The Park Cattle Company owns large tracts of land in the Carson Valley, most of it being used right now as grazing land for cattle or growing crops. But now they're looking at getting into the business of selling land instead of holding it, and specifically they want to push forward one of the largest housing developments in the whole valley. Their plan involves 5,000 new houses, mostly to the northeast of Minden and Gardnerville, in the open spaces between the Winhaven and Chichester neighborhoods. It's a hugely ambitious project, and many people think it's too big. And to get it done, they need to make major changes to the county's Master Plan. They're going up in front of the county commission this week to argue in favor of the changes. We'll see where it goes from here. Already the Minden town board has voted in favor of the plan, and Gardnerville against.

Here are some recent news links that follow the story more:

• Park Cattle proposal enters pipeline this week
• What’s next for Minden?
• Minden engineer recommends denial of Park plan
• Gardnerville denies Park Master Plan
• Park Cattle project gets a 3-2 nod in Minden

The Park Company has set up a website about the plan, www.parkranch.com.