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Council approves Lakeridge Resort rezoning with 25-year golf-course restriction after hours of local testimony
Summary
Following many hours of public testimony for and against the proposal, Reno City Council approved a master-plan amendment and Specific Plan District enabling a boutique hotel and limited resort uses on 12.5 acres of Lakeridge Golf Course, and required a deed restriction to keep the remaining course as an 18-hole facility for at least 25 years.
After more than six hours of public testimony, council debate and technical questions, Reno City Council voted Jan. 28 to approve a master-plan amendment and zoning map change that allows a 12.5-acre portion of Lakeridge Golf Course to be developed as a Specific Plan District (SPD) limited to resort-style, non-gaming uses: a 100-room boutique hotel, 15 villas, spa, restaurant, pool and unlit recreation courts. The permit package requires heightened setbacks, a 50-foot minimum buffer to residential properties, a tree-mitigation ratio and a seven-year build timeline before the site would revert to Parks/Greenways/Open Space if not constructed.
The vote followed deeply divided public input. Opponents from nearby neighborhoods argued the hotel and villas are incompatible with surrounding single-family homes, would increase traffic on McCarran/Plumas and narrow, private Golf Club Drive, reduce open space, and pose challenges for wildfire evacuation. Supporters, including golfers and local businessmen, praised the Duncan family's stewardship of the course and said the modest, boutique resort would provide a way to sustain the golf course economically.
Council extended two developer commitments as conditions of approval: at least 50 covered parking spaces designed to allow solar panels, and a recorded deed restriction requiring the rest of the 18-hole golf course to remain as golf for at least 25 years (effective upon hotel certificate of occupancy). The deed restriction was a central concession after multiple council members said they could not make certain required planning findings without a binding long-term preservation mechanism. The planning commission had recommended approval with multiple handbook modifications; council adopted those findings and approved the rezoning by roll-call vote 5-2.
Additional procedural steps follow: the master-plan amendment requires a regional conformance review, and staff said final development details will return in subsequent administrative or permitting reviews.
