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-News Articles/Editorials/Letters to the Editor-
6/11/2002
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Officials have scheduled six meetings over the next month to show the public a landscaping proposal for the route of the under-construction Carson City freeway. While Carson City residents and the city were once at odds with the Nevada Department of Transportation over how to landscape along the freeway, officials from the two agencies and a citizens’ group called Gardeners Reclaiming Our Waysides have since teamed up to develop a proposal for what kind of vegetation goes along the route. “When this first came up, there was some difference of opinion between what GROW wanted, what NDOT wanted and where the city was going,” city park planner Vern Krahn said Monday. “It took some time to work through the issues, but this truly has become a partnership.” The city, NDOT and GROW have worked for 1 1/2 years developing the plan, which includes a seed mix of wild grasses, bushes and flowers to be planted along the slopes. NDOT also will install irrigation and electrical infrastructure so the city will later be able to add more extensive landscaping, such as irrigation-dependent trees or grass, near the interchanges. The state also will provide decorative boulders at places, similar to those at the already constructed Arrowhead Drive interchange. “When we’re speaking of landscaping, we’re not speaking of a rose garden,” said Mary Fischer, president of GROW. “We’re saying that it’s going to blend in with the surrounding hills.” Fischer, whose 75-member group formed in 1996 to urge city and state officials to develop a landscaping concept for the freeway, said she was pleased with the progress. “We went out and started asking, ‘How are you going to landscape?’ and the answer was, ‘We’re not,’” Fischer said. “It’s come a long way.” GROW and Carson City’s efforts were among the reasons that prompted the state transportation board to adopt a statewide landscaping plan last week, said NDOT spokesman Scott Magruder. The statewide plan says NDOT will spend up to 3 percent of the budget on major highway projects for aesthetic improvements. “GROW was kind of instrumental in getting us to look at aesthetics in projects,” Magruder said Monday. The community’s concerns about the appearance also helped prompt NDOT to make Carson City’s freeway the first in the state with decorative sound barriers, instead of ordinary concrete walls, Magruder said. The Carson City proposal specifically addresses the first four-mile phase of the freeway, which goes from Carson Street at the north end of town to U.S. 50 East. Fischer said she expects including the aesthetic elements to be easier during the second phase -- from U.S. 50 East to U.S. 50 West -- now that NDOT has a statewide landscaping policy. GROW and city parks officials will hold an open house Wednesday evening at the Carson City Community Center to show off their landscaping plans. After that, officials will show it to various city boards at public meetings. The Carson City Board of Supervisors is scheduled to discuss and possibly approve the plan on July 18. Between GROW and Carson City, the landscaping plan cost about $18,500 to develop, about $3,500 of which was for a photo simulation of what an interchange will look like. Public meetings concerning freeway landscaping: GROW and city open house: Wednesday, 5:30 p.m.; Nevada State Library and Archive Conference Room, 100 N. Stewart St. Open Space Advisory Committee: June 17, 6 p.m.; Community Center, 851 E. William St. Parks and Recreation Commission: June 18, 5:30 p.m.; Community Center, 851 E. William St. Shade Tree Council: June 27, 5:30 p.m.; City Hall, 201 N. Carson St. Regional Transportation Commission: July 10, 5:30 p.m.; Community Center, 851 E. William St. Board of Supervisors: July 18, time to be announced; Community Center, 851 E. William St. Information: 887-2363 Ext. 1006, or 882-6028. |
