Tag: douglas

There's a real concerted effort being organized to oppose Jethro's Beverly Hillbillies Casino, which was recently announced for north Douglas County. The effort isn't being put together by grassroots citizens or residents, though, it's being spearheaded by Big George Ventures, a developer that has plans to build houses right next to where Jethro wants his casino to go. You can imagine them being upset about the plans, because I'm sure a project like this, with a 150-foot hotel tower blocking the views of the mountains, will make their subdivision considerably less desirable.

And so, to drive the opposition to Jethro's, they've launched a website, brilliantly named NoHillbillies.com. That's just about the best domain name they could have gotten, I think. And the site itself is actually pretty professional looking, especially compared to the Jethro's Casino website, which is a hot mess and a half. And even compared to Big George's official website, which is the very definition of minimalist.

One of the stumbling block's still in Jethro's way is the Douglas County Planning Commission, who need to approve the zoning changes and variances that are required to build the casino. So of course a lot of the force of the No Hillbillies movement is being directed at the county. The planning commission met Tuesday night to discuss and vote on the changes, and they came back with a tied vote. So the issue will be continued until the next meeting in July, and voted on again.

The Big George development was approved unanimously.

Again the comments section at the Nevada Appeal is mostly positive towards the casino idea, as are the letters to the editor in the Record Courier here and here. I think probably the reason there is so much support for the project here in the Carson Valley is the same reason there was support for Wal-Mart, and Best Buy, and now Riverwood. All that development exists in a nice little dead zone, on the north slope of Indian Hills, where we get all the tax money but we don't have to see the actual development. Even Jethro's 200-foot oil derrick that some people seem to be against. It won't loom over the Carson Valley, like No Hillbillies says it will. It will loom over Carson City; from the Valley it will nice and invisible. Out of sight, out of mind.

Except for the people who end up living in Georgetown Village. This is what they'll see.

No wonder Big George is upset.

The gazebo at Minden Park isn't the only place you'll be able to see concerts this summer. There is also a concert series going on at the Minden Village shopping center, you know, the one just west of the Carson Valley Inn. Nestled in between the Quiznos Subs and the Cold Stone Creamery, the sidewalk of this strip mall will be transformed into a concert venue six times this summer.

June 16 - Beppe Gambetta

July 7 - Michael Powers

July 21 - Michael Gulezian

August 3 - Bob Malone Band

August 18 - Scott Huckabay

September 1 - Duo-Tones

And most remarkably, all of these artists have agreed to play for tips in order to keep the concerts free to the public. So if you come, bring your lawn chairs, grab a sub from Quizno's, and drop a few dollars in the hat after the show. All shows start at 7:00pm, and most of them are on Saturday night, except for Bob Malone which is on Friday.

Also check out the concert series' website for more details.

This afternoon we found ourselves down in the Carson Valley in the late afternoon, and we remembered that Tuesdays are when the new Minden Farmer's Market is taking place. So we made the detour onto Esmeralda Street to check it out.

And you know, it's not a huge affair. The street is roped off for one block, between 4th and 5th Streets, and there are several tents and booths set up. Since it's a farmer's market, you'd expect to see a lot of fruit and vegetables being sold, but in reality there were only about three or four kiosks offering those goods. And all of those were freshly trucked in from California, not locally grown. The quality still beat what you get in the supermarket, though. These strawberries, in particular, were like nectar from the gods.

Another booth was selling apricots, peaches, and pluots. And while they were still certainly miles beyond the produce you can normally buy around here, they still fell short compared to the strawberries. Oh well. Not everyone can be number one.

The rest of the booths were selling various arts and crafts, baked goods, flowers, and prepared foods like bratwurst and taquitos. It's not a huge farmer's market by any means, and I'm pretty sure I could count the number of actual farmers in attendance on one hand. But it's a good showing for a small town like Minden, and even though it was a windy and chilly afternoon, there was still a good turnout. So if you ever find yourself in Minden on a Tuesday, like we did, it might be worth your time to set aside twenty minutes and stop by.

And be sure to grab the strawberries.

Also, remember that this coming Friday is the first Concert in Minden Park for the 2007 season. This first performance is by Hotel California, an Eagles tribute band, but even if you're not into the classic sounds of Don Henley and the boys the concerts are still a great place to have a picnic, kick back under the trees, and do some people-watching. See you there?

Photo of the proposed site for Riverwood.

