Vol. 3, No. 18
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July 15, 2006
Nevada's Online State News Journal
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The Buzz Around The Silver State
as compiled by our correspondents
The Capitol (The Silver One)
Chuckar Season Right Around The Corner: NDOW
(Carson City) --- The wet winter and long spring may be bad as far as wildland fires are concerned but they have been good for upland game birds according to Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) officials. Upland seasons were set recently and possession limits on chuckar and Hungarian partridge have been increased from 12 to 18.
According to game specialists the abundance of birds and the very good condition of the open range will allow hunters to have three days of bag limits in their possession this year. The upland game stamp for your license is $10 and the season is set to open October 14, about a week after the opening of most deer seasons in the state. For more on game regulations and seasons go to http://www.ndow.org.
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Storey County
New Hotel On The Comstock About To Open For Business
(Virginia City) --- Residents of Nevada's Queen City have been watching with great expectation as the Comstock's first new hotel in more than 100 years has been a-building, and now it's ready to open according to developer Hugh Roy Marshall. The 68-room hotel, now the largest in the area, and to be part of the Ramada chain is scheduled to open the doors on August first, or thereabouts, Comstock time.
The structure is on E Street and faces the venerable Virginia and Truckee Railroad (V&TRR) depot, which Marshall is betting will be open to passenger traffic within a few years. Plans to connect the cities of Carson City and Virginia City by way of the historic short-line have been progressing. The tunnel under Taylor Street and along E street in front of St. Mary's in the Mountains Catholic Church still needs to be reopened, and track from American Flats into Carson City needs to be laid, but the work is continuing.
The large Ramada will join the smaller Silver Queen Hotel, the Gold Hill Hotel, several B&Bs, and a couple of small motels offering rooms at one of Nevada's premier tourist attractions. Some say this will help revive nightlife on the Comstock that has suffered following the huge crackdown on alcohol impaired drivers. At one time there were as many as five or six of the quaint but lively saloons up and down active C Street offering all-night live entertainment. Now, generally, entertainment ends slightly before sunset.
Marshall said the hotel set him back about $6.8 million and he says he has no doubt it is a fine investment in his portfolio. He is banking on Virginia City coming back to life and plans another hotel, even larger to be open sometime in 2009.
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Washoe County
Railroad Land Transfers To Reno; New Development Opportunity Downtown
(Reno) --- With the completion of the train trench through downtown Reno, some 75 acres of land has been transferred from Union Pacific Railroad to the City of Reno, and the city is looking for developers to turn the property into taxable business. The city has hired a consulting company to prepare one more master plan for the downtown area to determine, as the city put it, "The highest and best use" for the land. The land runs alongside the trench or in some cases on both sides of the trench.
When the trench, basically just a 3.5 mile cut in the ground through the heart of town, lowering the railroad tracks and allowing traffic to flow north and south without being hampered by passing trains, was discussed, there was going to be a cap over the trench in several locations for park like areas. This was not discussed at the council meeting and it isn't known if the consulting company will take any of that into consideration.
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White Pine County
Water Information To Be Made Available Through State Engineer
(Ely) --- Residents and others up and down a proposed water pipeline extending from near Ely in White Pine County to Las Vegas in Clark County will have an opportunity to more fully understand the issues involved and the workings of the State Engineer's office as the state's water master is about to create a special page on his web site specifically for the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) project. The information is scheduled to be available by about August first at http://www.water.nv.gov.
State engineer Tracy Taylor said public hearings are scheduled for September, and this is the best way to make massive amounts of information available to anyone interested. Along with SNWA there will also be information and reports from those that oppose the plan to import water to the Las Vegas Valley including the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
This is the largest project ever taken under investigation by the State Engineer, and one of the things that will be missing from the massive collection of information on the web site is the effect of large-scale groundwater pumping on the existing aquifer. Taylor says that information is simply not available, nor is it even known if annual recharge is sufficient to allow heavy pumping. There are 19 water rights applications pending and the hearings are scheduled to begin September 11.
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Nye County
New County Manager Coming Soon, Say County Commissioners
(Tonopah) --- Following the March firing of Nye County Manager Mike Maher, 67 people said they might be interested in the position. Fifty people actually filled out their applications, and a selection committee has narrowed the field now to five finalists. Interviews should begin about the first of August.
The five include Clint Quilter who grew up in the Big Smoky Valley; former North Las Vegas City Manager Kurt Fritsch; John D.R. Clark from Yolo County, California; Barbara Blumenfield from Muskego, Wisconsin; and Lionel J. Bushey II of Eagle River Wisconsin. Commissioners say no one has an edge at this time.
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