THE PAINTED ROCK DEVELOPMENT IS ALL BUT APPROVED…..BUT THAT’S THE ONLY DEVELOPMENT THAT HAS ANY TRACTION AT THIS POINT

THERE ARE ROADS THRU THE HIGHLANDS FROM THE NORTH THAT THE COUNTY HAS EASEMENT ON ….THEY JUST NEED TO CONFIRM WHERE THEY ARE

THERE ARE ALWAYS DEVELOPERS WANTING TO CHANGE THE MASTER PLAN BUT THEY HAVE HIGH HURDLES TO FACE TO DO IT

NO, NO NO TO ANY RESIDENTIAL IN TRIC SO IGNORE BLOCKCHAINS CLAIM OF 10,000 HOMES OUT THERE….FOR NOW

THE COUNTY DOESN’T KNOW IF THEY CAN LEGALLY TAKE OVER CARTWRIGHT AND LOUSETOWN AND THE BYLAWS REQUIRE 2/3 VOTE ANYWAY…RESEARCH IS UNDERWAY

A GREAT MEETING MISSED BY MOST……..

Nicole Barde

bardeblog.com

You can see Sam Toll’s story on this meeting HERE on The Storey Teller’s website and Commissioner Carmona’s summary HERE on Facebook.

The meeting started with County Manager in Waiting Austin Osborne saying that this was an informal meeting and that there would be no “dog and pony show”. He also stated that there “ had been requests for documents on the roads and developments” in the area and he scheduled this meeting because he wanted to hear from the residents what they wanted to know about that and just listen.

SIDENOTE- The reason this meeting happened was because Sam Toll, editor of the Storey Teller, made the public records request several weeks ago. He made the request because he wanted to FACT CHECK what he had heard about plans, intentions, desires or ability to punch a road thru the Highlands from the North to Geiger as has been rumored in times past. He was planning a story to inform us about that but instead, we got a town hall meeting!!

THANK YOU, SAM.

And yes….Austin did say the meeting was because he got a request for documents….I recorded the meeting with his lips moving in that direction.

Now…back to the meeting…….

The net-net of the meeting is the following:

-There are, as there have always been, developers wanting to build in and around the Highlands. Given the Master Plan, many times these requests do not conform to the plan and have not gone further. Austin said that there is nothing new on the horizon….just a continuation of the same conversations. Developers continue to make requests.

-That there is no plan to change the Master Plan based on these conversations…..at this time.

-He noted the Sunny Hills Development as the most recent example and Corda Vista as the genesis when he talked about the requirement that developers need to provide for their own “wet” water for the developments. This is a stiff requirement and not easy to do.

-He noted that Storey County isn’t a “no growth” county it is a “smart growth” county and the Master Plan is there to ensure that that happens.

-In order to change the Master Plan, the Developers would have to go thru the process of convincing the people, in this case, the Highlands and probably Lockwood, to do it for their development.

-With regards to residential in TRIC, which has been much publicized by BLOCKCHAINS as the 10,000 home “smart city”, Austin said that the Master Plan does not allow it and they have no interest in allowing residential in TRIC….at this time.

-To allow residential in TRIC would require a change to the Master Plan, a change in the TRIC Developer agreement prohibiting residential in TRIC, approval of both the Planning Commission and the Storey County Commission and the input from citizens.

-The question of future roads thru the Highlands came up and Austin said that yes, there have been requests, thru development plans, to do that. He showed us one of those ( unapproved) plans with exploratory roads thru the Highlands from the North.

-One road, in particular, was asked about in the document request and that was route 45 that currently goes thru the Highlands. Austin said that it is difficult to find where it actually starts and ends and that they were researching that. The county does own the easements but can’t see where it connects to either Lousetown or Long Valley.

SIDENOTE– It seems to me that if the County is conversing with developers who want to punch roads thru the Highlands that they should know where the easements are to do that.

Sam asked for this information. Apparently, the County had to research something that they didn’t know…..that they didn’t know.

I think that the answer to this question is important for us to understand in the Highlands. If Sam’s public records request highlighted something missing, from a legal standpoint, then the cost of the research might just be worth it….don’t you think?

Gee…..I hope that Austin’s time delivering this isn’t going to ding Sam on burdening the County with requests.

Onward….

-The question of the County taking over Cartwright and Lousetown for maintenance came up. Austin said that it is a legal question as to whether it can be done. Commissioner and One acre HOA President Jay Carmona said that both the One and Ten acres bylaws stipulate that there needs to be 2/3 vote to relinquish any roads….so it might be a moot point. There is also the issue of the required easements which would reduce the lot size along those roads for the one acres and violate the Master Plan requirement.