The "Riverwood" shopping center has been an on-again-off-again project for years now. This is the shopping center that's going to be built in Douglas County at Topsy Lane, right across the highway from Best Buy and the Carson Valley Plaza. Originally it was going to be built by AIG Baker, the same developer who built the Carson Valley Plaza. But then they backed out of the deal. Later on it was picked up again by Riverwood Redevelopment LLC, which is owned by Jay Timon, who is a former employee of who? AIG Baker. So I guess he's pretty determined to get Riverwood off the ground, and now he's confident enough to start announcing a couple of the big anchor stores. And the biggest by far is Kohl's, the major department store that recently had been rumored to be moving in to the old Kmart building at the north end of town. I guess that deal fell through, or it really was a rumor, because they sound pretty sure of themselves that they'll break ground for Kohl's this fall, and be open by October 2008. This store is supposed to even be a smidge bigger than the one they opened a couple of years ago in south Reno, so I don't know how we rate.

The other retailer announced is Sportsman's Warehouse, which I'm not a sportsman so that doesn't really get my skin tingling. Kohl's doesn't get my skin tingling either, except to know that my wife will probably be making weekly pilgrimages to the place, so it's going to be a part of my life no matter what. And of course where you have major anchor stores, you also get a lot of other, smaller places clustering around, and a lot of the time those stores end up being more interesting than the anchors anyway. So things look like they're set to take off at Riverwood this year, so we'll have to keep an eye on it.

This is also right next door to the land where Jethro recently announced he wants to build his casino. And luckily the article was written by the Record Courier, not the Nevada Appeal, so there is none of the teeth-gnashing that inevitably gets inserted into their articles about how Douglas County is "stealing" these stores from Carson City. Instead we get teeth-gnashing about how the county is giving tax breaks to the developer to build the shopping center. So pick your controversy, I guess.

The Minden Park concert series is starting up again in a couple of weeks. These concerts have just been growing and getting more popular every year, and it's a great use of the grassy park and gazebo that Minden has at its town center. Just another way Minden has the best downtown around.

So here's this year's lineup:

May 25 - Hotel California, an Eagles tribute band.

July 13 - The Comstock Cowboys.

July 27 - The Jeff Jones Band.

August 10 - The John Jorgenson Quintet.

August 24 - The Michael Powers Band.

All concerts are on a Friday night at 6:30pm, except for the final one on August 24th, which starts at 6:00. Get your picnic baskets ready!

Out of all the county lines in Nevada, probably none have gotten more press than the Carson-Douglas county line in the neighborhood of Fuji Park. In less than a decade this part of town has exploded, being transformed from acre after acre of rolling sagebrush into one of the largest shopping complexes outside of Reno. The seemingly endless land at the northern slope of the Indian Hills has proven very attractive for developers, bringing in a Super Wal*Mart, Best Buy, Trader Joe's, Old Navy, Bed Bath and Beyond, Borders Books, In-N-Out Burger, Chilis, Del Taco, and dozens more retailers and restaurants. The twin shopping centers of Carson Valley Plaza and Clear Creek Plaza are one of the fastest-growing parts of Carson City, and there's more in the works. Another big shopping center is planned, along with housing developments, an auto mall, and maybe even a hotel-casino.

The part of the story where this gets interesting, though, is that none of this is actually in Carson City. That's because the county line was drawn at the bottom of the hill, not at the top, so all of this sloping land that you'd think would be part of Carson is really under the jurisdiction of Douglas County. And that means all the tax money from all these shopping and dining establishments goes south to Minden, not north to Carson, and this has caused the Carson City Supervisors no end of being pissed off over the last several years. But why is the county line at the bottom of the hill? Who's responsible for this? Let's see if we can go back in history and figure it out.

Millions of years ago (yes, we're going back that far), huge forces deep inside the Earth under Nevada caused two mountain ranges to rise up, the Carson Range and the Pinenut Mountains. In between the two of them a flat valley formed, and in the middle of that valley was a stubborn outcropping of rock that today we call Indian Hills. These hills kind of pinch off the valley in the middle like an hourglass, enough that from the ground it looks like there are really two separate valleys. Today we call these the Carson and Eagle Valleys.

In the 1850s and 60s when this area was first being settled by Americans, the two valleys were home to two different settlements, Genoa in the south and Carson City in the north. And so when the Nevada Territory was created in 1861, it was only obvious that two separate counties should be formed. The Carson Valley was made into Douglas County, named after Stephen Douglas who had lost the presidency to Abraham Lincoln in 1860. And the Eagle Valley was made into Ormsby County, named after Major William Ormsby who was killed by Paiutes at Pyramid Lake the same year. And where to draw the line between these two counties? At the Indian Hills, of course, the outcropping of rock that still divided the two valleys.

