Placer County Redevelopment Agency Moving Forward with First
North Lake Tahoe Affordable Housing Project
A major project to build affordable housing in Kings Beach on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe took a giant step forward on Tuesday when the Board of the Placer County Redevelopment Agency approved a series of actions that will put together financing and development agreements for a joint project between the County and Domus Development.
The project, also known as the Kings Beach Scattered Sites Housing development, will build 77 units of rent-controlled housing at five locations in Kings Beach. The Placer County Redevelopment Agency has been working with Domus for several years to put together the deal, which required the acquisition of several parcels in the North Lake Tahoe community, development of the plans for building the housing and getting the project through the complex regulatory approval process in the Tahoe Basin. The project will remove 35 existing substandard residential units, mostly 1950s-era converted motel units and vacation cabins, and replace them with 77 modern, spacious units with full amenities and significant upgrades to landscaping, drainage, utilities and street improvements.
The Supervisors conducted two public hearings on the project (both as the Board and as the Redevelopment Agency Board) at the regular meeting and then approved the series of items regarding the final financial deals and development agreement for the affordable housing project. The approved agreements spell out the roles and duties of both the County and Domus as the project moves forward.
"This is a landmark approval for our Redevelopment Agency," said James Lobue, Redevelopment Deputy Director. "It will be the first new affordable housing ever built in Placer County in North Lake Tahoe."
With the approval of these items, the Redevelopment Agency (RDA) has contributed $7.9 million of the estimated $33 million project cost. RDA contributed the funds through a pre-development loan and property acquisition through funds provided through the North Lake Tahoe Redevelopment Project Area Housing Set-Aside and 2006 Housing Tax Allocation Bond proceeds. The housing units will be rent controlled for 55 years. Domus Development will be submitting an application later this month for Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits and, if that application is successful, the project is planned to break ground in August.
Environmental review was conducted on all the sites and was certified under the California Environmental Quality Act.
Placer County and its Redevelopment Agency have embarked on a series of projects on Lake Tahoe's North Shore to improve and upgrade the area. In addition to the affordable housing project noted above, the county has acquired several properties at the eastern entrance to Kings Beach. These properties were previously used as gasoline stations and contained underground storage tanks that were leaking. The county also designed and built a gateway entrance sign at the same eastern entrance. Last month, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency gave its final approval to the Kings Beach Commercial Core Improvement Project, which will improve a 1.1-mile section of Highway 28 through the heart of the North Shore community. The Redevelopment Agency is a major contributor to the funding of the Commercial Core project as well, committing $11 million of the project's estimated $34 million cost.