Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Community Services And Housing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Planning panel approves community resource center at former Albertsons site on Audie Boulevard
Summary
The Sparks Planning Commission approved a conditional use permit to replace the vacant Albertsons building with a 63,547‑square‑foot community resource center run by a Food Bank–Children’s Cabinet joint venture; staff conditions require landscaping, parking, and other mitigations prior to occupancy.
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 0.24, still below the MUD/MUC zoning standard of 0.5.
Reed said staff’s review identified parking, trip generation and landscaping as the primary impacts. The applicant supplied a parking analysis showing 127 spaces would be needed for the combined development; the site already contains 312 spaces, so staff concluded parking is sufficient. Reed also said the site will be brought up to 65 percent of the city’s current landscaping requirement for intensification of substandard development and that required landscaping must be installed before the city issues a certificate of occupancy under condition of approval number 6. Public notice was mailed to 45 property owners and published in the Reno Gazette Journal; Reed said staff had received no written public comments on the item.
Jeff Frame, the project architect, briefly addressed commissioners and called the center “an exciting project” and “a great community asset.” After questions from commissioners, Commissioner Kramer moved to approve the conditional use permit, adopting findings C‑1 through C‑5 and the 11 conditions listed in the staff report; Commissioner Pritzos seconded. The motion passed on a unanimous voice vote.
Staff materials submitted with the application included preliminary elevations showing a varied material palette and a front façade meeting the zoning requirement for 35 percent transparency, an on‑site community garden on the south frontage, and a landscape plan that preserves some mature parking‑lot landscaping while increasing overall landscaping coverage. Reed said the trip‑generation letter filed by the applicant shows the proposed use will generate fewer trips than the former grocery store.
The conditional use permit approval is subject to the 11 conditions in the staff report, which include the landscaping and certificate‑of‑occupancy timing Reed referenced. Reed and the applicant indicated they will return to the city for building permits and for any administrative steps required to implement the project.
Commissioners praised the proposal during debate; one commissioner called the center “a wonderful project for the community” that will serve the Truckee Meadows region.
The Planning Commission record for the item includes staff’s findings of consistency with the City of Sparks Comprehensive Plan (goals MG‑4, MG‑12 and MG‑14), a parking analysis, a trip‑generation letter and the proposed landscape and elevation drawings.
