Placer County Releases Tahoe Basin Area Plan & Tahoe City Lodge Draft Environmental Document for Public Comment

Published on June 16, 2016

A draft environmental impact report/environmental impact statement for the Placer County Tahoe Basin Area Plan and Tahoe City Lodge project is now available for public review and comment - online, in local libraries and at Placer County's planning office in Tahoe City.

The county's Tahoe Basin Area Plan outlines how Placer County will achieve the environmental restoration goals of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency's broader 2012 Lake Tahoe Regional Plan and sets land-use regulations for Placer County's jurisdiction within the Lake Tahoe Basin for the next 20 years. The public comment period for the just-released draft environmental document is open for 60 days, until 5 p.m. on August 15.

Spurring sustainable redevelopment in North Lake Tahoe's town centers of Kings Beach and Tahoe City and enhancing and expanding public transit and active transportation are main strategies outlined in the plan. These strategies are intended to achieve the Lake Tahoe Regional Plan goal of environmental threshold gain - essentially, improving environmental quality in areas like water and air quality, enhancing views of the lake and others - by reducing vehicle trips and reversing blight in the basin that has contributed to a decline in Lake Tahoe's clarity.

While a great deal of public investment has gone into infrastructure and transportation projects for environmental restoration in recent years, the plan identifies private investment in environmental redevelopment projects as key to meeting its goals. Consistent with the objective of the TRPA 2012 Regional Plan, the Tahoe Area Plan will allow for increased height (up to four stories, in certain areas) and density within the town centers of Tahoe City and Kings Beach, thereby incentivizing investment in compact, walkable communities and limiting sprawl.

The draft environmental document analyzes impacts of both the Tahoe Area Plan and the Tahoe City Lodge project. The environmental analysis for the Tahoe Area Plan is at a programmatic level - reflecting its influence on a variety of projects over a long timeframe - and includes analysis of a design concept for redevelopment of the Placer County-owned Kings Beach Center. The environmental analysis for the Tahoe City Lodge is at a project level, meaning it separately addresses the impacts of a fully discrete project.

The proposed Tahoe City Lodge project would redevelop an existing commercial complex into a 118-unit lodge and would also redevelop the Tahoe City Golf Course clubhouse facility. The lodge project proposal is privately funded and was developed in line with the proposed development standards outlined in the Tahoe Basin Area Plan. The lodge project is undergoing its own environmental analysis and will require separate discretionary land development entitlements. If approved, it would be the first such privately-funded environmental redevelopment project in North Lake Tahoe in decades.

Placer's Tahoe Basin Area Plan is informed by four years of input from North Lake Tahoe communities, including public comments and suggestions from more than 30 public workshops. A first draft of the plan was released for public review and comment in June 2015, along with a notice of preparation for the environmental document.

A series of public hearings is planned to solicit feedback on the draft environmental document and draft plan as the county works with TRPA to finalize the plan.

Scheduled hearings:

Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Advisory Planning Commission
Board Room, 128 Market Street, Stateline, Nevada
July 13, 9:30 a.m.

Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Regional Plan Implementation Committee
North Tahoe Event Center, 8318 North Lake Boulevard, Kings Beach, California
July 27, 9:30 a.m.

Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board
North Tahoe Event Center, 8318 North Lake Boulevard, Kings Beach, California
July 27, 9:30 a.m.

Placer County Planning Commission
North Tahoe Event Center, 8318 North Lake Boulevard, Kings Beach, California
July 28, 10 a.m.

Placer County North Tahoe Regional Advisory Council
North Lake Tahoe Event Center, 8318 North Lake Boulevard, Kings Beach, California
August 11, 6 p.m.

The draft EIR/EIS is available for review during normal business hours at the Kings Beach Library (301 Secline Street, Kings Beach); the Tahoe City Library (740 North Lake Boulevard, Tahoe City); the Placer County Community Development Resource Agency offices in Tahoe City (775 North Lake Boulevard, Tahoe City) and in Auburn (3091 County Center Drive, Auburn); and the TRPA office (125 Market Street, Stateline, Nevada). The draft EIR/EIS is also available online and at the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency website .

Comments may be addressed to Placer County Community Development Resource Agency, Environmental Coordination Services, 3091 County Center Drive, Suite 190, Auburn, CA 95603; by fax to 530-745-3080; or by email Email the Community Development Resource Agency. Comments must be received no later than 5 p.m. August 15.