SEZ

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Two parcels owned by the California Tahoe Conservancy (CTC) appear to be on their way to becoming home to affordable housing projects in South Lake Tahoe.

To address the shortage of housing for Californians, Governor Newsom ordered the Department of General Services (DGS) and the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to identify and prioritize excess state-owned property and aggressively pursue sustainable, innovative, cost-effective housing projects.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - There is already international interest in two buildings at the nearly completed Bijou Marketplace in South Lake Tahoe after being listed for sale just over a week ago.

Two more properties in the Bijou Park Creek flood zone will be acquired by the City of South Lake Tahoe thanks to a $793,991 grant awarded by the California Tahoe Conservancy (CTC) this week.

This makes three properties that the City will purchase from willing property owners with grant funds provided through Proposition 1 and Proposition 50 funds authorized by the CTC. The two this week, oft-flooded and located at 3593 Shirley Avenue and 3590 Bill Avenue in South Lake Tahoe will join the parcel at 3747 Woodbine Road which was authorized to be purchased in September 2017.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - "We've been waiting to be in South Lake Tahoe for a long time," said R. Adam Smith, Executive Director of Store Development for Whole Foods in Northern California. "Couldn't be more thrilled than to be here today."

Smith took part in Monday's groundbreaking at the new Bijou Marketplace along with the Jim Halferty and Chris Peto of Halferty Development Ground, the owners of the property along Highway 50 and the corner of Ski Run Boulevard, and local officials.

The Lodge at Edgewood Tahoe was a vision that began 25 years ago when the late Brooks Park and now General Manager Bobby King were talking about a complete experience for golfers who could also stay after a round of golf.

Park's grandfather David bought 571 acres of pastureland at Lake Tahoe in 1896. The property included the historic Friday's Station where the family operated it as a way station and butcher's shop for those crossing the terrain from 19818-20.

It's been one year since the City of South Lake Tahoe was denied a grant by the California Tahoe Conservancy (CTC) for their Bijou Park Creek Watershed and SEZ Restoration Project, and today, the Conservancy Board did it again.

When one sees a vacant lot in the Lake Tahoe Basin with a California Tahoe Conservancy (CTC) sign placed on a tree within its borders, it normally that means the parcel will remain vacant.

And in most cases, that is true.

In the basin, CTC owns 4,780 parcels of land totaling 6,400 acres, many of those parcels are about 1/4 acre in size. In the 1980s and 1990s, most of these smaller lots were purchased due to their being deemed environmentally sensitive. If a lot, or a portion of a lot, was once considered to be sensitive, they are permanently protected and cannot be built upon.

The City of South Lake Tahoe is still trying to work out a deal with the Halferty Development Company, a $4 million sale of the developable portions of the lots known as the "Knights Inn Properties."

During Tuesday's City Council meeting a purchase agreement was scheduled to be voted on, but SLT City Manager Nancy Kerry had to pull it off the agenda.

"We are still working on it," Kerry told South Tahoe Now. "We are still negotiating and have some issues to work out."

Work on the second phase of the new campground and vehicle circulation plan at Camp Richardson Resort will continue beginning Monday, May 2, 2016 and last for approximately three months. Officially named the Camp Richardson Resort Campground and Vehicle Circulation Best Management Practices (BMPs) Retrofit, the result will allow the resort to meet current standards for water quality protection and increase universal accessibility to the area's activities.

The Knights Inn could be purchased by the City of South Lake Tahoe for $6 million should a grant be awarded them by the California Tahoe Conservancy. If that happens, the City would purchase, and then demolish, the motel located on Highway 50 near Ski Run Boulevard to make way for a new environmental and retail project.

There is grant money available through the CTC which the City will apply for. The funds come from the state's Proposition 1 Water Bond which was approved by voters in 2014 to authorize $7.545 billion in general obligation bonds for water projects.

The U.S. Forest Service will begin the first phase of their retrofitting of the Camp Richardson campground on July 21, something that has been in the planning stages since 2009.

During this first phase, they will remove approximately 250 trees in the campground on the north side of Highway 89. This portion of the project will last about two weeks. Work will be completed on this side of Highway 89 in October.

Phase two on the south side of Highway 89 is anticipated to begin in September 2015 and be finished by June 2016.

Lake Tahoe property owners and contractors can now design their own residential BMPs (Best Management Practices) with a free online tool provided by the TRPA.

BMP Designer is a GIS based tool found on the agency's Stormwater Management Program's website.

In order to utilize the BMP Designer, users should have knowledge of their property’s physical characteristics including:

• The direction water flows on the property
• Where utilities are located (always call 811 prior to digging)

On the question of whether the Homewood Mountain Ski Area Resort, a ski area on Lake Tahoe’s West Shore, can be revitalized, the U.S. District Court validated all of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s environmental findings in the decision on the Sierra Club’s lawsuit challenging the project. The court remanded the case back to TRPA on one very limited issue concerning the adequacy of the economic analysis related to one of the alternatives studied, TRPA officials said.