Nevada council approves wastewater project acceptance, pay request and multiple ordinance second readings

At its regular meeting the Nevada City Council approved a package of routine and regulatory items: the council accepted completion of the Wastewater Treatment Facility Phase 4 project, approved pay request No. 20 to On Track Construction for $7,280.05, and adopted several ordinances on second reading.

Ordinances approved on second reading included: Ordinance No. 10-70 amending Chapter 50 of the Nevada Municipal Code (nuisance abatement procedures) to declare certain storage uses on first floors in downtown corridors a public nuisance; Ordinance No. 10-71 amending Chapter 145 regarding dangerous buildings and fire-hazard-creating storage; Ordinance No. 10-72 amending Chapter 165 (land development and zoning) to prohibit storage uses on the first floor of multistory buildings in the downtown corridor; and Ordinance No. 10-74 amending provisions pertaining to sewer-use charges. Each ordinance was moved, seconded and recorded as approved in the meeting minutes (roll-call tallies were not included in the transcript record).

Council also debated Ordinance No. 10-75, an update to off-street parking requirements in Chapter 165. Staff said the revisions respond to a number of older buildings that are noncompliant and that existing uses will be grandfathered unless their use changes. A resident questioned whether the new standards would impose larger parking minimums on rental duplexes and whether variances would be available; staff responded that properties that change use to multi-unit apartments would be subject to the new standards and that recent state rule changes have adjusted the variance standard from a severe 'hardship' test to one of 'practical difficulties.'

Action taken: the project acceptance, pay request and the listed ordinances were approved; discussion on the parking changes concluded with the item approved as presented.