Man gets second chance at Storey RV ordinance change

Troy Regas will get another chance to pitch his RV park request to the Storey County Planning Commission.

Regas, who owns more than 200 acres in northern Storey County along the Truckee River, lost a request to the planning commission to approve a rewritten ordinance that would have allowed him to put an RV park on land he owns.

The Planning Commission last month heard Regas' request, but the motion to approve the retooled ordinance died for lack of a second.

Regas appealed before the Storey County Commission and the commissioners sent it back to the Planning Commission to be re-heard.

He initially sought a special use permit for the RV park, but the ordinance prohibited it. The planning commission earlier this year voted 5-1 to direct county staff to re-write the ordinance.

But when the rewritten ordinance came back before them in May, the commission failed to approve or reject it.

The ordinance forbids the construction, use location, operation or maintaining of manufactured/mobile home parks, trailer parks, recreational vehicle parks and motels within 4,000 feet of the Truckee River.

The rewritten ordinance would allow such businesses with a special use permit so long as the landowner could prove the project would not impair the river's water quality or visual integrity, would involve no construction on slopes or remove riparian vegetation.

It also requires that an approved sewage disposal system be located more than 300 feet from the river's edge.

Water rights also must be obtained.

Regas wants a 67-unit RV park with barbecue pits, adjacent parking, day use, water and electric hookups.

"I designed the RV park not to have sewer at all because of the ordinance," he said, adding that there are dump stations at truckstops and other places six miles away from the property, and that owners of self-contained RVs can go there to dump their waste.

But Storey County Planning and Building Officer Dean Haymore said state law requires any RV park with more than 50 units have showers and toilet facilities.

Regas showed a Power Point presentation to the commissioners to show his plans posed no risk to the Truckee River.

He said he obtained five pages of signatures from people in the area that had no objection to his project.

"When I started this (property) had thousands of tons of garbage," he said.

He said he had to remove six tons of dirt contaminated with oils and chemicals, burn thousands of pounds of wood debris and removed three sewer systems used for trailer homes.

He said there was RV storage at Rainbow Bend that violated the early ordinance, and that the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center's sewer system was close to the river, as was a septic company.

"When I built my system I had to build it 1,000 feet from the river," he said. I had to build it, contain it and that's what I did. And I'm not looking for a sewer system."

He said an evaporation system for Old Bridge Ranch was on higher elevations that didn't leak into the river.

Regas said he paid more than $20,000 a year on his property and had to be able to make money off it.

"I can't wholesale this property, so I'm trying to make income," he said. "I've beautified it, taken garbage off. It's a big job. I've been working on it for almost four years.

Commissioner Bob Kershaw said Regas should be able to go back to the planning commission and present his plan.

• Contact reporter Karen Woodmansee at kwoodmansee@nevadaappeal.com or call 881-7351.