Historical Resources Commission
Thursday, January 15, 2026
Note: This summary is based on published meeting minutes.
What Happened
The Historical Resources Commission held a regular meeting where it approved four historic nominations, elected new leadership, updated bylaws, and recommended next steps for the Lear building rehabilitation.
Key Decisions
APPROVED — East 4th Street District nomination to National Register of Historic Places — 7-0 — Commission forwarded supporting opinion to City Council and the National Register.
APPROVED — Aitken House (781 Mill Street) nomination to State and National Registers of Historic Places — 7-0 — Commission recommended support to both registers.
APPROVED — Four priority steps for stabilization and rehabilitation of the Lear building (501 Riverside Drive) — vote count not recorded — Recommendations advance to City Council for funding consideration.
APPROVED — Hagen Sandoval as Chair and Tina Davis as Vice Chair — 7-0 — One-year terms for 2026.
APPROVED — Revised HRC bylaws — vote count not recorded — Changes remove chair's ability to call special meetings, eliminate recording secretary role, and add limits to consecutive terms as chair.
Debated But Not Resolved
Lear facility leadership structure — Commissioners disagreed on whether the City of Reno, another government agency, a nonprofit, or a private company should operate the Lear building long-term. Commissioner Hatjakes noted leadership definition is separate from stabilization work. — No timeline given; issue remains with City Council and steering committee discussions.
What to Watch
$2,000,000 — Redevelopment Agency funds available for the Lear building and other projects — Redevelopment Agency (available after July 2026).
Lear building oversight structure — City Council must decide whether to create a formal subcommittee for Lear rehabilitation oversight, which would be governed by Open Meeting Law. Commission expressed support for both a subcommittee and a larger working group.
Lear facility operations leadership — The commission still needs to determine who will actually run and manage the Lear building once stabilization work begins. This decision affects how funding requests are structured.
Historic context preparation — A consultant will be hired for phase one of citywide historic context preparation. No budget amount was recorded.
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