(Thomas Daly M.A. MSc.) – When 1,800+ people weigh in on a development issue, you have ‘community involvement’. This is the case for the proposed 940 housing unit project known as Sierra Reflections in Washoe County’s Pleasant Valley.
Those citizens, organized by the not-for-profit South Valleys Development Review Committee (SVDRC) and the Pleasant Steamboat Valleys Landowners Association (PSVLA), have signed petitions in opposition to World Properties’ application for a tentative map and special use permit. Sierra Reflections is within the toxic waste EPA Carson River Mercury Superfund site, currently unfunded.
The approval process for the project’s owner, World Properties, Inc., is lengthy and has already had conflicting outcomes.
The County Planning Department took months trying to ‘fix’ a defective application, resulting in a recommendation to ‘approve with conditions’. Those conditions took 27 pages to detail what was needed in their report to the Washoe County Planning Commission (WCPC).
The Planning Department staff are advisors. Fact finding and decisions for development projects rest solely with the WCPC.
Mysteriously, neither the EPA nor the Army Corps of Engineers commented on the application, despite permits from both being eventually needed.
On January 6, 2026, the WCPC heard testimony from the applicant’s experts and public comment from four dozen citizens, including engineers, scientists and former regulators, all opposed to the project. Not one citizen gave public comment in favor.
The application’s multiple conflicts with the County’s Development Code were identified, including environmental risks, traffic impact, massive grading exposing mercury, excessive density, fire and evacuation risks, lack of TMFPD resources and threatened endangered species, concluding that the twenty mandatory ‘findings’, required by the County Development code, could not be made.
Upon deliberation, all six WCPC members concluded the application could not be approved, an unprecedented rejection of the Planning Department’s recommendation. Each Planning Commissioner cited one or more findings that they could not support.
End of story? Not quite.
World Properties filed an appeal with the Board of County Commissioners (BCC), seeking to reverse the WCPC decision.
The BCC hearing on March 10, 2026, saw public comment by more than sixty citizens but, strangely, none of the Planning Commissioners were invited to attend to defend their decision. Only the conflicted Planning Department staff was in attendance.
Enter politics and money. As day turned into night the crowds became agitated as it appeared the ‘fix was in’, as Commissioners Andriola, Hill and Garcia, in their colloquy, indicated they favored the applicant’s appeal. Ironically, per their filed ‘Contributions and Expense’ reports, these Commissioners are recipients of multiple campaign contributions, in the tens of thousands of dollars, from the development and construction industries in Washoe County, including a contribution to Garcia just weeks prior to the hearing.
Chair Andriola briefly ordered the room cleared of citizens. This ‘gang of three’ then voted 3-2 to overturn the WCPC decision, for reasons other than the Development Code’s ‘findings’.
End of story? Again, not quite.
Given the size of the proposed development, it is a ‘project of regional significance’, triggering a mandatory review and decision by the Truckee Meadow Regional Planning Commission (RPC). The application must conform to the Regional Plan, or it will be denied. That review and decision is scheduled for a hearing on May 28, 2026, at the BCC chambers.
And then done? Maybe.
The Regional Planning Governing Board (RPGB), chaired by Clara Andriola, has the authority to review all decisions of the RPC and are likely to do so for this project at their June meeting.
And then, there is the citizens’ lawsuit.
Thomas Daly is a former Washoe County Planning Commissioner. The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Nevada News & Views.
