Washoe County proceeds with junk car ordinance

RENO, Nev. Nev.—Washoe County officials are working out the details of a new ordinance they say will help control suburban blight by requiring junk vehicles be hidden from view.

Once in place, officials said the county will be in a stronger position to rid blight from the unincorporated communities surrounding Reno and Sparks.

After a last-minute rally by Hot August Nights car buffs in late October, the county commission backed down on an ordinance change proposed by its planning staff that had set a limit of no more than two junk cars per lot.

The commission agreed it would set no limit on vehicles as long as they can't be seen by the public.

With such a significant change, the draft ordinance had to be rewritten. It will be introduced Dec. 8 and a final vote is scheduled for Jan. 12.

A companion ordinance approved in September will allow the county to hire administrative hearing officers to hear these nuisance cases, uphold fines and eventually order abatement of a property and put on a lien to recover the cost when the land is sold.

Currently, the county puts no limit on the number of junk cars you can have, as long as they are screened from view from the front of the property or a nearby street.

But some critics like Susan Severt question how the new ordinance and added restrictions will help.

She points to property at the north end of Sun Valley Boulevard with backyard full of junk trailers, cars and trucks and more trailers lined up in a gully.

"This has been here for years and years," Severt, who has led a fight against blight in Sun Valley for a decade, told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "This is probably one of our biggest offenders. But he can have as many as he wants as long as you can't see them."

In defining nuisances, a citizens committee including Severt worked 22 months on a draft ordinance that set an upper limit of one junk car per acre for a maximum of 50 vehicles.

"There should be a quantifiable measure," she said.

Severt said she's not offended by someone hauling in a car to take off parts to fix a vehicle or having several piles of construction materials while renovating their home.

But when the junk takes over, it encourages others to pile up their yards with clutter.

"You know it, when you see it," she said of a property that has become a junkyard. "It's not the norm."

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