Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

It is 1:00. I will call this meeting of the Douglas County Planning Commission to order. I will ask everyone to please silence their devices to sit down and private conversations and I will ask Jim to please lead us in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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.

It is now time for opening public comment. Public comment is limited to three minutes per speaker on matters over which the planning commission has jurisdiction. The planning commission wants to encourage respectful consideration of all views by members of the public. If content is disruptive, disrespectful, irrelevant, or offensive, the individual will be asked to stop speaking. Public comment will also be taken on agenda items that are identified for possible action and we will have closing public comment. I will now open public comment. Please sign the roster. Say your name for the record into the microphone. First speaker, please. Seeing no one rise, I will close public comment. It is now time for approval of the agenda. Are there any additions or changes to the agenda? Seeing none, do we have a motion?

Move to approve the agenda. Second. We have a motion by Lori and a second by Bryce. All those in favor? Motion passes unanimously. Time for approval of the minutes. Do we have any changes to the minutes? I apologize. I'm looking

I apologize. I was looking for the specific reference. There was a motion that was made that I had seconded uh and made comments and accepted uh Commissioner Walders's uh modifications and yet uh in the final vote it indicates that uh our vice chairman was the seconder. So it just screwed up the two names and I apologize because I'm looking for it right now. I can see it in my mind's eye, but I can't find the specific reference. It's going to take a moment.

It's on the TDR program. Correct.

Uh the reference is and thank you. Um Commissioner Walder handed me the piece of paper. You take a look at 12, page 12, page 13, and page 14. That's the 14 has the inconsistent uh seconder listed as Commissioner Clos. That's my only change. Okay, Lori.

Apparently, page 14 is the uh bad page this time. Um there's a reference to Chairwoman Hails. uh it should be corrected to uh chairwoman uh Casey. So if that uh that's the only change that I have to uh suggest. I think we all picked up on that one and I thank you very much for the compliment. If there are no other changes or corrections, do we have a motion? So moved. We have a motion by Bryce. Second. Second. Second by Paul. All those in favor?

I I motion passes and we will move into our agenda for possible action. Discussion to recommend adoption of 2025 update to the Carson River Flood Plane Management Plan presented by the Carson Water Subconservancy District CWSD. Edwin James, CWSD general manager presenting. And that's what it says in the agenda. Although we have Brenda and Debbie here. Courtney Walker.

Good afternoon. Courtney Walker. Um I'm the stormwater program manager for Douglas County. I wanted to take a moment just to introduce um Brenda and Debbie. I know they don't look like Ed um but they know the material very well. Um, I wanted to just take a minute to explain the Carson Water Subconservancy District's role and how they support Douglas County in in particular. Um, they are a regional governmental agency as many of you know. They work in every county uh that the Carson River wershed flows through. So, it starts up in Alpine County, flows through Douglas, Carson City, Lion County, and Churchill County. Story County is also a part of it. the river doesn't run through it, but the mountains drain to the Carson River. Uh so they do a lot of different coordinated efforts uh in relation to flood plane management, um outreach, invasive species, recreation, water supply, all different kinds of things. Um I work with them very closely on the flood plane management portion of it and we've coordinated uh quite a few projects together. They're a cooperating technical partner with FEMA. Um, and so they're able to obtain funding to help the counties do various area drainage master plans. Um, and those typically, uh, those watershedwide type of studies typically translate into capital improvement projects that we put into our storm water master plan uh, for implementing those and being able to prioritize actual projects to help um, flooding issues and concerns that we have in Douglas County. Uh, they've also done a coordinated mapping of the Carson River flood plane. Um it it used to be that you would look at a portion or maybe start at a county line and end at another county line. Um but we've worked with them to do a comprehensive remapping of the Carson River flood plane um from Alpine County down to Lion County. And so um our actions here in Douglas would affect um those down in

Carson. And so you kind of look at it as an integrated approach. This particular uh regional flood plan management plan was originally written in 2008 and it's updated generally every five years. Um we do submit it with our community rating system program to FEMA which translates uh with all the other activities that the county does to help make our community more flood safe. It translates to a 20% discount in flood insurance premiums for those who have to get those policies. Um, so it's a great partnership and I just wanted to take that that moment just to give a little context um to their presentation, but I'm going to let them give the bulk of the presentation and um but I'm also here for questions too.

