Carson City supervisors to address run-down motels

Responding to years of complaints about certain Carson City area motels that attract crime, have poor exterior, maintenance and provide unsafe living conditions for its occupants, the city’s redevelopment arm is proposing a motel safety program to address building code compliance issues.

Ideas of how to implement a program will go before the Carson City Board of Supervisors when they meet Thursday, Feb. 18. According to a city staff report by Community Development Director Lee Plemel, many motels provide a low-income housing alternative and serve as de-facto low income housing.

“Health and Human Service Department records show there are currently 30 hotels/motels in Carson City with a total capacity of 1,790 rooms. Around a third of those rooms, 600, are rented out as long-term stays,” said Plemel in the report.

Supervisors will be asked to consider creating plans to systematically address various issues at motels. One such way is to implement a motel safety program similar to the city of Reno. Its plan addresses code enforcement, fire code compliance and criminal activity. Supervisors will be presented with an outline of the Reno program.

Implementation of such a Carson City program would require cooperation and commitment of resources from a number of city departments and divisions including the Sheriff’s Office, Fire Department, Health Department, Community Development Code Enforcement Division, Building Division, and Planning Division, according to the staff report. The idea behind the proposed motel safety program is to ensure facilities provide safe, healthy conditions for city residents and visitors.

Department impacts are largely unknown at this point and would depend on the details of how Carson City would implement such a program, Plemel notes in the staff report.

If supervisors wish to move forward with implementing a safety program, staff will work together to develop a more detailed plan that includes the necessary resources to get it off the ground.

The staff report offers a number of “pros” and “cons” for creating such a plan. The pros listed are:
— Such a plan would be a comprehensive approach to addressing various code issues at the motels with the worst problems, as identified by various city departments.
— Requiring property owners to upgrade their properties could lead to further redevelopment of the property.
— Helps eliminate motels as a “safe haven” for criminals.
Cons:
— This is a resource-intensive process, requiring significant staff time from various City departments.
— Staff would have to take a one-property-at-a-time approach, often dealing with numerous issues on each
property.
— Occupants could be displaced on short notice and need emergency housing.

City staff from the various departments that would be involved with creating such a plan will be at Thursday’s meeting to answer questions regarding specific codes and the impacts it could have on department operations.

In other matters, Carson City supervisors will:

— Review and discuss the Downtown Corridor Construction Business Support Plan. The plan has been formulated to provide up-to-date information on the upcoming construction of the Downtown Streetscape Project.

— Discuss and take possible action to eliminate a full-time Office Specialist position currently budgeted under the Fire Department and to approve budgeting a full-time Information Management Officer position that will report to the Chief Information Officer.

To create a more efficient flow of information to the public and staff, it has been recommended to eliminate the fire department position. The proposed position would be responsible for creation and distribution of social media content, website development and video production for all city departments/offices, according to the staff report.

The creation of this position will allow the city to distribute a consistent message to the public and reduce duplicative services being performed by each department/office, according to the staff report. The social media intern position will not be filled, as the duties will be performed by this new position.

Go here for the full agenda. The meeting begins at 8:30 a.m. in the Sierra Room of the Carson City Community Center, 851 East William Street.