commission

Much like the lake side of El Dorado County and the west slope don’t always see eye to eye, the Douglas County portion at the lake, and the valley residents are in the same situation.

The topic currently at the forefront is Buckeye Creek Reservoir, located in the eastern portion of Douglas County. BLM has most of the land in this undeveloped area, and the Douglas County Sewer Improvement District (DCSID) owns 1,001 of those acres.

Complaints about an offensive smell and unsightly tarps brought out El Dorado County Sheriff's detectives to a home in El Dorado Hills who ended up uncovering a large marijuana grow.

On October 23, 2015, a search warrant was served on a residence and property in the 1400 block of Malcom Dixon Road.

When they arrived they found 52-year-old Jeffrey Johansen, Sr. guarding a marijuana grow from a tree house, armed with a shotgun. He complied with law enforcement and put down the shotgun.

The California Transportation Commission announced this week that it will award nearly $9 million in Active Transportation Program (ATP) grant funding to help complete three major bike and pedestrian projects in the City of South Lake Tahoe and Tahoe City.

Members of the Lake Tahoe Bikeway Partnership applied for the grants. The partnership formed several years ago to secure funding for critical trail segments to improve bicyclist and pedestrian safety and complete the Lake Tahoe Bikeway, a comprehensive multi-use trail network for the Lake Tahoe Region.

It's been almost 100 years since Antoine de Saint-Exupery wrote, "A goal without a plan, is just a wish." This is still true today, and the City of South Lake Tahoe has been busy getting area plans completed so current and future goals could be planned.

They have joined forces with El Dorado County to come up with a Parks, Trails and Recreation Master Plan for the Lake Tahoe South Shore, and not only is it ready to look over, the public is invited to participate in its review during an upcoming meeting.

Successful conservation actions from a collaborative Lake Tahoe partnership spanning the past 15 years have helped the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decide today that Tahoe yellow cress (Rorippa subumbellata), a flowering perennial plant in the mustard family found only along the lake’s sandy shoreline, does not warrant federal protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

What once took hours of City of South Lake Tahoe staff time as well as weeks for applicants to get answers may soon be a one hour process.

Since it was organized in 2014, the City Attorney has been working with departments to update each section of the City Code. For portions that pertains to zoning, land use, development standards and building standards, City staff looked at ways to streamline the process and remove permit process portions of the code where possible.

An online biking guide for cyclists of all abilities in the South Lake Tahoe, North Lake Tahoe, Truckee, Carson Valley and California Alps just been released. Bike Tahoe: Tahoe’s Ultimate Bicycling Guide, features 65 of the most popular bicycle rides in and around the Lake Tahoe Basin, and can be visited at www.BikeTahoe.org. This is a “responsive web site” meaning that it automatically resizes the content format to fit the screen size of the device being used (smart phone, tablet, laptop).

Residents go to the City for a number of requests, and in order to make sure procedures are followed on those requests, new policies were created Tuesday during the South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting.

A Champions Plaza Recognition Policy was created in order to know how to handle the expected requests for names to be placed at the new venue at the corner of Highway 50 and Lakeview Avenue. The sculpture was selected earlier this summer.

The year was 1946. The President was Harry S. Truman, "It's a Wonderful Life" was in the theaters and a stamp cost three cents. It was also the year the Tahoe Trout Farm opened in South Lake Tahoe.

This business, located off of Lake Tahoe Blvd on Blue Lake Avenue, was the topic of the South Lake Tahoe Planning Commission's meeting on August 13.

In an effort to "Clean Up Highway 50," the City's sign ordinance is meant to get rid of the blight and unattractive signage that visitors and locals see each day they travel the main artery through town.

A new vacation home rental (VHR) ordinance will take effect in South Lake Tahoe on October 1, 2015.

The new ordinance will require all homeowners who want to rent out their homes to get it inspected by the Zoning Administrator prior to being issued a license. Since the real estate community told City Council that not having a permit prior to escrow may cause homeowners to lose sales, the current homeowner may now get it inspected prior to the sale in order to take as much uncertainty away from sales as possible. This inspection will be valid for one year.

Douglas County Douglas County is hosting a Flood Outreach on August 6 from 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the CVIC Hall, Minden, NV. The event will give the public the opportunity to collect information, provide public input, and view flood damage maps.

