South Douglas County is all about ranchlands and agriculture. Our family uses our land here as pastureland for grazing and overwintering cows and as agricultural land for wheat and garlic growing. To preserve the land here, Buckeye Farms’ development will be in Minden off Buckeye Road where proper infrastructure exists. Development efforts will be focused in areas where infrastructure is already in place, costing the county loss in the long run. Plus, development rights will eventually be removed from our land in the South County area to further preserve them in perpetuity.
Of the 13,000 total acres of land being discussed, 1,044 acres on Buckeye Road will become the agrihood, with only 500 acres actually being developed—only 4% of the total property—keeping the focus on agriculture and ranching in the community.
Video Transcript
David Park:
Hi, my name is David Park with Park Ranch Holdings. We’re out here in South Douglas County right now at some of our ranchland. Our family’s been in the ranching business since the late 1800s, including some of these properties out here. What you’re looking at is some of our pasture land over here that we graze and winter our cows during the winter months. We do have some cattle on the ranch that are located on some of the pastures over there towards Topaz Lake and over there by the Walker River.
In the distance over there towards those white buildings is wheat and garlic growing. We grow about 220 acres of garlic. The development units office area will be sent down to Minden off of Buckeye Road, which is the receiving area. So over time, the development rights will be removed and this will be preserved indefinitely. Because of the lack of infrastructure in South Douglas County, it would be infeasible for the county to pursue high density development out there. There’s no schools. There’s no fire. There’s no sheriff, and it all makes sense to do that in an area where it’s existing. It will be a lesser cost to the County in the long run.
South Douglas County now gets to experience continual rural characteristics. It could have been developed to a higher density and now it will not be. Because of the minimal impact out in South Douglas County, that is going to be beneficial to the community, its residents, and the habitat in which we will farm in perpetuity. Of the 1,300 acres here on Buckeye Road, about 1,044 acres are identified as receiving area, which will be the agrihood. However, as part of all the amenities, only 500 – roughly half – will actually get developed. There’s roughly around 13,000 acres involved, and only 4% are identified as possibly being developed here in the Carson Valley.
So with that being said, it allows our family to keep ranching thousands of acres and keep the community and the rural characteristics of Douglas County. An agrihood is a community based around agriculture. That’s my heritage and I thought it was appropriate that we look into that concept. An agrihood is basically agricultural involved with the community. In terms of being able to grow a garden, experience livestock, and not to mention other amenities that are included in the project, including trails and walking paths.
There’s a balance between development and conservation and I think we have appropriately done some good planning, and as part of my heritage and my ancestors, we want to continue that and see that agricultural stays alive in this Valley. However, allowing the opportunity for others to experience the same experience that we have here in Carson Valley.
If you have any further comments and questions, we’re at buckeyefarms@parkranch.com.
