commission

With the March 6 South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting slated to have SnowGlobe on the agenda, the Parks and Recreation Commission has called a special meeting in order to prepare a coordinated statement/recommendation to give Council.

The commissioners normally meet the third Thursday of the month but with the annual winter concert on the Council agenda before their next official meeting they wanted to meet to provide their opinion.

They meet at the SLT Recreation Center located at 1180 Rufus Allen Blvd, South Lake Tahoe. Start time for the special meeting is 3:00 p.m.

After Tuesday's normally scheduled 9:00 a.m. meeting, they will move to the Tahoe Beach Retreat & Lodge for an evening Cannabis Workshop to discuss upcoming regulations concerning the sales of adult-use cannabis in South Lake Tahoe. They moved to the larger venue due to expected participation.

On February 20, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., members of the public can give their input on what an ordinance concerning the sales of cannabis in city limits should look like. Besides council members there will also be representative of the Planning Commission and Cannabis Subcommittee.

Do you know an outstanding older adult or a married couple aged 60 years or older who has performed exemplary work in El Dorado County as a volunteer? Consider nominating them for the Senior of the Year Award.

The annual “Senior of the Year” award will be presented by the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors on May 22, 2018, at the Board of Supervisors Chambers located at 330 Fair Lane in Placerville, and is hosted by the El Dorado County Area Agency on Aging and the Commission on Aging.

The list of New York City; Takoma Park, Maryland; Seattle, Washington; Washington DC; Miami Beach, Florida; Freeport and Portland, Maine; Nantucket, Massachusetts; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Portland, Oregon and San Francisco, California could soon have South Lake Tahoe added as the 113th California city or county to ban polystyrene. Berkeley has had a ban in place since 1988, the first California city to do so.

The cumulative results of Liberty Utilities’ quarterly Customer Satisfaction Surveys in 2017 show improvements in corporate citizenship and communications. The survey also showed overall customer satisfaction increased by six points compared to first quarter results.

The online survey is independently conducted by JD Power, and Liberty Utilities’ results are compared with comparable electric utilities in the west. Some highlights of the 2017 survey results show:

The South Lake Tahoe Cancer League has a lot to be grateful for this past year. For nearly four decades, the volunteers of this organization have driven patients from South Lake Tahoe to their medical treatment, at no charge to the patients or their families. The drivers take patients to Reno, Carson City, Minden, Truckee, and as far away as UC Davis. The Cancer League also gives limited monetary assistance in the form of small grants to the patients to help with their monthly expenses.

Tuesday's El Dorado County Board of Supervisors (BOS) meeting was just as all other meetings about vacation home rentals have been: A full house and a large contingent passionately representing both sides of the issue.

Supervisor Shiva Frentzen sought conceptual approval of an urgency ordinance to place a moratorium on the issuance of new vacation home rental (VHR) permits in the unincorporated portions of the County located in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Meyers, the commercial, public services, and recreation hub of unincorporated El Dorado County at the South Shore may soon have a new area plan and there are three upcoming public meetings on the plan. It could be adopted at the third meeting, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) board meeting on February 28.

"This is not about making money, its about doing it right," said Mayor Pro Tem Tom Davis during Tuesday's City Council vote on cannabis sales in South Lake Tahoe.

Davis was speaking about their decision to approve an urgency ordinance and to take their time in creating the City's ordinance for legal cannabis sales in South Lake Tahoe. The moratorium will remain in effect for 45 days and expires on January 21, 2018 unless the City Council extends it before then.

Douglas County Commissioners will be voting on the 20-year update to the Douglas County Master Plan during a special meeting on Tuesday, December 4 at 9:00 a.m. in the Courthouse at 1616 8th Street in Minden.

Tuesday's discussion will focus on the housing element of the plan along with other portions including safety.

Those unable to attend but would like to comment can submit written comment to the commissioners via their website here: https://www.douglascountynv.gov/46/Board-of-County-Commissioners.

In the works since 2010, the Tahoe Paradise Resort Improvement District is now officially a "recreation and park district." Governor Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill 1023 into law that year, creating an expedited procedure for resort improvement districts to convert into community service districts, and in the case of Tahoe Paradise Park, into the recreation and park district.

That "expedited" procedure has taken almost six years for the Tahoe Paradise district to work out.

