Planning commission approves Pilot Travel Center expansion in Fernley

The Fernley Planning Commission voted 6–0 on July 8 to approve a conditional use permit for a Pilot Travel Center expansion at 465 West Main Street.

Lisa Warner, associate planner, said the existing travel center is a legal nonconforming use established before the city's development code and that the proposed expansion would reconfigure and enlarge seven existing shower/restroom units and add three clothes washers. Warner told commissioners the site will need to add about 10,293 square feet of landscaping and update a trash enclosure to comply with current code.

Commissioners raised questions about abandoned underground fuel tanks on site and whether abandonment would be sufficient to prevent future soil contamination. Michael Smith, a civil engineer with Roberson Engineering, said the tanks are planned to be filled with concrete slurry and abandoned in place and that state procedures, including soil testing, would be followed.

A Pilot representative on Zoom, Brad, told the commission Pilot "will follow all applicable state procedures to abandon the tanks, which will include soil testing and and filling them with an inert substance," and said the expansion is intended to improve customer facilities and accessibility, not to increase the facility's capacity.

Commissioner Cody Wagner moved to approve the CUP subject to conditions 1–17; Commissioner Lewis seconded and the motion passed 6–0. Conditions include the added landscaping, trash enclosure upgrades and compliance with state fuel‑tank abandonment requirements noted in the application and engineer testimony.

The approval allows the facility to proceed with the listed improvements under the conditions adopted by the commission; any appeal rights were described in the staff report.