Thanks. Thank you, Courtney. Debbie, I have to ask the question. Are you related to our Mark? Uh, let's see. Um, well, Mark is my husband's second cousin. So his dad Wilton and uh my father-in-law were first cousins. So we are second cousins. Thanks. So yes, I'm pretty much related, but I'm actually wearing my mother-in-law, Joyce Ned and Reprep suit. She was such a fashionable lady that um I inherited all her great clothes. So yeah, and my sister-in-law still owns Joyce's.

Thank you, Brenda. It's wonderful to see you. and this is Brenda Hunt, our watershed program manager. So, we're here today, as it says, to talk about the Carson River watershed uh flood plane management plan and talk about um the background, the goals, and the objectives and strategies of the plan. So, all the pictures in the plan are examples of different types of flooding. One last question. Do you want us to ask questions as you go along or wait till you're done? Um I think we can go as we go along. Do you feel good with that? If I can answer the end of chapters. Sure. Sure. Okay. Thank you.

So, um, as I was saying, um, the pictures in this just demonstrate different types of flooding that has occurred throughout our watershed. And of course, this is the biggest flood we have in recent history. It's not the absolute biggest flood that's ever happened, but it's the one we have the most pictures of. Um, so we've you're actually the last county we've brought it to all the other counties planning commissions and executive boards and they have adopted the plan and so we're excited to present it to you today. So the main purpose of the Carson River flood plane management plan is to reduce flood risk. And so I'll we are going to talk about the history of the plan and um how we do that. And so the first rendition of the plan like Courtney mentioned um I think was in 2008 and it was funded by ND. And then so all six of the watershed counties have adopted it and it's meant to be a planning reference for land use and development that impacts the flood plane. And with that, I'll hand it over to Brenda.

So, um, I think you have to

Oh, it goes on automatically. So, Brenda Hunt, uh, wershed program manager for the record. Um, I'm just going to give you a little update about who the CRC is. Um, the Carson River Coalition is a a group of wershedwide stakeholders that have helped uh create this plan o throughout the years. um they serve as the steering committee for integrated watershed planning process and the idea of the CRC was created during a watershedwide conference that was held in 1998 in response to those that 1997 flood. CWSD was asked to facilitate the CRC and establish this integrated watershed planning process. Um Debbie a little bit later is going to talk about um the 2003 main message that came out of the CRC um which in in basically is about floodplane management and she'll talk about that in in the future but that that and um working um with the river corridor and floodplane management working groups. So each of the CRC is a very large stakeholder group, but we do have several specific working groups and one of them is that river and floodplane management corridor working group which helps uh create these plans. Um we've also done a series of public workshops associated with this update. Um as you can see on the slide, it shows a myriad of the types of of uh entities that are associated with the CRC. um they include private individuals, staff from local state and federal governments, tribal governments, citizen driven groups, that type of thing. Uh this program focuses on management of watershed resources long-term and addresses the diverse needs and concerns of all stakeholders throughout various

Carson River Coalition working groups and the and those um various specific programs that Courtney referred to in the very beginning. Um funding for this effort uh was provided for for this most recent um 2025 update as well as the 2018 update that was through the cooperative technical partners and the FEMA FEMA funding. And in the past, the previous iterations were a joint effort through a 319 grant program between ND and CWSD. Can you um so the CC has been an integral part of all these plan updates. This just shows you the different um plan history. Um the plan it has led to a framework that allows us to get this FEMA funding. Um so that's a really important aspect of it. Um the plan includes it's it includes suggested actions. Uh the document contains um county progress on each suggested action. It outlines future projects for FEMA CTP funding and it serves as a guideline for the floodplane management um in Douglas County as well as throughout the whole wershed. um county it this flood plane management plan is referenced in some of your county documents including your hazard mitigation plans and your city master plan or your master plans county master plans I'm going to hand it back over to Debbie

