In a rare split from a staff recommendation and from usual allies, Mayor Hillary Schieve and council woman Naomi Duerr joined Jenny Brekhus and Meghan Ebert in voting to sell the former Record street shelter compound to the Ulysses Development Group, which offered a higher offer than other bids and an all affordable housing concept.
Other council members usually in the majority, all initially selected rather than voted in, Devon Reese, Miguel Martinez and Kathleen Taylor, voted for the city’s recommendation for another housing project with Baxter Construction, with much less affordable housing and a lower offer.
In the Ulysses proposal, all units would be restricted to residents earning 60% or less of the area median income, compared to just 10% of the units with the Baxter plan.
Affordable housing advocates called it a victory, even though many in that camp initially wanted the gone to disrepair compound to still serve unhoused neighbors in the community.
Brekhus said she didn’t understand why ideas floated by County Commissioner Mike Clark for the compound to be used for social services weren’t taken more seriously, and why a County spokeswoman Candee Ramos wrote in an email to Clark that “the City of Reno has made it clear that they aren’t interested in selling it to the County to house people experiencing homelessness. They have a different vision for that neighborhood. So, while this is a great suggestion, unfortunately it is not feasible.”
Brekhus wondered where Ramos got that idea, but got no response at Wednesday’s meeting.
We wrote Ramos and her colleague Bethany Drysdale about that email but did not hear back.
In its press release following the sometimes contentious and drawn out agenda item the City of Reno said it “is moving forward with plans to sell two city-owned properties east of Downtown Reno. The former Community Assistance Center, located at 315 and 335 Record Street could be sold to Ulysses Development Group after Wednesday’s vote.
Council voted to move forward with the Ulysses Development Group proposal to build 136 units of affordable housing and directed staff to enter into an Exclusive Negotiating Agreement to negotiate the financing structure, affordability length, and development milestones and timelines.
In June, the City released a Request for Proposals designed to give all who may be interested and qualified an opportunity to suggest an economic development program or project that are both physically and financially feasible while meeting the City’s goals. “
Two other rejected proposals were for non-profit office space and for repurposed shipping containers to be placed at the downtown location near the main bus stop as micro-business units.