A short drive up Mt. Rose Highway out of Reno and the valley floor falls away. The air grows cooler and the tree line comes closer. At Galena Creek the tree line meets the valley, bringing in the best of both worlds. It’s like living at Lake Tahoe, without all the snow. Nestled in this area is St. James’s Village, a master-planned community set into the lower reaches of the Sierra foothills. This is a natural area, full of creeks and wild flowcr5, pines and open sky, vistas that move on forever. Not exactly a place where you’d want to see a huge housing development.
Unless maybe the developers felt the same way about the property.
“This land has been owned by National Land Corporation since the early ‘70s,” says Rick Haygood, director of sales and marketing at St. James’s Village. “It was purchased from the Audubon Society, which kind of leads to part of their philosophy with keeping the land natural and pristine. It also led to the 20 percent coverage rule.”
The development spans 1,600 acres in the Galena Forest, with elevations ranging from 5,220 feet to 5,960 feet and views of Pleasant Valley and the valley stretching toward Carson City, as well as sunny meadows and mountain vistas. There are 522 lots, starting at one acre and running to over four acres, with prices from just below $100,000 to over $500,000. Communities include the Bennington Collection, an area of meadows, and the Ridge Crest, built in the forest. Timberlake rests at the entrance to Joy Lake, and the Edge-wood extends across the chaparral. Existing homes in the custom community run from more than $500,000 to almost $2 million. But once the lot is chosen and bought, the buyer doesn’t have free rein.
The natural beauty of the area is protected by codes, covenants and restrictions (CC&Rs) and the ALC, the Architectural and Landscape Committee, formed to approve all plans for the homes to be built in the communities. And even if a lot is the minimum size, running only one acre, the landscaping requirements state only 20 percent of the building envelope can be developed.
“You’re limited to 4,000 square feet of grass,” says Haygood. “The purpose of this landscaping requirement is to keep the area as natural as possible.” The philosophy of the developers, the determination of leaving the area as natural as possible, adds to the strength of the community. “[The developers] thought, ‘There was this gorgeous piece of property,’ and they wanted to keep it that way. We think it’s the best selling feature because visitors don’t see home after home, and it’s not all been grassed, with trees removed and natural vegetation moved. It doesn’t just look like any other subdivision,” Haygood observed. Instead, although the community offers common areas of walkways, hiking and biking trails, meadows and roads, there are more than 800 acres of open space at the village. The care taken in the development of this land has lead Washoe County to use St. James’s Village’s development handbook as a model for its own. In addition, the local fire department uses the village as a model subdivision for working with the land and clearing open spaces.
Not that working with the land has always been easy. In fact, the location has been one of the biggest challenges. The project started in 1993 with property beginning to sell in early 1994. But being in the trees and on a mountain presented developers with some unique challenges. “We’re not on the beaten path,” says Hay-good. “We’re [two-and-a-half] miles off Mt. Rose Highway, and to reach us you have to go through another subdivision, so access has been one of the major challenges we’ve faced in trying to direct people into the community.” The developers started with the residential end of the project, building in the trees. In an effort to put the community on the map, they entered into a cooperative venture with the subdivision next door, paying for entry monuments to Galena Forest Estates to allow St. James’s Village to have its name on the monuments as well, in addition to directional signage.
Further challenges presented themselves in terms of amenities. The Galena area was on propane and septic systems, but growth in Reno is pushing natural gas and dry sewer lines to the edges of the project. Developers are waiting for the chance to bring the services the last couple miles to the village. Roads and bridges had to be put in, and last but not least, in Nevada there’s always a question of water. The developers dug wells and gave them to Washoe County and are now provided with municipal water. However, additional water rights had to be secured for the next phase of the St. James project — the 18-hole golf course, 350-room resort/hotel, and the equestrian center going in at the southern end of the development.
Regardless of what the next phase of development brings, homebuyers at St. James’s Village can rely on the developers’ mission: bringing the best of both worlds to residents, who want a pristine, peaceful and natural living environment, and taking care of the land. St James’s Village offers proof that residential development doesn’t have to lay waste to Nevada’s natural surroundings
