FOWS has been attending the TRPA Governing Board (GB) and the Advisory Planning Commission (APC) to review the impacts of the alternatives for the Regional Plan Update (RPU). The issues related are primarily the Thresholds: Water Quality, Stream Environmental Zones (SEZ), Public Lands, Resource Management, Recreation, Land Use, Air Quality, Transportation, Noise, Fish and Wildlife, Vegetation, Invasive Species, Soils Conservation and Scenic Resources. We, along with the Governing Board Members, have many questions concerning these primary Environmental Thresholds for the future.
To help illustrate the changes in the Regional Plan, the TRPA staff has noted subject areas with a Fact Sheet to illustrate specific word changes to the Regional Plan prior to the Governing Board Meetings. While most of the subject areas are concerned with the nine thresholds and attainment of these, subjects are also being considered as an economic viability to the redevelopment of Tahoe Basin. The subject areas are all listed below with the meeting dates “RPU Milestone Information”. Staff is primarily asking for direction from the Governing Board and Advisory Planning Commission.
FOWS takes a position on Land Use
FOWS has joined alliances with eight other environmentally sensitive organizations such as: League to Save Lake Tahoe, Tahoe Area Sierra Club, Friends of Crystal Bay/Brockway (NV), Friends of Burke Creek (NV), Washoe Meadows Community (NV), Friends of Tahoe Vista, California Watershed Network, North Tahoe Preservation Alliance. Letter Written on May 21, 2010 Concerning Land Use Issues
Land Use Section of the Regional Plan Update
Executive Summary from TRPA on the Threshold Evaluations
The 2006 Threshold Evaluation Executive Summary is available for you to download. Under Scenic Resources, page 13 it states: The goal of maintaining desired character cannot be attained because of the failure to specify desired community character in many communities. This threshold is not in attainment.
FOWS should be discussing this topic even further since Community Plans on the West Shore will occur after the Regional Plan is completed, expected in 2011 hopefully. We need to become knowledgeable of the thresholds if we are concerned with preserving our natural resources.
Threshold Information on the TRPA website – Once on the site, click on the Executive Summary, a 14-page evaluation of all aspects of the 9 Thresholds and if they are in attainment. When you do get to the Document Metadata, click on View File.
TRPA Executive Director Joanne Marchetta has clarified her focus in this Sierra Sun article, “…members of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board and the public heard an educational briefing entitled “State of the Basin: A Snapshot of the Environment, Economy, and Community.” A history presentation, along with testimony from both academia and the private sector brought out in stark relief the effect of what is now understood as the permanent decline of gaming as the economic driver in the basin. A status report on community and economic indicators painted a bleak prospect for Tahoe’s people and environment unless we allow responsible change: Sale tax revenue and tourist occupancy tax revenue are in decline, as are year-round population, school enrollment, and available jobs. Commercial vacancies are on the rise and businesses and services are disappearing. Our communities are hurting.”
Read Joanne’s editorial in the Sierra Sun
There are specific problems with the increase of height and density or the increase in population with tourism. We’ve heard the community. Raw land must not be developed, only responsible redevelopment with heights that protect Tahoe’s scenic beauty. We support density changes that reduce vehicular miles traveled and we support low-impact recreationalists to enjoy Tahoe. The “Smart Growth” theory may work extremely well when you desire growth, but it is not smart to apply it to Lake Tahoe, to be loved to death. Lake Tahoe is at such a sensitive critical juncture.
Due to the fact that critical change is being done in the Regional Plan Update which impacts the West Shore, we need to become part of this process. We are attending these meetings and would like to answer the questions you may have with the understanding that we are not the experts. Presently, thresholds, economics and the community are three distinct and equally viable issues that need to be understood and integrated.
Regional Plan Initiative (RPI) - The RPI group was assembled in January 2009 by the North Lake Tahoe and South Shore Chambers of Commerce with encouragement and funding in part from the TRPA. It is a multi-stakeholder, public/private effort dedicated to informing decision-making by linking the socioeconomics of the Basin to the RPU and TRPA’s environmental goals. The work of the RPI group focused on water quality and SEZ restoration, more efficient land use, and improvements to community design, scenic resources and mobility in Tahoe’s town and tourist centers. Smart Growth principals are a focus, with increased height and densities. It is important to read the four pages of the Executive Summary and Project Objective & Background.
The March 17, 2010 TRPA staff report to the Governing Board provided this educational briefing of the Regional Plan Initiative to be added to the Regional Plan Update (RPU). The presentation included the first annual State of the Basin report, the findings of the Regional Plan Initiative (RPI) group and the Sustainability Indicators Project, and current challenges facing the gaming sector in Tahoe.