But things got complicated. Every one of Ormsby County's other borders was drawn at the top of a hill. Its border with Washoe County, to the north, followed the ridge of mountains separating the Eagle and Washoe Valleys. And the Lyon County border, to the east, was drawn at the top of the ridge between the Eagle Valley and Mound House. Ormsby County's western border, of course, was in the middle of Lake Tahoe at the California state line. So that left the drawing of the Ormsby-Douglas border, which by all logic should have been drawn along the crest of the Indian Hills. But it wasn't. Instead the county line was drawn to follow Clear Creek, a small stream that came out of the Carson Range right at the base of the Indian Hills. I don't know why they chose the creek to be the county line, but back then the Indian Hills were completely desolate so it didn't really matter where the line was.

The choice of Clear Creek as the county line made for some interesting stories. One I head was the story of a homesteader that lived right on the banks of the creek. He became increasingly frustrated with the taxes and leadership coming from Carson City, so one day he set out with his shovel and rerouted the creek to run around the other side of his house. And voila, just like that he was a resident of Douglas County.

Presumably sometime in the 20th century someone saw how silly it was to have the county line follow a seasonal creekbed, so they stretched it taut into the straight line we have today. But even now, you can see that it swings around Indian Hills instead of going over them, still more or less following the path of the creek.

This map shows the county line as a dotted line that comes down Spooner Summit, through Fuji Park, then keeps going until it hits Center Drive coming out of the Stewart Indian Community. It turns south and follows Center Drive for a bit, right along the extreme eastern edge of Indian Hills. The line seems to be avoiding the hills all together. After one last detour to the east, it finally meets back up with Clear Creek and follows the path of the Virginia and Truckee right-of-way all the way to the Carson River. Then it turns east again, heading straight into the mountains where it meets up with Lyon County.

This line seems to have been deliberately drawn to keep all of the Indian Hills inside Douglas County, but the why of that doesn't really make any sense to me. It could have easily been put at the crest of the hill, where modern-day Jack's Valley Road meets the highway. And then we wouldn't be having to sit through all of the teeth-gnashing we have today about how all the retailers and auto dealers are "defecting" to Douglas County, and how Douglas is "stealing" Carson's tax base. Maybe if the Ormsby County founding fathers had known how valuable the Indian Hills would someday be, they wouldn't have given them up so quickly.

Oh, and here's one more funny thing about the county line:

Look at the county line in this satellite picture, and see how it jogs around the old midget kart racetrack in Fuji Park. That's pretty funny, how the racetrack was so important to Carson that the line had to be drawn that way. Especially since, further to the west, parts of the park spill over into Douglas County. Even the Fuji Park Cemetery seems to be split in half by the line, almost to where James Johnson and John Thoroughman are buried in separate counties. But god forbid Carson would give up their racetrack!

Ground has broken for a new fire station in north Douglas County. Station #12, when it's finished next February, will serve Indian Hills, Jack's Valley, and presumably the new Jethro's casino, if it ever gets built. There will also be a "library kiosk", and a community meeting room. I particularly like the architecture in this drawing, but I resent the thinking that we're going to have such junky pickup trucks in the future.

Apparently this has been in the works for nearly ten years, and all the taxes needed to pay for it have already been collected and are in the bank. Now it's time to get started building the thing.

It's located on Sunridge Drive, just east of Hwy 395 and Target at the top of the hill.

So I finally found a negative opinion about Jethro's plan to build his casino in Douglas County, but it didn't come from residents, or county commissioners, or even his competitors at the Carson Valley Inn. It came from another developer, Big George Ventures, who is planning on building 360 houses right next to where Jethro announced his casino will go. having a casino right next door doesn't mesh well with their plans.

"We're trying to build a unique development where people can meet their neighbors," [Robbe] Lehmann said. "That won't work if people have to look at two hotel towers hovering over them."

The property was purchased with the area's commercial zoning in mind, but a casino at that location will significantly reduce the property values, Lehmann said.

"The land was supposed to be used for stores, not a casino," he said.

It's been a long time since we heard a peep from Jethro, and I'd been wondering what he's been up to. That's Max Baer Jr, the actor who played Jethro Bodine on the Beverly Hillbillies. For 20 years now he's been trying to build a Beverly Hillbillies casino somewhere in Northern Nevada. First he tried Lake Tahoe, but found out the zoning laws up there pretty much don't allow you to build anything. Then he tried Park Lane Mall in Reno, but that deal fell apart for reasons that nobody wants to admit. Then he bought the old Wal*Mart building in Carson City, but that plan got derailed when JC Penney and the owners of the Southgate shopping mall flat out told him that he was not allowed to build a casino on the property. Several years and several court battles later, the old Wal*Mart still sits empty.