thank you so we live in the high desert um river and flash flooding or aluvial fan flooding is nothing new so it's serious flooding is possible in any given time of the year. Um this slide provides some historical flood dates for the river and um flooding here and elsewhere namely Fallon and Carson City. So, one of the things this plan does, um, I like to tell people when I'm doing demonstrations is that the more we think about water before it floods, the better prepared we can be when it floods, um, and the less cost it is when um, disaster strikes. Um, so flooding becomes big a bigger and bigger problem due to increased development pressure. And of course, the more you build where water wants to go, um whether it's the floodplane areas of the river or aluvial fans, um it can create problems. And then as development occurs, elevated roadways and housing pads can also affect um and change the routes of floods when they come. And so these photos uh are really telling. And these are the major flooding listed here is just the Carson River. This doesn't include flash floods, but it just shows that flooding is something that's not a novelty. And so this picture shows that rivers want to meander. And so this plan provides a regional approach to flood plane management um to protect the flood planes from

development. And it's a common sense approach and the cheapest um to avoid or reduce flood damage impacts on a watershed scale. And so that's why it begins with what we call the living river approach. And so this living river approach tries to keep the rivers form and function so that we don't end up with an LA river in the middle of this valley and our watershed and it also improves watershed health and it um and has a lot of great benefits. So kind of our work, we sort of parse it out into these different baskets, but open flood plane lands um improve water quality, provide wildlife habitat, they um help to um recharge groundwater. Um they having a place for water to go keeps people safe rather than um just rushing down and getting them. And the National Institute of Building Science uh did a study and for every dollar that's spent on mitigation. So when we say mitigation, we're talking about keeping the flood planes open, um building detention basins in places, you know, where floods go, um keeping those um roadside ditches and coverts clean. All of those things are mitigation. And so, but for every dollar that you spend on that, you're going to save $7 in a disaster. And that doesn't include the lives of people who have been um saved from that risk. Um since the plan was written, this concept, this living river concept has also been applied to the ruros and dry lake beds. Um, we want to

know where water is going there because, you know, when there's a flash flood, it becomes critical for people to understand. It's just as dangerous to be in those channels as next to a river. And so, another thing that's really important to mention is that this plan and the entire integrated watershed planning process advocates for a balanced approach for all users. you know we don't want to put one user before the other where whether it's agricultural municipal um ecosystem health you know you have to have a balanced approach and so the balance between floodplane land conservation and economic development I think of it in terms of you know when you plan development to think about where water's going and you know maybe make those spaces where the water wants to flow those open spaces like Martin Slooh is a great example and So the another thing is we really want to balance property rights with natural resources. I love this picture. And with that in mind, the main message from the CRC that was created in 2003 and reaffirmed with each um subsequent update is to protect the flood plane from future development. Because once the flood plains and especially the river's meander belt corridor are impacted by development, the river loses the ability to reestablish its natural functions. Agricultural fields near the channel are critical for flood water attenuation, groundwater recharge, non-point source pollution buffering, and providing habitat for wildlife. And I would add humans. Um I living here my whole life, every part of the watershed I have spent

time in, I just love and um it's such a joy to be able to access all these different areas. And so the flood plane management plan um has eight categories of mitigation strategies as they are listed here and then those are breaken broken out into 49 suggested actions to implement to reduce flood risk. So everything in our plan is a suggestion. Yeah. um we don't um try to force the counties to do anything, but really the success of this plan is how each county implements the plan. And so it's key. So the more they're implemented in your county, the more effective they will be in keeping your residents safe and reducing damage costs when a disaster strikes. And a lot of people say, "Well, I don't want to pay for that." But one thing I like to say is you're going to pay now or you're going to pay later. And like the 2014 and 15 flash floods that happened in Johnson Lane, both of those floods cost the county a million dollars, a 15minute flash flood. And that was just to clean up the roads, roadside ditches, and culverts. And so do you want to pay a million dollars now or hopefully less or less? you know, so that kind of brings that 1:7 ratio to light. You're going to pay now, you can pay a little bit now or a lot later. And so again, as planning commission members, you're in a unique position to make sure these suggested actions are considered when reviewing development proposals. And so, um, as the agenda stated, this was, um, the Dayton version of what happened in those flash floods. Um as the plan the agenda stated there

