Environmental Review Process Under Way for Lake Tahoe Basin Community Plan Update

Published on July 25, 2014

With the release of the Notice of Preparation (NOP) for the Environmental Impact Statement/Report, the ongoing update to the complex Tahoe Basin Community Plan continues to make progress. The NOP comment period, which was released for public comment on July 16, 2014, will remain open until 5 p.m. on Fri., August 15, 2014.

Placer County Planning Services staff presented this and other information on the process to the Board of Supervisors at their meeting at the Resort at Squaw Creek on Tuesday. County staff has been working on the Plan Update project since 2011 and has hosted multiple public meetings in addition to working with other agencies and jurisdictions at the lake. After developing and launching a public outreach strategy in 2012, staff has worked with the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) on coordinating the county’s Update and moving forward with the overall work program.

Staff last reported to the Board on this subject April 2014. Since then, staff has focused on preparing planning documents and beginning environmental review of the Plan Update. Public outreach efforts continue, ensuring the community remains engaged in the process. Staff held a Town Hall Meeting and participated in a Planning Commission hearing on the subject in June of this year. These public venues enabled staff to present information on the Community Plan Update and solicit feedback on the Public Review Draft Tahoe Basin Community Plan policy document, which was released for public review and comment in May 2014.

At the July 22 County Board of Supervisors meeting in Tahoe, Supervisor Jennifer Montgomery, whose Fifth District includes Placer County’s portion of Lake Tahoe, commended county staff for their efforts, “I want to thank you for continuing to move this process forward.”

Staff continues to provide regular updates to the TPRA and the North Tahoe Regional Advisory Committee on the Community Plan Update, and will continue holding public meetings on the Update progress and to seek additional public input. Upcoming public forums where the Community Plan Update will be discussed include:

• NOP Scoping Meeting, July 29, Fairway Community Center, 330 Fairway Dr., Tahoe City, 1 p.m.,
• NOP Scoping Meeting, July 29, North Tahoe Event Center, 8318 North Lake Boulevard, Kings Beach, 6 p.m.;
• NOP presentation to the TRPA Advisory Planning Commission on Thur., August 14, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency 128 Market St., Stateline, Nev., 9:30 a.m.; and
• North Tahoe Regional Advisory Council, Tahoe City Public Utility District Board Room, August 14, 221 Fairway Dr., Tahoe City; 6:30 p.m.

“Since receiving direction from the Board in 2011 to update these community plans, we have conducted many public meetings and workshops to seek and incorporate the ideas and comments we’ve received from a very involved public,” said Crystal Jacobsen, Planning Services Staff who is overseeing the county’s progress in the Update. “Although we still have work to do, we’re pleased to be at the point where our planning documents are taking shape and we can begin the preparation of the draft EIR/EIS for those documents.”