Churchill County approves settlement and several easements to advance two housing developments and secure utility/road corridors

Churchill County commissioners approved multiple land and infrastructure actions intended to unlock housing development north and west of Fallon: a settlement and dedication agreement with River Homes in Fallon LLC and a package of agreements with Vertex Fund 3 LLC that include a sale, easements and the final subdivision map for the Riverstone/Vertex project.

Settlement with River Homes

County counsel and staff presented a settlement that resolves disputes stemming from a 2005 planned-unit development (PUD) whose approvals lapsed after the 2008 downturn and later extensions. Under the settlement River Homes dedicated roughly 10 acres along the river corridor to the county and the county agreed to count those 10 acres in density calculations for the remaining property. The remaining parcel discussed at the meeting is roughly 155 acres (the parties will use a 165-acre figure for density calculations per the agreement). The county will receive an easement across the River Homes property — described in staff materials as an 80-foot easement — intended to accommodate the planned bridge landing for the Moody-to-Rice connector road and to support utility routing.

The settlement frames future zoning as a conventional R-3 zone rather than a time-limited PUD. The agreement commits the applicant to submit a rezoning…