October 14, 2020 Reno City Council Highlights

Press release from the City of Reno:

October 14, 2020

In our ongoing commitment to keep citizens and media informed, we’ve summarized the outcomes of a few key agenda items from today’s Regular Meeting of the Reno City Council:

D.1 - Pedestrian Zone Speed Limit Change

Council directed staff to move forward with creation of an ordinance to modify speed limits near areas where people frequently walk. If approved, the ordinance would provide flexibility to council and staff to reduce speed limits in vulnerable areas.

B.10, B.11, B.12 - Coronavirus Relief Funds: Downtown Improvements, Food Insecurity and Distance Learning

Council approved more than $3.7 million in grants to support the community. The awards include grants to the Downtown Reno Partnership for cleaning and outreach services.

Those grants also include funding for the Boys and Girls Club of the Truckee Meadows, Catholic Charities of Northern Nevada, the Food Bank of Northern Nevada, the University of Nevada, Reno, the Washoe County School District, and Soulful Seeds to mitigate the impacts of food supply and distribution disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Finally, the Washoe County School District was granted funding for more than 5,400 computers and other devices to help students coping with the digital divide and distance learning.

D.2 - Playground and Recreational Facility Improvements

Council directed staff to revise and update the Residential Construction Tax. Those funds are used for park creation and maintenance. However, the fee structure and eligible project statutes have not been modified for nearly a decade. Staff will continue to modernize the tax codes.

D.5.1, D.5.2 - Senior Housing Land Sale

Council approved the sale of approximately four acres at Yorkshire Drive and West Golden Valley Road. The developer Greenstreet will use the parcels for low-income senior housing. The project is overseen by the Community Housing Land Trust.

D.7 - Waste Management Contract

Council approved a new management agreement with Waste Management for trash and recycling for city residents. Some of the changes include:

-Increase the annual allowance for Transfer Station Usage and expand services to include access to the Lockwood Landfill as a service included in the Disposal Agreement. The changes in annual allowances will also reflect an increase in the amount and types of services.

Additional Collection Services include:

• Increased services in parks and public right-of-ways;
• Added services at city facilities to improve recycling;
• Incorporated services for neighborhood and community cleanup;
• Incorporated services for blighted property cleanup;
• Incorporated services for illegal dumping cleanup and homeless camp cleanup;
• Increased drop-box services for street, sewer and facility maintenance;
• Added Landfill Services for abandoned RVs disposal;
• Added Landfill Services for city dump trucks; and,
• Added green waste recycling service at certain city facilities. This service was estimated based on weekly pickup, but is not anticipated to need weekly service.

C.1.1, C.1.2, C.1.3 - 441 Cheney Master Plan

Council approved amendments to the zoning for the area to move from 14 dwellings an acre to a maximum of 30 dwellings per acre.

G.1.1 and G.1.3. - Appointments

-Council reappointed Kenneth Dalton to the Civil Service Commission.

-Council reappointed Alex Goff and Henry Sotelo to the Human Rights Commission

Reno City Council meetings are streamed live at Reno.Gov/Meetings and televised live on Charter Spectrum - Channel 194. Past public meetings can be viewed on YouTube.

This press release was produced by the City of Reno. The views expressed are the author's own.