeds through the process. So when someone comes to contacts the county we encourage even we've trained the public counter to encourage a pre-application meeting. Uh we feel these are really important to en encourage applicants to do this so that staff can identify issues that we see. What we don't want is we we're trying to avoid an applicant paying for filing fees for another application or doing design work when we can kind of say that's not going to work. You you don't want to do that. You're going to have to do this, that's not going to apply comply with code um to again to try to kind of heat off and see what some issues are. Once someone does submit an application, it's reviewed for completeness for 3 days. Um then it will be distributed to the various applicable departments. Um typically within a couple weeks if if applicable and needed staff may have an internal um projects meeting to discuss any conflicts or questions. Um I tend to uh contact uh our distinguished um deputy uh district attorney who you who you call attorney general chairman Bruno. I love that. That's my new nickname for that.

He needed a uh promotion.

Right. Exactly. I think he does too. I think he does too. So, next we would send out to the applicant to notify them of either corrections required prior to moving forward or conditions of approval with the application. That time frame can vary. It could be 30 days where we've completed a design review. Sometimes the design review can go a few months um because we send out corrections required reports and then we're waiting back to hear from the client, you know, okay, [music] we need them back. Um Bryce, you're looking at me. I know that we've we you had an an application and we went back and forth and so it can be a tedious process and can and it could be frustrating for both sides. Um, but I think staff does a pretty good job of trying to keep the project moving along, but sometimes that can prolong a project when we're waiting for those conditions, you know, to be addressed and to send back the the updated documents. Um, many major products staff and uh many major products that staff where we require a staff applicant meeting, either we request it or maybe the applicant requests it. Uh, Virginia Ranch was a great example. I'm going to use that example again because that was approved 20 years ago, 20 plus years ago. So when they were finally moving forward with tenative subdivision maps, we sat down with them to address a lot of things and things are different from 2002 to today. So that that was a really good meeting to um iron out some of the issues that we we saw today that maybe weren't there, you know, 20 years ago. So those meetings can be very beneficial. Um if staff runs into a project and um there is a major issue um what we call big rocks and the applicant disagrees and wants to move forward to a scheduled meeting. So at that point staff would

recommend denial um if appropriate and that if staff believes that the findings cannot be met. Um so that is rare but it can happen. So, if we've tried to address with an applicant a big rock and they don't want to address it, they want to just take it to the the the commissioners or the board of county commissioners. Um staff at that stage would would let the applicant know that we were going to recommend denial. Once the review is complete, staff report prepare a staff report for both the planning commission and the board of county commissioners. The staff report will either have conditions of approval and findings or justification for denial. The report is laid out for you starting with the summary of the project including some background on the site, images and descriptions of the zoning and then a description and evaluation of project um and ending with the findings. If the project is within the town of Minden, Gardnerville or Genanoa, then the project would be heard, like I said, at their town meeting and then they would make that recommendation to staff. Staff includes recommendations of approval or denial of the project in the staff report. You, as members of the planning commission, in turn, make those recommendations [music] to the board of county commissioners. I've mentioned these previously, so I'm going to skim through these. Master plan amendment applications are accepted annually in June and December. They are approved by the com planning commission then adopted by resolution by the board of county commissioners. Zoning map and zoning text amendments are heard by the planning commission and adopted by the board of county commissioners via an ordinance. Plan development is another zoning layer and the use and intensity must be compatible with the base zoning of the master plan and the master plan. The zoning standards can differ from existing but does require a minimum of 25% open space.

Typical applications heard. So tenative subdivision maps are land divisions creating five or more parcels. They are heard by the planning commission and then the board of county commissioner. Special use permits. We probably don't need to talk about those. We just went through that today. Uh but they're specifically permitted uses uh which are generally compatible with the land uses permitted by right in a given zoning district but which require individual review of their location, design and configuration and the imposition of conditions which you did today. Um to ensure the appropeness of the use at a particular location within a given zoning district. Um her it is heard by the planning commission. Um, again, if it is appealed, we also heard that today. I think that was a question. If the special use permit is appealed, if you happen to deny a special use permit, they can appeal that decision to the board of county commissioners. So, what are the findings of facts? So, ultimately, as I said, the staff report is going to end with the findings of fact um or the evaluation of those findings by staff and the applicant. We also include that because it really is on the applicant to prove that the findings have been met. Staff can give their opinion, but it truly is that we're going to look at code and we feel or don't feel a findings been met, but it's on the applicant. That's why they now present um at meetings because it's really up to them to prove that the findings [music] have been met and we now include the applicant's response to those findings in our staff report. Um, this is the most important sentence in this presentation. In order to approve or deny a request, the approving body must make a recommendation indicating whether a proposal meets the findings of fact. You all did a great job today. Um,

Commissioner St. John, Lyall, and Walder, you were nay votes with the special use permit, and you all provided the findings that you felt the applicant did not meet. And that's exactly that was picture perfect. So if I had done this first and they could have seen that they would have seen that you're following you know exactly the order of of what you want to do. The findings are found in NRS and then some are particular to Douglas County um such as bringing transparency order and predictability to proceedings um provide uh a rational structure to guide meetings. um must be followed or I'm sorry this was hard to read now Allison comments made by applicant public staff or commissioners should always relate to the findings of fact again you did a great job of that today and uh findings of facts must be followed in order to reduce the chance of litigation so I added this slide this year to address the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency aka TRPA and give a brief overview of their history, jurisdiction, and relation to Douglas County. TRPA was established in 1969 with the B-state compact between Nevada and California. The concern at the time was due to rapid development occurring in Tahoe as stated in the actual 1969 compact being enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled that in order to encourage the wise use and conservation of the waters of Lake Tahoe and of the resources of the area around said lake, the consent of the Congress is hereby given to the Tahoe regionally planning compact here 24 adopted by the state of California and Nevada. TRPA is an environmental agency with land use

