Washoe County affirms denial of Sanctuary of God church permit after neighbors raise safety, traffic and drainage concerns

The Washoe County Board of Commissioners affirmed the Board of Adjustment's denial of a special-use permit for the proposed Sanctuary of God church on Rolling Ridge Road, concluding commissioners could not make the required finding that issuing the permit "would not be detrimental" to the surrounding residential area.

The decision came after a full public hearing in which neighbors, technical experts and the applicant made competing claims about safety, traffic, drainage, well impacts and neighborhood character. Eric Young, senior planner for Washoe County, summarized the board's options and the required findings including consistency with the master plan, site suitability, adequacy of improvements and whether issuance would be detrimental to adjacent properties.

Neighbors described Rolling Ridge Road as a narrow, low-volume residential street with no sidewalks or lighting and said the scale of the proposed assembly use would overwhelm the local road network. "This property is currently zoned residential and the request is asking to place a commercial style use permit in the middle of a quiet neighborhood," said Judy McKay, who lives on Rolling Ridge Road, urging commissioners to deny the permit to "protect the quality of life that families like mine have invested in for decades."

Several speakers raised technical concerns. Retired geologist Elaine Hanford said onsite soils and altered volcanic bedrock are poor candidates for retention/detention and septic, and warned a retention pond of the proposed size would be insufficient to contain runoff from a 100-year storm, increasing the risk of off-site flooding and groundwater contamination. "The geology cannot be changed. Therefore, I ask the commission to unconditionally deny the appeal," she said.

The applicant's representative, Steve Denny of CR Builders, told the board the project would be built to code and to staff conditions and said the applicant had reduced building height, lowered proposed seating and curtailed parking in response to neighborhood concerns. "We have no objections whatsoever to any of the conditions laid out by staff's recommendation," Denny said, adding that lighting and traffic measures would be included.

A focal point of the dispute was the question of a secondary emergency access: county engineering found a prior condition requiring that access was placed in error because Washoe County development code does not require a secondary emergency access for the proposed use. Duane Smith, director of engineering and capital projects, told the board the secondary-access condition came from an earlier review and was removed after further research. Several residents said removing the condition increased safety risks.

After discussion, commissioners who spoke in favor of affirming the Board of Adjustment cited the inability to make finding No. 4 (that the issuance would not be detrimental). One commissioner said she could not reconcile the intensity of the proposed use with the character and capacity of the access road. The motion to affirm the BOA denial passed on a recorded voice vote.

The board's order affirms the BOA finding and leaves in place the denial of WSUP25-0013; the applicant may pursue judicial remedies under the county's appeal process.