Comments for Board of Supervisors

Following are comments I wrote 01/04/2017 but was unable to give at the BOS Meeting as I was home sick with a cold. Given the article in the Nevada Appeal today, I believe they are still timely:

So, my brother, Rex, and I were talking the other day about whether or not I was going to be attending the next Board of Supervisors (BOS) meeting. I told him that after the Vintage at Kings Canyon development was shoved down our throats, I didn’t have anything new to make public comment on, but was sure that something would come along.

Well, when what to my wondering eyes should appear, but the Wednesday morning Nevada Appeal, with an article in it about the increase call volume for police/fire services. Who knew? I mean if you increase your community’s population, why would that equate to an increase in activities requiring police or fire/ems intervention? Hopefully, this increase did not come as a surprise to the BOS, the City staff, the Sheriff or the Fire Chief. Pretty sure a staffing increase request is coming down the road from both the Sheriff and the Fire Chief.

Wouldn’t be at all surprised if there isn’t also a request for a new fire substation (which actually should be combined with a law enforcement substation) coming to the BOS soon, especially given all of the new developments recently approved.

When I suggested an impact fee be imposed on each new development, I meant something a little more substantial than the $1000 per lot imposed on the Lompa Ranch development. If you want to be able to support the needed infrastructure increases, a 5% impact fee on the sales price of each new home in a new development should be imposed. Take the Lompa Ranch development for example. The current impact fee will generate, in total, $1.2 million. If, however, a 5% impact fee on the sales price of each new home was imposed, and the average sales price per home equals $230k, and there are 1200 lots available, the total funds a 5% impact fee would generate would equal $13.8 million. If you calculate 480 building permits allocated per year to this development that would equate to $5.52 million in revenue per year until the development is completed. There is quite a bit of difference between $1.2 million and $13.8 million. Enough of a difference, that a new police/fire substation could be built with very little burden on the members of our community.

While we are at it, I’m sure, at some point in time, the Carson City School District is going to be coming to the BOS soon, with a request for a School Bond to build at least one new high school (if they can ever get over the idea that splitting the high school will force them into a different high school sports bracket), and a new junior high school. Frankly, while they are at it, they might as well make it a trifecta and go for an elementary school, since some of the current elementary schools are using modular class rooms in order to meet the overcrowding demands. My brother, Tod, told me that when he was a senior in high school, at the "new" high school back in 1976, his class gave a presentation to the BOS about the overcrowding that was being experienced at the "new" high school. That was 40+ years ago, and yet, here we are.

I realize there is a faction here in Carson City who think it is great to “grow” this city. As I’m sure you have all figured out, based on previous letters to the editor in the Nevada Appeal any my previous public comments before this board, I am not a part of that “grow” Carson City faction. Some growth is necessary to keep a city going, but growth just for the sake of making some developers, contractors or engineering firms happy, is not the future I want for this community. Growth does not equate to a better quality of life.

Growth equates to more dollars in the city’s coffers and more dollars to businesses in the community. What growth doesn’t equate to is less traffic congestion, less crime, less wait times to get in to see your primary care provider, shorter lines at the grocery store, less environmental impacts, or less waste for Waste Management to handle. In short, if you are thinking about a better quality of life, growth is not the way to go. I understand that a good majority of the folks looking to move here are moving here from the state immediately to the west of us. Their cities have managed to ruin the quality of life with their rampant growth, to the point where the people living there just want out. So, they want to move here to enjoy less traffic, less crime, less congestion, and by doing so, are increasing the traffic, crime and congestion in our community.

Unfortunately, with the current composition of the BOS, I don’t hold out much hope (no pun intended) that the brakes will be put on for any future developments being approved. The quality of life in this city that I love will slowly be degraded to the point where those of us who have lived here longer than a minute will no longer recognize why it is we love this place. That makes me very sad. So, I will keep coming to the BOS meetings, and making public comment on issues/items before the board that are of interest to my family and my friends. With any luck, maybe there will be that one time where you actually hear my words instead of BLAH BLAH BLAH de BLAH.