were some the changes are listed basically you know formatting. We did expand the storm water section to include LI and we added a new section which are pathways to overcome barriers to mitigation. And this came about because we invited the emergency managers from each county to participate and we realized, wow, we really need to be working together because I would say we're on the planning side of things, but emergency management and flood plane managers in counties are on the implementation part. And so to understand what those barriers are and then work together breaking down silos to um break down those barriers is is um one thing we uh try to do. And so we did add one suggested action to the storm water which is protect and buffer natural drainage ways from development to ensure historic and natural flows are maintained. And then the appendix um changes are listed. They weren't extensive. And so um I just want to thank the Douglas County staff um and thank you for letting me present, but I really appreciate how the staff from each county participates in this process. um they help provide the updates and information and then they edit pertinent sections. And so it this plan was created for the entire watershed in your county to reduce flood risk. And so floods don't respect political boundaries. And like Courtney said, the Carson River is now mapped so that that you know water flows wherever it wants and it doesn't stop at county lines. And so the goal of this plan is to work together so that when

something happens, nothing happens. Nobody's hurt, nobody's killed. And so, um, I just also wanted to say kudos to Courtney and Douglas County for your storm water management plan. It's re it's really a great example of what happens um when you act on those suggested actions for the good of your county. And so with that, I'll turn it back over to Courtney. And thank you for your time. And if you have any questions, let me know. Other questions, Jim? As the river naturally changes, course. Mhm.

Um, how does that affect planning? I mean, a big enough storm can actually move it. And um, and I first of all, I love all everything that's proactive. love everything that says we're not going to wait for something bad to happen and panic that we're going to do things ahead of time. So I just wonder if that creates a challenge as the river naturally all rivers change course through time. Well, I will say that the living river approach looks at that meander belt where a river is going to change. going to meander within a certain

right. And so instead of building up to the very edge or within 50 ft of the river, you want to give that meander belt a place to go. Courtney Walker, for the record, just to add to that, um, in our stormwater master plan, we look at it kind of as a two-pronged approach. There's certain areas where you would want to protect the land and not build anything on there because there's nothing you can do to stop the flood or the river movement and then there's other areas where you could actually build um a detention basin or something like that to help to contain it.

Um and so it just kind of depends on the area that you're in. The river does move around a lot. You're totally right about that. Um it only really matters, I guess, if there's houses in the way or bridges or roads and things of that nature. So, we work closely with the Carson Valley Conservation District to do bank stabilization in strategic places to try to protect it and kind of keep it where it is where it matters. Um, but in some places you can't. Thank you. Other questions, Lori?

So, um, this is an amazing plan, so I have no criticism at all of it, but I do have some questions. We're talking a lot about flood planes and can you tell me how we establish a flood plane? Is it the FEMA map or is it a historical um suggestion of where that water has flown has flowed to in the past or how do we determine what is the flood plane?

Well, that reminds me of John Coburn's great um he has a flood plane diagram which um I don't think it's in this document. It's in a cooperative extension document. And so it's a like it makes total sense, but you know, you have this area of land here. And so the flood way is the channel where the water goes through and the flood plane is, you know, from a FEMA standpoint, it's the rise of water in a what's called a 1% annual chance storm. That's not the best definition, but it is, you know, and so, but there's floodways in flash flood zones. So, like the floodway, that's where, like, say you get a 25ear storm, that's like the minimum. But what if you get the storm of the century or the millennia and it goes higher? So, basically, flood planes are defined a lot of the time by FEMA. And if it's a river, so like in the case of the Carson River, that's what we call a regulatory flood plane because it's a 1% annual chance. But then like in the area drainage master plans, they show both the 25 and the 100redyear because you're typically going to see a 25-year storm, which if um a flash flood channel has been filled up with sediment for years on end, even a 25-year storm can become a big disaster. So

So I'm guess my question is for Courtney. How how do we in Douglas County look at delineating the areas that are subject to the recommendations in this plan?

