BMPs Back in the Forefront With TRPA; May Be Part of Lake Tahoe Real Estate Transactions

With less than 50% of the Lake Tahoe basin homeowners not complying with mandates to install Best Management Practices (BMPs) on their properties, the TRPA is looking for ways to get people on board.

The proposal being currently discussed is to make BMPs mandatory at Point of Sale for a home as well as discussion of them during the transaction's disclosure process. This discussion at the TRPA BMP Compliance Worksing Group meeting Tuesday brought a packed house of mostly Lake Tahoe real estate agents and brokers.

"This would have a catastrophic impact on the real estate community in Lake Tahoe," according to local mortgage broker Ron Yokotake who had his statement read during the meeting. "Putting a cloud on title with an incomplete loan package would devastate the Lake Tahoe community by severely impacting the ability to loan."

What the committee was discussing is to make BMPs required at the time a home is sold or the title would not be cleared until completed. They voted to wait a couple of years before deciding on this portion of what was before them but they are going forward with involving BMPs during the disclosure process which local Realtors say is already being done. They also discussed imposing a $5,000 per day fine until complete which would equal $1,825,000 per year.

"You want to turn this into a police state and us into police officers," said Realtor Klaus Utecht.

With the majority of home sales in the basin being completed by agents outside of the basin it was asked of the committee how they propose to handle those sales.

TRPA staff is recommending that the point of sale issue be put on hold until they can determine the affects. They want to use current funding to enhance the disclosure process and they have already been working with the real estate community on new forms.

They also told the committee that with their limited budget they'd rather use it where they can get the biggest bang for their buck. With single family residences contributing the least amount of dirt into the runoff, they'd rather see funds go towards higher contributing areas.

Main roads are the number one contributor to dirty water in Lake Tahoe, second are businesses, third secondary roads and multi-family complexes and bringing up the rear are single family homes.

Many in the audience voiced their concerns about the proposal and suggested the limited funds go towards education. Upon initial BMPs installation many homeowners may feel they are done, but that isn't the case. Requirements change and maintenance of them needs to be completed every few years.

The lawyers that spoke before the committee Tuesday also brought up the legality of the TRPA enforcing the requirement of BMPs as a part of a home's sale.

The committee will reconvene on August 20th to prepare their final decision. There are many steps the result then takes before making it in front of the TRPA Board for final approval. The meeting will be held at the TRPA office on Market Street off Kingsbury Grade at 9 a.m.