authority and the first in the United States to be established as such. That is something I learned. I did not know that. Uh TRPA was to develop a regional plan for Tahoe Basin in order to establish mandates to achieve environmental standards or thresholds. The regional plan was originally adopted in 1987. After years of negotiations and partnerships both private and public, California Nevada TR and TRPA updated the regional plan plan in 2012. The regional plan provides coordinated integrated direction for TRPA's regulatory code of ordinances and implementation programs. The regional plan to me is similar to our master plan. So it's it's it's the overall plan for for Tahoe. Relevant to Douglas County are area plans which are important aspect of the regional plan. Area plans are created by local governments to implement the regional plan policies but with greater flexibility. Douglas County created the Southshore area plan encompassing state line and casino corridor. And presently staff is working to develop the Tahoe Douglas area plan which will encompass the rest of the Tahoe Basin within Douglas County. Uh projects within Douglas County in the Tahoe basin requires TRPA approval. Um another thing I'll note is I think from I think TRPA has um expanded in their scope. I think what it was meant to do was an environmental agency. um over the years for whatever reason it seems to have expanded its jurisdiction and what it looks at you know now it's involved in housing and so I don't know if that was the original intention it doesn't sound like it reading the compact but TRPA has grown its

jurisdiction has grown um but I think Douglas County now um I feel like we have a good firm hold there and I [music] think they're listening more um to Douglas County and uh that relationship I think is [music] being bridged and I think the communication is is a lot has improved a lot um from just a few years ago. Oh, I don't think I've ever done an out presentation that fast. I'm sorry I was uh mumbling but sometimes but I usually don't talk that fast. Um so anyway, that is the end of my presentation. Uh, thank you for listening. I know it's been a long day. If any of you have any questions, I'm h happy to answer.

Thank you very much, Kate. Uh, we appreciate it. And that information is necessary for us to have a review from time to time just so we know what the perspective is, the appropriate perspective. And thank you. You're welcome. Any questions? Go ahead, Kirk.

Not a question, but a comment. Thank you very much, Kate. the excellent presentation and thank you for your hard work. Uh your good dedication to making Douglas County a better place to work and live. Tom, uh thank you as well. You have an excellent staff. Community development does a outstanding job in many ways that we don't ever see. So, thank you for all your work and AJ, you are a exeicio part of the team even though you do not work for community development. So, thank you. And once again, uh I I don't say this often enough, but thank you to the clerk's office, Amber. your patience is uh most greatly appreciated and uh we appreciate all the good work that you and your colleagues do. So, thank you very much. Indeatigable. How's that for a word?

And thank you, Jim, for your support as well. Well, before uh we conclude these proceedings, uh I'd like to ask if there are any closing public comments. That is public comment will be taken on any item within the jurisdiction and control of the planning commission or those agenda items where public comment has not already been taken.

[snorts] [clears throat]

Jim Slade because I will always speak my truth. At your last meeting on January 13th this year, item four was quote discussion to review and accept planning commission activities report for calendar year 2025. As a former planning commissioner, I was interested to hear about last year's PC activities report. The presentation by Miss Moris O'Neal, the planning manager, lasted about three minutes. Yet, not one word, not one addressed the agenda topic, much to my disappointment and locally likely an open meeting violation as well. She merely addressed three topics not on the agenda. One, what was the likely to come before the planning commission in 2026? two, thanking her staff and the planning commissioners, and three, complaining about the fact that her staff had to sometimes quote hear negative things from the public. The only comments I have heard in public meetings recently about planning commission staff has been about the planning manager's own regrettable and inappropriate emails.

Point of order, Mr. Chairman. Point of point of order, Mr. Chairman. The gentleman is making a personal uh comments that I believed are derogatory and I ask that you call him into order based on our bylaws. Uh we cannot allow and and that would it'd be easy to identify the individual that you're criticizing. He's criticizing a person by title which references a person by name. And I asked to be I asked to be called he be called to order immediately. These comments have been made multiple times in the No, whether they made or not. Whether they're made or not, our rules indicate that you cannot do so from that podium under this circumstance.

Okay. I will continue with other comments. Although I stand by the fact that those are facts. It's no secret that many point of order, Mr. Chairman, that gentleman is continuing to be extremely rude and inconsiderate. They are not facts. They're your opinions. You're entitled to your opinion, but you're not You're entitled to your opinion, but you're not entitled to your facts. And you're rude and inappropriate to the public as which is against your bylaws.

May I I apologize. [clears throat] I'm going to stand up here and say to everyone present, let's calm it down just a bit. Continue with your presentation. It's no secret that many people in this county think that the community development department is too supportive of development and often ignores the rights and desires of the community. One need only look at the development department's support for the legally dubious and wildly unpopular park ranch proposal transferring receiving area from Topaz to the heart of the Carson Valley peritting up to 2500 homes where only 68 were previously allowed despite written and public written and oral public comment running 50 to1 against it in order to understand why people feel that way. This was the board's worst decision this century and resulted in endless lawsuits for the county and much public dismay. The emails regarding Barton project are further indication of that. Item one today included ignoring the bright line clarity of county code that requires a property to be occup owner occupied in order to apply for an SUP. That is not that is crystal clear. Yet it was ignored. Your approval today favors the developer over community. The profits of one family who is not a rancher over the legitimate concerns of 55 families who merely want their right to the quiet enjoyment of their property to be respected. I urge the planning commission, the board, and the county manager to try to get the development department to have a more balanced approach and to put the community first for a change rather than the profits of developers. If that requires a change in leadership, then so be it. Good evening.

Thank you, Mr. Slate Leader. It uh any further public comment? There is none. Uh I'll adjourn this meeting.