Planning panel approves community resource center at former Albertsons site on Audie Boulevard

The Sparks Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve a conditional use permit to replace a vacant Albertsons grocery at the corner north of Audie Boulevard and west of Sullivan Way with a 63,547‑square‑foot community resource center.

Sienna Reed, planning manager for the City of Sparks, told commissioners the project — submitted by the “Audi Project,” a joint venture between the Food Bank of Northern Nevada and the Children’s Cabinet — would demolish the former grocery and build a center that includes workforce training, a food pantry, a commercial kitchen for production and teaching, child care facilities and offices. Reed said the proposed building, together with the site’s existing retail shops, would total about 79,225 square feet and raise the site’s floor‑area‑ratio from 0.18 to about…