The National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC) has awarded the Douglas County Sheriff's Office for maintaining the "Custodial Facility of the Year."

Their jail was selected for the prestigious award from over 500 jails and prisons across the country.

DCSO representatives attended the NCCHC ceremony to pick up their award.

Many of South Lake Tahoe's roads are decades past their prime, and Measure C is in front of voters November 7 to increase taxes by one-half percent to pay for their maintenance and repair.

I support Measure C and let me tell you why, but it will have to start with a look back to see how we got here.

The Douglas County Commissioners have canceled their November 2, 2017 agenda meeting as two or more commissioners will be attending the Nevada Local Elected Officials’ White House Convention on November 3 in Washington D.C. The purpose of this event is to develop a working relationship between the White House/Federal Agencies and the County Commissioners and Legislators of Nevada.

The next regularly scheduled Board of County Commission meeting will be in Lake Tahoe on November 16, 2017 at 11:00 a.m.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The accreditation team visiting Lake Tahoe Community College (LTCC) left town Thursday, but not before speaking to a gathering of the school's administration, staff, students, board members and community partners.

"You guys do a great job," said Mike Claire, President at College of San Mateo and leader of the visiting accreditation team from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC). "We have never found a college more well prepared than LTCC."

Vail Resorts Inc., the parent company of Heavenly Mountain Resort, Kirkwood and Northstar California, posted income of $210.6 million for fiscal 2017, and increase of 40.6 percent over 2016.

Highlights of their year:

Total skier visits for fiscal 2017 increased to approximately 12.0 million, up 20.1 percent

Total lift revenue increased $160.3 million, or 24.4%

Ski school revenue increased $34.5 million, or 24.1%

Dining revenue increased $29.6 million, or 24.4%

Retail/rental revenue increased $52.3 million, or 21.7%

Lake Tahoe, Douglas County and Carson City casinos saw an overall gain in their incomes in August, 2017 according to the monthly report released today by the Nevada Gaming Commission.

The reported gaming wins for August and difference when compared to August 2016:

South Shore casinos - $25,576,000 - up 7.02%
Carson City, Carson Valley casinos - $9,390,210 - up 8.98%
North Shore Lake Tahoe casinos - 3,149,398 - up 10.39%
State of Nevada - 989,510,649 - up 14.91%

South Lake Tahoe, Calif. – The City of South Lake Tahoe and the Regan family will be hosting a re-dedication ceremony of the Thomas F. Regan Memorial Beach on Sunday, October 1, 2017 at 12:00 p.m. and the community is invited to attend.

The Final Draft of the Meyers Area Plan was released today along with the associated joint environmental document. This draft updates 20-year old policies to streamline permitting for small projects, improves consistency between El Dorado County and Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) policies and standards, promotes recreation and bicycle/pedestrian improvements, establishes zoning to better reflect current conditions, conserves land around the Upper Truckee River, formalizes a local citizens advisory council, and integrates design standards and guidelines.

September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and South Tahoe Now will be running a series of stories on suicide prevention.

“For anyone who has lost a friend or loved one to suicide, this month can be especially hard,” said Laura Walny, manager with the El Dorado County Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA). “We hope that by supporting one another and working together to raise awareness about suicide, we can ultimately save lives.”

Michael E. Fischer will portray the tenth governor of Nevada, John Sparks, at Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Wednesday, August 23, at 6:30 pm.

Location

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - On Monday, August 21, 2017, a total solar eclipse will pass over the Pacific Northwest affecting the California solar resources supplying power to the grid. During the eclipse from 9:02 a.m. to 11:54 a.m., the moon will obscure much of the solar rays directly affecting the output of both large scale photovoltaic (PV) electric power plants and rooftop solar. A loss of 4,194 megawatts(MW) of California large scale solar electricity is expected.

The sale of Kingsbury Middle School to Lake Parkway LLC is still on, for now.

At a special meeting of the Douglas County School District Monday, the board voted unanimously to give the buyer until Monday, July 31 to come up with the rest of the $3.15 million purchase price for the middle school which has sat vacant since the 2008-09 school year.

School is out and summer is in full swing at Lake Tahoe. Visitors and residents are heading to beaches and launching boats, kayaks, and standup paddleboards to get out and enjoy the jewel of the Sierra. Millions of people visit Tahoe each year and the shoreline is where they go to experience its famously cold, clear, blue water.