KINGS BEACH, CALIF. – The Placer County Board of Supervisors will hold a dedication ceremony on Mon., April 20, 2009, at 11:30 a.m. at the new Kings Beach Gateway monument sign. Located on North Lake Boulevard at the eastern end of Kings Beach, the sign dedication ceremony is the culmination of several years of work to improve the entrance to this Lake Tahoe community.
For many years, the site where the new sign is located held an abandoned and dilapidated gas station. In October, 2006, the Supervisors, sitting as the Placer County Redevelopment Agency Board, authorized the purchase of the parcel upon which the station sat. Since then, the Placer County Redevelopment Agency has supervised the removal of the gas station, the cleaning of the site, and the design and building of the new welcoming monument. Once the structure’s demolition was accomplished, the environmental contamination present on the site had to be cleaned. Once suitably cleaned, design of the monument was conducted and included extensive public review of the design. Several concepts were reviewed before the final decision was made.
The design was reviewed by the North Tahoe Regional Advisory Council, the North Lake Tahoe Business Association, The North Tahoe Site Design Review Committee and the Placer County Zoning Administrator. After the design was finalized, the construction contract was awarded in June, 2008, and construction began the following month.
“This sign is now the first thing you see when you come into King’s Beach from the east,” said Placer County’s 5th District Supervisor Jennifer Montgomery, whose district includes Kings Beach and the Placer County portion of Lake Tahoe. “Visitors and residents alike will now be greeted with a beautiful and eye-catching monument. This is a needed addition for the community’s welcoming icon.”
The Placer County Redevelopment Agency has been extensively involved in upgrading the King’s Beach area. Those efforts are part of a larger effort to remove physical, economic and social blight, improve infrastructure and public facilities, support local business activity, and increase and improve the supply of housing affordable to low and moderate income residents.
Redevelopment has supported five community enhancement projects in Kings Beach. They include:
- BB, LLC Kings Beach Mixed Use Town Center
- North Tahoe Partners/Ferrari Family Resort Mixed Use Project
- Pastore Ryan Mixed Use Project
- KB Resorts Mixed Use Project
- Domus Development Scattered Sites Housing Project
In addition to the CEP projects, the Agency has:
- Acquired multiple parcels of land at the eastern end of Kings Beach and has removed delapitated buildings and other blight;
- Committed $11 million in support of the multi-faceted Commercial Core Improvement Project, which includes:
- Water quality improvement technical study
- Land acquisition, design and installation of two public parking lots
- Development of two additional public parking on other acquired lots;
- Through its Façade Improvement and Commercial Loan programs, assisted in physical improvements to multiple Kings Beach properties;
- Provided annual core funding for the North Tahoe Business Association;
- Acquired approximately 2.6 acres of land in Kings Beach for affordable housing;
- Provided pre-development assistance to the Vista Village housing project in Tahoe Vista;
- Financially assisted 42 housing rehabilitation and repair/weatherization improvement projects.