Courtney Walker, great question. Uh flood plane can be det can be described in a couple different ways, but um Debbie's right. It's a really a FEMA term in term it's it's an insurance tool for them to be able to define the extent of the 100red-year storm event like for the inundation of that area. But we do have these area drainage master plans where we're looking at not only that big storm but smaller ones as well. And so we are concerned um with a flood plane if they're m measuring a foot of water, but you might also have an issue if you're in an area where you have six inches of water and that's not mapped as a regulatory flood plane, but we might want to look at doing a mitigation project in that area if there's something that we want to protect. Um and so a flood plane isn't always defined by FEMA. It's also can be defined by the community and what are the issues that you're trying to alleviate. Other questions? Dan,

is is this when you want us to ask questions and make comments or is there going to be another opportunity? We're doing questions right now. Okay. So, you've completed your pre your formal presentation. Okay. Uh I did have a question. Um the plan refers to I my background as a public works official. I'm always interested in

beautiful, you know, it's a beautiful plan. We know that. And by the way, I I already mentioned I love the pictures. I think your pictures and your use of visuals tells the story better than all the words. And particularly as we go forward and try to educate the community and educate uh us, the commissioners, everybody. You know what a story those pictures tell. And I noticed a lot of Debbie and Brenda pictures in there and I I encourage you to keep doing that work. But again, for my background, it's always a great plan. Plan's only worth what it's printed on unless we're doing something about it.

And so, uh, you know, and Courtney knows this and I'm interested in, you know, how we doing, you know, what have we done? What are the consequences of what we're doing? I know there's financial implications. We'll talk about that with the commission next week, I think. Right. And um but the the it does refer in the plan to appendix E which is county progress

and we and we didn't get appendix E. So I'm just wondering if you could give us a little bit of an update of how we doing. You know what what have we done? What are we doing that that seems to be right in line with what your what the plan is is recommending. uh what aren't we doing that we maybe should be doing? You know, where are we, you know, moving out of out of compliance with the plan? So, I'm curious as to what was in appendix E. I don't know how detailed it was, but but how we doing not having the um agenda before me? I know I provided the link so you could look at it.

Dan, where are you referencing in the packet? Let me look at let's see if I can go to she's in the master plan. Uh so and I are you referencing something in our packet? Yes. Yes, ma'am. What page? And so well the appendices are listed at the end of the report. So I don't I think it's like 129 or something like that in the report 130 something like that. Uh but it's the Well, it' be nice to know so we can follow along to what you're saying. Well, if I have opened up a the

Agenda package number 209, report number 139. There's a list of appendices. I'm asking about appendix E, which is county progress report.

Well, it be um those aren't specifically in our agenda right now. We are talking about the subconserveny report and in order to move this along I want to keep the questions confined to the subconservancy report. So we can talk about that at another time but that's not pertinent pertinent to what our agenda item is. So I'm going to defer your question to another time and confine. It's not part of the report. The appendices are not part of the report. No. Council, are the appendices part of the master plan report or not?

Not this report that we have in front of us. No. That doesn't make sense to me. I thought they were included in the agenda item. uh Courtney Walker, just to help clear up, I think what they included in the what I included in the attachment was the plan, but not the several there's like five or six appendices at the end of the plan that were not included. So, the content that's in there, we probably if that helps you, AJ, I don't know if we want to discuss it if it wasn't. No, it's a it's a link. You can find those yourself. That's a reference document that you can go to yourself at another time. Yeah, I tried the link and it didn't work on mine. It didn't.

Anyways, uh well, so it's up here. So, basically these are the progress. Um so, and I got to this by going to cwsd.org and then you go to floodplane management and then hazard plans and documents. And so basically for each item, county staff wrote down their progress that they have made in 20 at the when we started collecting comments. Okay. In 2023 and 4 could you possibly share that link with us?

Sure. Um it's Yeah, I will share it. It's basically cwsd.org. Here. I got to find it again. Here. I'll just go back. Do you want us Do you want us to I'll navigate to it and you can I can email you a link as well. Yeah, that's fine. Yeah, that would be fine because you got so many great hyperlinks and to different reports and different pictures which I view is all part of the plan, right? And u and I just had a question on the one that talked about how we do it. How are we doing? Right. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for that.