So, what should Jethro do next? Move to Douglas County of course! His latest plan is to build his fabled Beverly Hillbillies Mansion and Casino along Hwy 395 just on the other side of the Douglas County border, on the empty land right across the highway from Best Buy. A shopping center has long been in the works for that corner anyway, so Jethro's in negotiations to get his casino built kind of adjoining the center, away from the highway and down the hill a bit. He's also talking about building a convention center right next door, which is something that the Carson/Eagle Valleys are very much lacking.

The whole article this time around is pretty much positive about the project. There have been a lot of voices in the past saying the Beverly Hillbillies theme was too tacky for the area, what with its flaming oil derrick, shotgun wedding chapel, and redneck limousine. But this time there's none of that, just talk about how it would be an economic boom, bringing people to the area that might not otherwise come. Even in the Nevada Appeal's comment section, which is usually full of cynicism and bile, the only negative comments are directed towards Carson City for letting Jethro get away and losing more tax dollars. There's nobody bashing the concept itself anymore, so that either means we're growing more mature as a people, or we don't think there's a shot in hell he's actually ever going to build it, so there's no use debating the details. Your call.

The landscape has changed in South Carson over the last few years since Jethro announced his project. Back in 2003 the Casino Fandango was a piddly little place, taking up a couple thousand square feet in the corner of an empty warehouse. But now the Fandango fills that warehouse, is planning on expanding it, and has also built or started building a three-story garage, a movie theater, and a hotel. All the things that Jethro wanted to build right across the street. So moving to North Douglas County, which is pretty devoid of gaming, is probably a smarter move to get away from the stiff competitive juggernaut of the Fandango. Although the new site is really only a mile or two down the road, and it's practically on top of the new casino that's being built at the corner of Clear Creek and 395. Which, coincidentally enough, is going to be called Bodine's. How confusing do you think that will be to out-of-towners, to have "Jethro's" and "Bodine's" right across the street from each other?

And you'll notice I've been avoiding revealing what my own opinions are on the casino. That's because I'm a flip-flopper when it comes to Jethro. I used to think it was a little too Las Vegas for the area. My exact words were "We have a distinct lack of laughingstocks here in the capital city, and we rather like it that way. Jethro’s casino, if it really gets built, is just going to make us the punchline of a lot of jokes." But at the same time, look at the amount of people, and the amount of money, going into Las Vegas every day. There's something to be said about populism, and if the people want a Beverly Hillbillies casino, then dammit we better give it to them.

I guess the question is: is that what people really want?

More news as it comes in.

It's the day you've either been waiting for or dreading. Tomorrow Douglas County gets one more stoplight as the signal at Stephanie Way and 395 is finally turned on. Traffic driving from Minden to Carson City will now have two places where they might have to stop, here and at Johnson Lane. And yes it's a pain for everyone that drives through the valley, but it's less of a pain than getting in an accident because somebody thought they could beat the traffic.

Plus it will be a big help to those of us who live out there. We'll once again be able to make a left turn from Stephanie onto Hwy 395, something I haven't done in years. I know there are those who brave the traffic and actually try to make the turn, but it's not something I would attempt. I always go down to the light at Johnson Lane. Now I won't have to anymore.

Of course this is a band-aid solution to the real problem of traffic in the Carson Valley, but something tells me it's the best we're going to get for a long time. The real answer is to make 395 controlled access, with overpasses at the major cross streets. But don't call it a "freeway", because then it will never get built. Not that it will ever get built anyway, not until traffic is bumper-to-bumper the whole way through the valley and the people are rioting for something to be done. The money that went to the signal could have gone towards an overpass instead, but I don't think we'll ever see it happen.

There is an NDOT meeting next week, on Tuesday the 23rd where the community can discuss what needs to be done with Hwy 395. It's taking place at Jacks Valley Elementary School, from 6:30 to 9:00 pm. Whether any of our ideas will be seriously entertained is another matter. The official website mentions limiting left-turns and installing medians, and that's about it. And the only reason medians are needed is because 395 has this ditch running down the middle of it that is notorious for launching cars into the air. So instead of, say, I don't know, filling in the ditch, they'll put a Jersey barrier along it, and block off left turns from Airport Road, and declare the problem solved. Genius.

If we were in California, this would have been fixed by now. There's a flyover ramp along Hwy 50 in Folsom that's completely unnecessary, completely, but apparently they had the money so they just built it. But Northern Nevada doesn't warrant any money for improvements, even when the county is allowing hundreds more houses to be built and thousands more people to move here. We're just letting kids die while making left turns instead. And meanwhile construction costs are rising daily, so the best time to start building is always right now, and even waiting until tomorrow is too late.

So keep buying those band-aids!

Update: As of 11am, it wasn't switched on yet.

Update 2: By 5pm everything was up and running!