-The question of retaining our “Private” Unit Development status if the roads were given to the County came up and again Austin said that it was a legal question and that the DA’s office is looking at all of these things. The issue here is that ceremonially, at least, the Highlands is able to retain the ability to block or remove “outside” people from coming in here is based on our ownership of our private roads…. all the gravel and most of Cartwright and part of Lousetown. If the main roads belong to the county then everyone can drive them. Again, this is being looked at from a legal standpoint.

-Cynthia Kennedy, who was not there, asked a question thru someone who was, asked if the County took over the two roads could two feet on either side of the roads remain “private” so that we could still maintain our ability to control who comes in? There wasn’t an answer to that.

SIDENOTE– I think that Commissioner, TRI principal, brothel owner, former BLOCKCHAINS consultant, and aspiring hemp grower Lance Gilman is guilty of premature proclamation …again. No one knows if the county can take these roads over legally and no one seems to have thought thru the implications to both the Highlands and the County. Just like the promised tax rollback/rebate.

I would LOVE to have the expense of maintenance for those roads off of our backs…….but I LOVE keeping people out of here more. I feel the same way only more emphatically about punching a road thru the Highlands from the North. I feel as strongly about this as my Lockwood friends feel about traffic diverting itself thru LCC when I-80 is backed up.

Onward…..

– Austin spoke a bit about the legislation regarding the water master restricting water flow from domestic wells as well as other sources. He described the hierarchy of water rights and domestic wells are at the bottom of that hierarchy since they have no “rights”. On the top of the list are “senior” water rights holders. This is based on the age of the water right.

What that means is that when there is a water “emergency” the water master restricts “junior” water rights holders first and then moves on the youngest water rights holders in the senior category. Most if not all of this is agricultural.

Currently, domestic wells have no protections and the bill would establish a “floor” for the wells at 1.5 acre-feet. But it would also require a meter to be put on the well to monitor the usage so that the user can be fined for non-compliance.

SIDENOTE– and someone said “ and who will pay for this meter? US !!”…….and I said, “ and does this give them the ability to then charge us for the water we use?….of course!”

Onward….

-Austin mentioned the study that the County is going to start in July on the Marlette Water System that currently feeds VC and Gold Hill. He said that they are looking to see if it can support providing water to the Highlands and Mark Twain. He said that they could provide the water to a terminus in the Highlands and we could then form a GID if we wanted to.

He also said that developers in the past have offered to bring TMWA water to the edge of the Highlands as part of securing approvals for their developments.

-There was a question about Painted Rock and Austin said that it was close to approval. The Painted Rock property was purchased by BLOCKCHAINS and there are several individual developers that will develop it. It is going to be a millennial designed “town” with various types of housing ( up to 4800 units) various “centers”, shopping, schools, public transportation…the works.

Austin also described the evolution of public transportation going from having fixed routes to basically “on call” routes and multiple sources of transport from rail, bus, Uber/Lyft, and shuttles. He said that 2900 employees travel in and out daily at TRIC thru company shuttles and vanpools. With Painted Rock so near people won’t need cars to go to work or even to get around within Painted Rock.

-Austin noted that there would be schools in Painted Rock. The school district is looking at K-12 with the possibility of a “13-14” continuing education trade school as well. Austin made a point of saying that Hillside elementary would remain in Lockwood but that after that the kids would go to Painted Rock instead of VC Middle and High schools.

– The question was asked about where the money for the infrastructure at Painted Rock would come from. Since the County currently owes Roger Norman upwards of $45 million dollars for the TRI infrastructure it is a concern if the County also has to pay for the infrastructure at Painted Rock. Austin said that the developers will pay for all of the infrastructure including the schools, fire and sheriffs facilities. These are things that need to get worked out.

SIDENOTE– Gotta say it…..at the last Commission meeting Commissioner, TRI Principal, brothel owner, former BLOCKCHAINS consultant, and aspiring hemp grower Lance Gilman said , and I quote :

“ to date no application from the Painted Rock development, and no discussions to develop Painted Rock have been had”

You can listen to the meeting tape to hear it for yourself. This is completely counter to what Austin spent the better part of the hour telling us. Who to believe?…..thank God we can fact check this stuff……

Digressions over…………

Austin had brought all of the documents that he had sent to Sam on his public records request. They contain all of the maps he spoke about and people got to see them as well. If you want to see those documents go to The Storey Teller HERE…Sam has provided what he got.

Austin did a fantastic job and I told him so. It is a pity that more people didn’t turn out since this was so rich with information and a great opportunity to get questions answered.

Austin said that he is always available for questions ….and he is….but apparently, the $$$$ meter is always running on these pesky requests…..