Do you have more of the report to share or did you finish your presentation? That is it. Courtney was Courtney was going to wrap it up as far as

Well, I don't want to cut off Courtney Walker. I don't want to cut off any other questions if there are any. Um, but essentially this is kind of a highle plan 30,000 foot view of what the entire watershed goals are collectively. um specific to Douglas County. They're a little more general. They don't have specific projects in it. Those can be found in our stormwater master plan which will be discussed at a future BOC or board of county commissioners meeting in September. Um and so how are we doing? I would say we've definitely made some progress. Um but strive for progress, not perfection, I guess. I had a couple of questions or comments about the mitigation barriers.

Mhm.

And there were a couple places where um there are a couple of thing costly mitigation basins or drainage systems may be unnecessary if each county implements ordinances or before construction occurs. This is page 182 of the packet and also the same paragraph. By reducing flood risk on each property, downstream flood impacts to neighborhoods and communities are also reduced. I think this information is right on deadon fabulous information that needs to be stressed by all the counties in every master plan and every development project. and I'm so pleased to see it. However, there there's some jargon in this report that

um in the same section and it talks about mitigation barriers caused by social constructs and it talks about silos. Maybe I'm just old, but I don't know what silos are. And when I think silos, I think the towers are silos layers or and couldn't you just say layers instead of silos? And you know, I think the less jargon we have in reports, the the easier it is for lay people to read them, right? So that's good information.

Personally, I would like to see that kind of thing, right? And I guess it's a metaphor for if you have a silo of public works here, a silo of planning here, a silo of um flood plane management, and a silo of building department. and they're not talk, you know. So, it's a metaphor of those different um uh entities within a community that if you everyone's not working together um then that's kind of but I will take your advice to put in less jargon and make it clear.

Yeah, I I think jargon may have a place somewhere. I mean, we all talked in drawing them when we were growing up, but still it's we don't all have access to these trainings. And then on page 174, it has actions to capture storm water on individual parcels. And in the bullets, it says, "Avoid planting on mounds, especially in Nevada's dry climates." And I think that is excellent advice because if you drive around the county, you see people with their landscaping and everything they plant is on a mount. Mhm.

Which creates more runoff and they dry out faster and they're all sprinkling overhead sprinklers. And I I think your plans for irrigation and for landscaping again need to be in all the design landscaping designs that we all put together with planning

to need to be disseminated to every subdivision around Douglas County and Lion County and Alpine County and every other county in Nevada because when It helps with water quality. It helps with water use. It helps with runoff. Helps with everything else. But those were my comments. That's great. Thank you. Thank you. And I have to say um Brenda has led an effort over the last several years to one audit all the counties um storm water ordinances. Storm water. Well, we've done flood planes first and then we did storm water next

um through different funding sources to kind of see where those inconsistencies are because I know in Carson City where I live um for a long time there was an ordinance that if you were going to build an industrial building you had to have mounded

um landscaping and so just things like that where it's like wait a minute we live in a desert and so kind of through those audits and um basically worked with county staff to then suggest changes to those ordinances pertaining to flood plane management and storm water management so that you know you're saving water you're attend you're trying to get all the water you can into the ground as opposed to I like to say just going out to the desert and evaporating. So the more you have those kinds of plans that can keep water in your community, the better. Other questions? Kirk.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, excellent report. Thank you for all your hard work on this. I uh really appreciate this and I think this is going to be very valuable to uh all of the uh people who are affected in Douglas County. I did have and not to get too far in the weeds, I did have one question on uh your suggested actions. Uh packet page 140 uh in the page 70 I guess if you're report number seven um says identify and promote options for land over landowner incentive programs such as floodplane leasing program and conservation easements that provide compensation to land owners providing ecosystem services and seek funding mechanisms. I assume this is a recommendation for the counties like Douglas County that you want us to uh uh promote options, but I'm a little bit unclear what flood plane leasing would be. If I I'm kind of guessing that it's a land owner who has some land in the flood plane and they lease that, would they lease that to the county then? Uh uh can you give me just a flavor of what this might mean?