“After our staff presentation on the flooding, we wanted to give citizens a place to gather and receive information from as many resources as possible.” said Douglas County Commission Chair, Doug Johnson.

Resources present at the event will include:

• Engineering/Stormwater Management

The South Lake Tahoe City Council will be discussing changes to the Vacation Home Rental Ordinance on Tuesday that, if passed, will bring about changes to the permit review process, add criteria to be considered when a new permit is issued, and the addition of an annual renewal review.

There have been several packed council and community meetings on the topic of the proposed updated to the Vacation Home Rental (VHR) ordinance, and Tuesday's meeting should be no different.

A proposed solar panel project on 260 acres of Park Cattle Company land won approval by the Douglas County Planning Commission in May, but residents opposing the solar farm with its 148,277 panels are fighting back. They are taking their complaints to the July 2 meeting of the Douglas County Commissioners led by local residents Steve and Mary Walker who filed an appeal right after approval of the planning commission.

6/21/15 4:45 p.m. update:

More details of Saturday's arrest have been released by the South Lake Tahoe Police Department.

As the pursuit of a car driven by 35-year-old Cory Pearson of Sacramento and South Lake Tahoe ended at the Tahoe Keys Marina, officers were able to establish a perimeter around his vehicle which had been reported stolen in Lakeland Village. Pearson yelled to officers that he was armed with a gun and threatened to use it if anyone approached. The South Lake Tahoe Police Department (SLTPD) SWAT Team and Crisis Response Team were called to assist.

Soon, memories of "The Hole" will be replaced with the vision of new retail, restaurants and condominiums as the next phase of construction begins in South Lake Tahoe.

The Chateau at the Village will continue its growth to the corner of Friday Avenue and Highway 50.

The City of South Lake Tahoe Planning Commission will be considering adoption of the Tahoe Valley Area Plan and amending the City Zoning Ordinance to allow for outdoor display of specialized recreation equipment at their May 14 meeting.

Also on the agenda is an ordinance concerning South Lake Tahoe outdoor craft fairs.

The meeting is in the City Council chambers at the airport at 3 p.m.

A large oven fire at MontBleu Resort Wednesday afternoon caused the evacuation of 200 people from the casino and sent two people to the hospital with smoke related complaints.

Just after 3 p.m., Tahoe Douglas Fire received a call about a fire at the South Shore casino. The fire department responded with a full structure fire team according to Fire Marshal Eric Guevin.

"When we got there we found significant amount of fire and smoke," Guevin told South Tahoe Now. "Casino staff had tried to extinguish the fire with three extinguishers."

Liberty Utilities no longer wants to receive energy produced by coal so they have asked to end their contract with NV Energy's North Valmy Coal plant. Instead they are asking for a new contract that excludes all coal-fired resources.

Up to 20% of all power currently sent to Lake Tahoe comes from the large coal plant in Nevada as part of the existing contract with NV Energy, which ends in December.

The California Energy Commission has approved a $200,000 grant for the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency to create a Plug-In Electric Vehicle Readiness Plan for the Tahoe-Truckee Region.

Following the lowest snowpack ever recorded and with no end to the drought in sight, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced actions that will save water, increase enforcement to prevent wasteful water use, streamline the state's drought response and invest in new technologies that will make California more drought resilient.

The public is invited to a series of public hearings on the proposed State Route 89/Fanny Bridge Community Revitalization Project. The completed design is expected in September with construction expected to start in May, 2016.

The final environment impact report, environmental impact statement, and environmental assessment (EIR/EIS/EA) documents are now available. They can be viewed on line or at the following hearings:

A preliminary environmental report has been completed on the Tahoe Valley Area Plan and is ready for public input.

This report is created so the agencies developing the plan can determine whether a nEnvironmental Impact Report (EIR), a Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND), or a Negative Declaration is required for a project under California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) guidelines.

Craft shows allowed in South Lake Tahoe have long been an issue, whether it was the number of them or the quality of goods offered. In September of 2013, the codes concerning craft shows were revised to only allow 10 per year in 2014 and eight per year starting in 2015. The maximum number of shows per location was changed to limit just four.

Less than a month ago the South Lake Tahoe City Council chose Tiffany Good from a group of five local community members interested in serving a two year term on the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Advisory Planning Commission.

Immediately after the appointment, Good was offered a job with TRPA so she needs to resign from the commission.

City Council will give direction to staff during Tuesday's meeting on how the position should be filled.