Around the Arch Blog

The Reno City Council approved a Community Pride Grant in the amount of $550 to assist Join Together Northern Nevada in purchasing teaching materials for the Real Bar Campaign.

The Campaign supports local retailers who have shown a commitment to deter underage and abusive drinking in their establishments. It provides retailers with the opportunity to obtain a server training card and undergo required course work to better identify intoxication. It also provides training to help identify fake identifications and develop strategies to deal with disturbances.

Each Neighborhood Advisory Board has the ability to recommend Community Pride Grant funding to Council. These funds are neighborhood specific and allocated to projects the City may not have budgeted for but are projects the Neighborhood Advisory Board would like to expedite. The funds are generally intended for projects that are short term in nature and quick to implement.

The Reno City Council approved the expenditure of $50,000 for services from the Nevada Small Business Development Center to the Reno Redevelopment Agency. Since 2005, the Agency has utilized the services provided by the SBDC to assist small businesses working with the Agency.

The SBDC is a statewide business assistance outreach program of the University of Nevada, Reno, College of Business. The Center provides a variety of technical assistance to support Nevada business such as counseling, consulting, education, training and environmental compliance. The Center also assists in gathering data, statistics and research. The Center is a valuable resource and important tool that provides information ranging from the basics, such as how to start a business to providing more advanced strategies such as how to grow a business.

The SBDC provides free counseling to would-be small business owners and existing small businesses at the Redevelopment Agency at City Hall and at its UNR Campus location University of Nevada, Reno, College of Business Administration Ansari Business Building, Room 411, Reno, Nevada 89557-0100.

Over the course of a year, a comprehensive review aimed at improving the process to obtain a business license in the City of Reno has been implemented. The goal was to make getting a business license more customer-friendly, as well as streamline the process. The review was in response to concerns raised last year by second-hand dealers, including antique dealers and pawnbrokers.

On September 9, 2009 Council accepted a final report on the initiative.

During the year-long study, staff worked with a Business License Task Force made up of representatives from the business community. The Task Force provided input and recommendations that included creating a Business License Guide and instructional video, as well as online application process requirements and changes to the processing of alcohol licenses.

While the action plan has been implemented, the work to improve the business license process will be ongoing.

The Reno City Council is moving forward with an impact fee proposal but wants more input before deciding whether the timing is right.

On August 19, Council accepted the land use assumptions to determine an impact fee formula. The assumptions are the projections over the next 10 years regarding changes in land uses, densities and population for the City of Reno and Sphere of Influence. The adoption of the assumptions is just one step in a lengthy process of implementing impact fees. Five more steps are still ahead.

Due to the economic downturn, Council agreed to hold a workshop to receive more input from all stakeholders on whether the timing is right to continue moving forward with the proposal. The workshop would be held in late September or early October with a firm date, location and time that will soon be determined.

In November of 2008, the City of Reno began a lengthy process established by state law that allows Cities to impose impact fees as a way to ensure new development pays for growth to help fund police and fire facilities and parks. Generally, the City receives fees for parks, and obtains other police and fire infrastructure improvements and/or contributions from developers through negotiations. Supporters say the impact fee proposal would provide an equitable formula that would determine a consistent fee.

The Nevada Commission on Tourism will now review a proposal that would establish two new Tourism Improvement Districts in two different areas in downtown Reno. The developers of the Freight House and Tessera projects are hoping they meet the criteria for Sales Tax Anticipated Revenue or STAR bond financing.

The Freight House District will include retail space, restaurants, hotel and residential housing next to the new Aces Ballpark. If approved, the project will be built out over a five-year period. According to the developer, the next phase would begin immediately and would include construction of three nightclubs and two restaurants with anticipated completion at the start of the next baseball season in 2010.

The Tourism Improvement District near the University would house the Tessera Project which is a proposed development that would contain high end office, residential and retail space. The developer hopes to bring renewable energy technology-based industries to the area with the intent of bringing high paying jobs and positioning Reno to be on the frontier of this new industry.

STAR Bonds allow local governments to help support new tourism-based business by establishing Tourism Improvement Districts and selling STAR Bonds to help pay for development costs within the district. Local governments pledge up to 75% of the sales tax revenue generated within the district to repay the bonds. STAR Bonds may only be used for tourism driven projects. It must be determined that more than 50% of sales within the Tourism Improvement District will be from out-of-state tourists.

If approved by the Tourism Commission, the request requires the Governor’s approval and is expected to come back before the Reno City Council for consideration on September 22nd.

The Reno City Council set the course to seek a little more than $20 million in a second round of funding that will be made available through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. This is a piece of an additional $2billion that will soon be available nationwide for the purchase and rehabilitation of abandoned and foreclosed homes. This program is part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009.If the grant application is awarded, the funding would be used in four different ways.
1) Purchase and rehabilitate at least 200 and possibly as many as 300 vacant and foreclosed properties in three designated target areas–with high foreclosure rates–in Washoe County.
2)Resale of a large number of these houses with financial assistance to eligible families between 50% and 120% of the area median income and, with the concurrence of HUD, a portion will be made available under a “rent to own” program.
3) Rent a smaller number of houses to eligible families under 50% of the median income.
4) Purchase of properties with blighted structures so they can be demolished and the land placed in a land bank.

The second round of Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds will be made available through a competitive grant process. Today the Council approved a Consortium Agreement, a necessary part of the application process. The agreement names the Reno Housing Authority as the lead agency. The Housing Authority will submit the grant to HUD by the July 17, 2009 deadline.

Reno, NV-Reno’s historic “Masonic Building” will soon house a “business incubator,” “C4CUBE,” which is a non-profit, privately funded company that provides assistance in the development of new businesses and companies.   

Latitude Partners is acquiring the building. The Redevelopment Agency agreed to provide 80 parking spaces in the Parking Gallery to accommodate the parking needs of the incubator and also serve as an incentive to locate the incubator downtown.

C4CUBE will initially bring an estimated 16 employees through the creation of the incubator.  The company estimates that as many as 300 jobs could be created within the next 4. 

If all goes as planned, the move-in date for the incubator project could be as soon as late summer.

The building located at 495 Morrill Street was known for the unusual metal sculpture on its roof; a Volkswagen Beetle transformed to look like a large spider. Soon, the building will be known for something completely different. It will bring affordable housing and more retail to the downtown core.

Developers Kelly Rae and Pamela Haberman, along with Shu S & E Inc., are transforming the old two-story building into lofts with retail space on the ground floor.

Long-time residents know the building once housed Fire Station No. 2 before becoming a men’s homeless drop-in shelter. The shelter closed in 2005 and the building, owned by the City of Reno, sat vacant for years. Despite two separate attempts to sell the building at auction, there were no takers until October of last year when the property was transferred to the Redevelopment Agency for sale to the current developers.

The new lofts and retail are expected to begin the revitalization of the area creating 23 new jobs while retaining an additional 20 jobs. The new development will also increase the tax increment from the project from zero to $35,000 a year starting this year. Tax increment pays for Redevelopment projects. By law, tax increment generated in Redevelopment districts must be used for Redevelopment projects.

Renovations have been ongoing since October and are expected to be complete in 60 days.

As for the “bug,” it now has a new home at Scudders Volkswagen in Sparks.