It could be that. Um it could be it we see it most often in like conservation dis um easements you know it keeps a in the community and then they can use it for agriculture. Um the flood plane leasing program we don't really have one at this point but it would be great if we could have it leased but I'm not sure who would do that. It's kind of like a um you know a conservation uh you know farmers can join to make their crops or to not plant. It's a similar thing you know to not develop and it would be like leasing um you know flood plane lands in that way. Is that kind of the idea?

Um Courtney Walker for the record I just wanted to add. Um, I think what you might mean with that is, um, sometimes there's a big piece of a land that the rancher's family doesn't want to continue to put in production, but they could lease it to someone who doesn't own land, but has cows and wants to graze them in the flood plane. So, it's still being used in the same way even if the land owner doesn't want to use it for that, that purpose. And then just to follow up, then then the incentive would be provided by the county. So Douglas County would incentivize either financially or in some other way to the land owner.

I think you could do it that way. I also think it could be a private type of transaction, but maybe promoting the idea, but you there could be incentives to it as well. Well, thank you again. Excellent report and I appreciate the hard work you've put in. Thank you, Jim.

I also really appreciate this report. It kind of brought me to mind what was just mentioned as uh we have a lot of talk on the TDR program and TDR program where the sending areas are in the flood plane. Seems to me a great idea to conserve that land and um and send those development rights to an area more appropriate for growth. And since we are discussing um also in this county the TDR program, it's a good point to realize that that that program can be effective in terms of um of the flood plane,

right? And I kind of feel like Carson City is a really good example how that's been effective. You know, they have golf courses and open space that they maintain for all their residents to be able to access and it has become a draw for people to want to live in that community because they can enjoy those open spaces. And then when there's a flood, the city just closes down those areas and says, "This is not safe today, but it will be in a week or so." And so, yeah. But you're not suggesting Carson City is anything better than us, right? Well, you know, I am a Carson City girl even though I married a Douglas guy. Not with that not with that name you're not.

No, that that's an excellent point as well. Bryce,

uh, thank you, Madam Chair. Maybe I missed it, but just going through the report, is there any suggestions or recommendations in terms of irrigation ditch management and and the effect that that has uh on the diversion of water where it's not supposed to go? Um, you know, I know on the the western part of the valley, uh, you know, there's just a lot of ditches that, you know, now have development on them that, uh, maybe don't have water rights. And so those irrigation ditches are not being maintained. And so the water is going in a different direction than it should and especially, you know, when there's a lot of runoff or, you know, we have a flash flood. And so I didn't see that in here, but it may be something to consider. Um, I'd like to see, you know, more of the irrigation ditch management, especially so that it gets down to the a land where it belongs. Um, but more importantly, that it, well, not more importantly, but as important, it doesn't get diverted somewhere else.

Um, Courtney Walker, for the record, I don't know that it's referred to in this plan, um, as this one is a little more high level. That concept does apply in several counties, though. We do have a section in the storm water master plan that addresses that um in working with the a community to uh particularly where we have roads that cross their ditches. Um but we also kind of coordinate if they aren't able to get their water they are they are allowed to enter the land to maintain areas if needed. Um so we work pretty closely with them but it is addressed just in a separate plan. The stormwater master plan talks more about the implementation strategies here specifically.

Thank you. The last people I'm concerned about are the ranchers man managing the ditches because that's their livelihood. It's the people that aren't managing the ditches that may happen to have purchased property where the ditch runs through and and so that water is not making it from the mountains down into the water or into the the A land because it's not being maintained up upstream. So I I just I I see it a lot where it's not the ranchers that are the problem. If they don't have the you know they maintain their ditches because if they don't then the water doesn't get where it needs to go. So, um, maybe just some level of enforcement upstream on those particular properties where cuz I see it all around me, you know, they're they're not managing the ditches and the water is not getting to go where it should go. Um, and there's really no consequences or enforcement for doing that. I don't know the vehicle per se uh to do that, but it'd be nice to be able to to have some level of enforcement or or monitoring or management or something. um so that that water is just not going wherever it it you know is not intended to go.

