Home Depot project goes to city planners; neighbors protest zoning status

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The Home Depot store being planned near the intersection of College Parkway and Market Street, close to the new Carson City freeway, will be considered Wednesday by the Planning Commission.

The 134,000-square-feet home improvement center on about 10 acres near Wal-Mart in the North Crossing shopping center is expected to be complete in March 2008. Forecasts indicate it will add $400,000 in sales tax revenue and up to 175 new jobs to the economy, according to Carson City officials.

Not everyone in North Carson is happy about the plan, however.

"I'd like to know who in their right mind zoned 'limited industrial' next to residents?" Gary Migro asked.

In early 2000, Migro bought his Northill Drive home - the place where he wanted to spend his retirement. When he signed the papers, he was under the impression the retail planned for the area wasn't going to be as labor intensive as a do-it-yourself store, he said.

It's going to be like "living behind a lumberyard," he said. "They'll be unloading every night about 60 feet behind my bedroom window."

Merchandise unloading and trash-compacting hours sought would be from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily. The city would prefer to limit these delivery hours to between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., and not allow the trash work between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m.

The city also wants lumber deliveries limited to Mondays through Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The retaining wall, if it isn't designed or properly placed between the back of the store and about 30 neighboring homes on Northill and Ridgefield drives, could be ineffective and even cause problems for neighbors, Migro said.

If the wall is too close to homes, his and other neighbor's back yards will get so warm during the day that "they'll be like sitting in pizza ovens," Migro said.

He also would like to see a study about the sound the retailer might cause paid for by the city, not the developer.

The special-use permit asks for loading-space docks less than 250 feet away from a residential zone; outdoor sales and merchandising space on its north side; a larger-than-average wall sign on the building; some outside storage; and, a wall higher than what the required setback stipulates.

The retailer would be near the 203,000-square-feet Wal-Mart in the same shopping center and be separated by a several smaller stores. The retailer also plans a 28,000-square-feet garden center.

A workshop about the project was held this month. While more than 90 nearby residents were notified about the project, only about a dozen attended the informational event, according to the Planning Department.

If the project is approved and no one files an appeal of the decision to the Board of Supervisors, the developer can next start filing for permits.

If you go

WHAT: Carson City Planning Commission meeting

WHEN: 5:45 p.m. Wednesday (note special time)

WHERE: Sierra Room, Carson City Community Center, 851 E. William St.

• Contact reporter Terri Harber at tharber@nevadaappeal.com or 882-2111, ext. 215.

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