TMRPA will maintain regional trails data and expand outreach on energy and data-center issues

TMRPA Director Jeremy Smith told commissioners that following the dissolution of the Truckee Meadows Parks Foundation, TeamRPA has stepped in to maintain the regional trails plan, the trails report and associated geospatial data.

Smith said TMRPA has created a web page for the regional trails plan and is coordinating with Washoe County GIS staff to validate the dataset before publishing it as the de facto regional trails data on the county’s open-data portal. He said the agency is also pursuing a small, pooled-funding approach to support a part-time independent contractor (estimated cost on the order of $40,000 per year or less, not finalized) to coordinate trails work previously carried out by the foundation. Former trails coordinator Jay Howard is volunteering hours while a funding/administration solution is developed.

Smith also updated the board on changes to statutory reporting deadlines: jurisdictions’ annual reporting was moved from April 1 to Oct. 1 to align with the fiscal year; TeamRPA expects the next reporting cycle to align with that schedule (next report due Oct. 1, 2026). He said TeamRPA recently convened a public “community conversation” on the agency’s role in the energy sector and on data centers, which drew strong attendance and produced feedback the agency will use in future guidance and regional coordination. Smith said TeamRPA is preparing a consolidated web page and materials that summarize past work, public-engagement results and resources for jurisdictions and stakeholders.

Why it matters: the trails data stewardship preserves a regional dataset that jurisdictions will reference in master-plan scheduled additions and map cleanups; the energy- and data-center outreach is intended to gather information and public preferences to inform future standards, ordinances or legislative requests.

Key points

- Trails stewardship: TMRPA will host the regional trails plan and a web map; staff will coordinate with Washoe County GIS and post data to the county open-data site when validated. - Funding and staffing: TMRPA is seeking small contributions from Truckee Meadows Trails working-group members or other partners to support a part-time coordinator (estimated ~$40,000/year or less) to maintain coordination and data efforts. - Reporting cycle change: statutory annual reporting moved to Oct. 1 (aligns with fiscal year); TeamRPA will align its annual report timing accordingly (next reporting cycle planned for Oct. 1, 2026 data submissions). - Energy and data centers: staff convened public sessions and will present on standards/strategies at a joint Reno Planning Commission and Reno City Council meeting on Oct. 1; TMRPA is collecting feedback and will host mapping/survey exercises prior to that meeting.

Quotes from staff (as recorded in the meeting transcript)

"We have propped up a web page on our website where you can go and get the plan and report, learn about the effort. Soon, that will include a web map, and we are, like I say, coordinating with the GIS folks over at Washoe County such that when we're pleased with the level of accuracy and everything looks good, we'll be able to include that as the de facto system trails data available at the Washoe County open data site," Director Jeremy Smith said.

"We're taking a moment because it's been particularly busy to, react to that. It's they've changed the reporting time now to October 1 to align with the fiscal year," Smith said, referring to legislative changes to jurisdictional reporting deadlines.

Ending: TMRPA staff said it will circulate the energy/data-center web page and related materials to commissioners and stakeholders and will continue coordinating with jurisdictional staff on the trails data publication and scheduled additions referenced in the conformance reviews.