That's a really great suggestion and it kind of puts me in mind of what the county did working with um the conservation districts and um the state in relation to weed management. kind of the same problem where someone would buy a small parcel and then the next thing you know it's got a noxious weed that's going to affect the livelihoods of a lot of ranchers. And so they kind of developed this program where um the state would send a letter and say, "Hey, you know, you are um these noxious weeds need to be removed." And it was kind of like a three strikes and you're out. And then if they didn't remove it, then the county basically um was authorized to go in and remove those weeds and send the bill. And I almost wonder if you know you could work with the federal water master and others and you know the conservation districts to kind of educate people who buy these types of parcels. I mean I'm just kind of thinking of potential solutions, but a lot of times people want to do the right thing. they just don't know and understand that they're part of this bigger system. And so a lot of it ends up being education.

If there aren't any more questions at this time, I'd like to open public comment. Could I ask one more question, chairman? Okay, Dan. Thank you. Thank you, chairman. Um, so this kind of umbrella plan and you just mentioned the Douglas County stormwater master plan. So this plan informs the county plan. Is that how I understand the hierarchy? And then that's where your CIP is and all that. So those CIPs in your opinion are addressing the the goals of of this master plan. Correct. Okay. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Dan. Thank you. Thank you.

Don't go away because we'll probably have some questions afterwards. Oh, okay. I'd like to open public comment. Anyone wishing to speak public comment, please come to the microphone, write your name on the roster, and say it for the record. First speaker, [Music]

I sign my name here. Yeah. I'm John Coburn. I'm John Coburn.

Thank you, sir. Should I? Okay. Put my name here. Uh yeah, I'm John Corburn. Uh reside in the Johnson Lane area and I worked with uh University of Nevada Cooperative Extension for 26 years. Uh ret retired in 2017. Uh, I've been involved with uh the Carson River Coalition since since its founding in 1998. And I've uh we we met uh every month or sometimes more often than every month for for over 20 years. And uh uh as as Debbie pointed out uh one of the one of the members Steve Lewis who was our cooperative extension uh person in uh Gardnerville asked the question what's our main message to the public and we he did a whole process uh to gather public or to to gather the opinion of all the the stakeholders and this is a big group of agricultural people, city people and so forth. Uh and through that process, flood plane management came out on top as the main message that we wanted to educate the public about. And uh I just wanted to say that uh Douglas County has been very active at uh pursuing the goal of better flood plane management. Douglas County has an element of the master plan for for flooding. Uh and the Douglas County has been has passed this this flood plane plan. uh ever every time it's been brought forward since 2008 when it was finalized the first time. Uh I just uh wanted to express my support for it and to give my thanks to both the county uh

and the planning commission and so forth as well as the Carson Water subconservy district because we're in better shape now than we were uh when we started this. actually started wrote our first publication on flooding here in the county in 1995. So that was 30 years ago. So there's still work to do, but we're on the right path, I think. Thank you, sir. Next speaker. Seeing no one rise, I will close public comment and return it to the planning commission. Are there other questions or comments? Seeing none, I would like to thank you both. Wonderful presentation. Thank you.

Do we have a motion,

Kirk? Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, I would move that the planning commission recommend to the board of county commissioners that they adopt the 2025 update to the Carson River flood plane management plan as presented. We have a second. I'll second. I'll second. We have a motion by Kirk, second by Dan, and do we have all those voting? I I motion passes unanimously. Thank you.

And now it's time for closing public comment. Is there any closing public comment? Seeing no one rise, I will close public comment. And I do have a couple of announcements. On September 9th, we are planning to have planning commission 1 p.m. here. And on September 17th at 300 PM at CVIC, the BOCC will have a special meeting uh to hear the Douglas County storm water plan which will take into accounting some of this information as well as information specific to Douglas County. And Courtney will be there as well as our own staff besides Courtney. Thank you. And hopefully many of you will be in attendance to hear specifically what Doug what Douglas County has to offer.

Excuse me, chair. What was the time and date of that? 3 p.m. on September 17th. Okay. Oh, September 17th. Okay. Thank you. Thank you all. This meeting is adjourned.