Big choices ahead for Tahoe Paradise Park

The Board of Directors of Tahoe Paradise Resort Improvement District (TPRID) will hold a special meeting on June 15, 2017 at 6:00 p.m. at Paradise Park to hear public comments, and to consider whether to request that the El Dorado Local Agency Formation Commission convert the district from a “Resort Improvement District” to a “Recreation and Park District.”

In 1961 the California Legislature created a new type of public district, Resort Improvement Districts (RIDs), to provide a vehicle for the provision of public services in resort areas with a large proportion of non-resident property owners. In 1965, due to abuses in the new type of district, the state legislature provided that no new RIDs could be established. However, it allowed existing RIDs to remain. Tahoe Paradise Resort Improvement District is one of the seven remaining RIDs in the state. At its inception, TPRID was authorized to provide recreational opportunities to nearby residents by owning and operating Tahoe Paradise Park. That continues to be its sole purpose.

In the intervening decades, however, provisions of the original RID legislation have increasingly come into conflict with more recent legislation such as Proposition 13. In 2010 the legislature, in an effort to induce remaining RIDs to convert to the more modern Community Services Districts (CSDs), passed Senate Bill 1023 that provided for expedited and low cost conversions of RIDs to CSDs. This option will expire on January 1, 2018. Due to its small size and limited purpose, TPRID was specifically authorized to convert to a Recreation and Park District. If established, the new Recreation and Park District would retain all the powers, duties, and assets TPRID currently enjoys. Day-to-day operations of paradise would not be affected. The El Dorado Local Agency Formation Commission has recommended the conversion.

Tahoe Paradise Resort Improvement District comprises properties in the Paradise neighborhood, North Upper Truckee neighborhood (south of Little Bear), along Pioneer Trail (west of Susquehanna ) and portions of Christmas Valley.

Tahoe Paradise Park is located at 1011 E. San Bernardino in Meyers.