PANEL ENDORSES RESIDENTIAL DRUG TREATMENT PROJECT

Plans to build Lighthouse of the Sierra, a proposed 6.2-acre
residential campus in Reno for families and women in a substance abuse
treatment program, have been unanimously approved by the Reno Planning
Commission.

The only change, agreed to by Lighthouse organizers late Wednesday
night, was to build overflow parking for cars "so it would not impact
the neighborhood," said Arlo Stockham, a Reno city planner.

The Reno City Council will consider the special-use permit and zoning
change on Aug. 22 for the facility on Clear Acre Lane.

The project was publicly unveiled Friday at a luncheon at the Eldorado
Hotel Casino. The lead agency, Step 2, has raised $2.5 million,
including $1.5 million in low-income housing tax credits from Nevada
Housing Division.

It also earmarked a $388,550 grant for land and construction from HOME
Consortium, project-based Section 8 housing subsidies for 12 units
from Reno Housing Authority, $250,000 from Nevada Commission on
Economic Development, $175,000 from the San Francisco Federal Home
Loan Bank's affordable housing program and a $125,914 grant from
Center for Substance Abuse Treatment as well as smaller grants from
area banks and utilities.

Twenty-five housing units, from one to three bedrooms, will be built
first and take up about half of the site, which the Washoe County
School District will sell to Lighthouse.

Construction will begin in October, and the facility is scheduled to
open in May. A second phase will include an administrative building
and 21 more units.

The campus will serve homeless or near-homeless families with few or
no resources who agree to live there for one year.

Organizers have negotiated cooperative agreements with many key
agencies for on-site services ranging from health care to literacy
classes.

Three other Lighthouses are slated for Las Vegas, Elko and possibly
Tonopah or Lyon County.