CITY OF RENO NEWS RELEASE
Today the Reno City Council held its regularly scheduled meeting. Below are some highlights from the meeting.
• Agenda Item E.3
The city council approved the purchase of hazardous material detection equipment from RAE Systems with a state of Nevada Homeland Security Grant in the amount of $45,740. The purchase of new equipment will enhance and improve response capabilities for the Regional Hazmat Team in the areas of weapons of mass destruction and chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive types of hazardous materials incidents.
• Agenda Item E.4
The city council approved the purchase of Scott Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus units for the Reno Fire Department for wildland firefighting purposes from Municipal Emergency Services, Inc. with a Fire Safe Council Grant from the U.S. Department of Interior in the amount of $126,233.03. The Reno Fire Department has significant needs for wildland firefighting equipment in the urban wildland interface areas covered in the Reno Fire Department’s response jurisdiction. The purchase of the new equipment will help with wildland firefighting.
• Agenda Item E.9
The city council approved a bid award to K7 Construction for the former CitiCenter South Building for a Reno Police Substation in an amount not to exceed $352,000. The funding will come from the room tax surcharge which the Nevada State Legislature approved, Assembly Bill 376, imposing a surcharge of $2 per night for the rental of hotel rooms in the Reno downtown district in order to pay the cost of improving and maintaining publicly owned facilities for tourism and entertainment in the district.
As part of the repurposing of the former bus station, the Reno Police Department will be moving several operations into the south building. Components of the building plan will include officer safety elements and modification of the largely-public space to allow for an enhanced downtown presence. The repurposing project also includes opening the location to the public with a plaza, artwork and tree lighting.
• Agenda Item J.6
The City Council approved the Moana Park Site Conceptual Master Plan. Approving the plan is another step in creating the Miracle on Turf: The Rebirth of Moana Stadium Fields. The project to rebuild athletic fields will transform the Moana Site into a multi-use complex featuring a modern aquatics facility, soccer fields, baseball fields and other community amenities.
City staff has been working with the community stakeholders who are invested in using the Moana Park Site to develop it into a multi-use complex. The plan was reviewed and approved by the Recreation and Parks Commission at its May 1 meeting. It has also been endorsed by the key stakeholders, who helped develop it.
The next step in the process is to complete the identification of funding sources for demolition of the entire site, proceed with the salvage efforts, and the completion of the detailed plans and specifications for the soccer field’s construction.
• Agenda Item J.13
Business owners in the Midtown area (an area generally defined as several blocks east and west of South Virginia Street between California Avenue and Plumb Lane) have advised the city of Reno staff and the city council that there are serious parking needs in Midtown. Staff from the Public Works and Community Development Departments have met and continue to meet with several of the Midtown business owners to discuss parking issues. It was determined that increased turnover of on-street parking spaces would benefit businesses in the area.
Today the city council directed staff to implement a plan to reduce the painted red curbs within the Midtown area, which would create additional parking spaces, move forward with installing two-hour time limit signs while increasing parking enforcement, continue working with Midtown business owners and implement a six-month pilot program with Siemens, a parking system vendor, for an automated parking enforcement system. The pilot parking system would tell parking enforcement officers when a vehicle is parked past the two hour time limit. The pilot parking system would be installed in approximately 45 days.
