By Carla O’Day
Additional development could be on its way to the South Meadows due to adjustments of a planned unit development there approved Wednesday by the Reno City Council.
Design guidelines allow for either residential buildings up to 45 feet tall and nonresidential structures up to 55 feet on a 7.1-acre site east of Double R Boulevard south of its junction with Sandhill Road and adjacent to the west side of Lake South Meadows.
Under this amendment, either 149 residential units could be built, or up to 155,000 square feet of nonresidential uses. Lewis Investment Co. of Nevada LLC owns the property.
Two of the three access points to the site are along Double R Boulevard and the other is from South Meadows Parkway.
Councilwoman Naomi Duerr said the development proposal in 2008 called for towers up to 360 feet tall and about 1,700 residential units that would have been “very high density.”
“It caused tremendous uproar,” she said.
The fact nobody showed up to oppose this zoning amendment really says something, Duerr said.
The Neighborhood Advisory Board feedback indicated the lake should be highlighted, she added.
The site is part of the 669-acre South Meadows Planned Unit Development’s third phase, which is 85 percent developed. The entire PUD is bound by Double R Boulevard, U.S. 395, Damonte Ranch Parkway and Alexander Lake. This PUD was approved in 1995 and has been amended 15 times since.
A study by Reno-based Traffic Works LLC indicated the project is “somewhat generic,” but would generate 3,178 trips daily, including 485 during peak morning hours and 437 during peak afternoon hours.
