regional plan

We face some big, daunting environmental restoration challenges here at Lake Tahoe. But helping our environment every day can be as simple as riding a bike, walking, or taking transit. And the hundreds of people who participated in the Tahoe Bike Challenge this June, including many of our employees at the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, are showing how big of an impact our individual actions can have.

Heavenly Mountain Resort has received the final approval needed for its major expansion of on-mountain summer activities. After Vail Resorts gained approval from the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) on March 27, they needed the blessing of the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Board, which they received today.

Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, in its capacity as the Tahoe Metropolitan Planning Organization, is asking people to take an online survey and provide public input needed to create a connected, accessible, and safe bicycle and pedestrian network at Lake Tahoe.

The survey is being offered through June 30. It is available at http://tahoempo.org/atpsurvey/ and takes about 15 minutes to complete.

As the incoming Chair of the 15-member Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board, this promises to be a hopeful and exciting year. 2015 will be full of opportunities, but also challenges, for the continued protection of Lake Tahoe.

The number one priority among our challenges is funding shortfalls. Federal and state funding that has paid for environmental restoration and protection efforts at Lake Tahoe for years is drying up and new approaches need to be pursued.

The partnership between California and Nevada that created the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency turns 45 years old today, marking nearly a half-century of progress in the protection and restoration of Lake Tahoe and its treasured environment.

President Richard Nixon signed the Bi-State Compact creating TRPA on Thursday, December 18, 1969. Nixon’s signature followed the compact’s ratification by Congress and its approval by both states’ legislatures and former governors Ronald Reagan in California and Paul Laxalt in Nevada.

As the keynote speaker at last month’s National Workshop on Large Landscape Conservation in Washington, D.C., U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell emphasized the central role collaboration must play for America to protect its natural resources, balance economic needs, and address emerging environmental challenges such as climate change.

“We are moving into an era of epic collaboration,” Jewell said, explaining that regional partnerships across jurisdictional boundaries are more important than ever for the federal department that manages 20 percent of our nation’s land.

Most of us moved to Meyers because it's a rural community, away from the City & tourist congestion. I am pro-growth, most locals are, as long as it's appropriately sized growth for our community. The proposed Meyer's Plan however, opens the door to a Mega Resort, with incentives for large development and in my mind, lacks long range planning.

I started going to planning meetings last summer, just to listen, but it wasn't until December that I got really concerned. Here's a timeline of events, from my perspective:

“A breakdown can pave the way for a breakthrough,” California Governor Jerry Brown said at the Lake Tahoe Summit on August 19.

The governor was speaking about the challenges people face in looking beyond their differences for common ground, whether that’s working to craft the $7.5 billion water bond California voters will consider in November or working across state lines to protect and restore Lake Tahoe.

The Meyers Area Plan is a long term land use and zoning plan for the Meyers Community that will realize the Meyers Community Vision, assist in achieving and maintaining TRPA’s Environmental Threshold Carrying Capacities, implement the Tahoe Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Sustainable Communities Strategy, and implement the policy direction of both the Regional Plan and General Plan.

South Tahoe Now sent a questionnaire out to all of the candidates for El Dorado County Supervisor and Douglas County Sheriff. This is the last of the submitted responses. Candidates Sue Novasel, Kenny Curtzwiler and Angela Swanson were the only County Supervisor candidates to respond, and Douglas County Sheriff candidates Ron Pierini and Dave Brady were the only Sheriff candidates to respond. We thank those that took the time to reply.

1) What do you see as the Number 1 issue facing residents of District 5?

"On Our Way" grants totaling over $550,000 were awarded this week by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA). Six projects that aim at sustainability and improved mobility options around Lake Tahoe will now be able to move forward due to the grants.

April 1, 2014 (Stateline, Nev.) - Lakeside Inn and Casino has received a lot of feedback from the South Lake Tahoe community on their announcement yesterday that they would raise cattle on Rabe Meadows.

With support from California Proposition 84 stormwater grant funds, the Tahoe Resource Conservation District (Tahoe RCD) is leading the effort to measure pollutants in urban runoff at Lake Tahoe to help evaluate the combined effectiveness of pollutant control measures and consistently track and report monitoring findings. This effort, known as the Regional Storm Water Monitoring Program (RSWMP) is a collaborative program supported by regulatory agencies, local government representatives, and scientists in the Lake Tahoe region.

You've seen ads to buy or sell belongings, but the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) has now developed a way to buy or sell development rights of property.

There is now an online marketplace for property owners, realtors and land banks to use to increase the environmental improvements that come from transferring commonly-traded development rights in the Lake Tahoe Region.

As 2013 draws to a close, it provides an opportunity to reflect on the accomplishments of many this year. It was just a few short years ago, in the midst of the Great Recession, both public agencies and private companies throughout the basin were in the middle of layoffs, service reductions and unemployment hovering above 17%. Concerns regarding economic recovery were significant. Rather than buckling under, we buckled down, got things done and prepared for recovery.

There has finally been a lot of construction action at the site of The Chateau Project in South Lake Tahoe over the last couple of months. Many locals have called this area "The Hole" since construction stalled in 2008 but they are now seeing life being put into one of the cornerstones of the South Lake Tahoe Tourist Core.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) is currently reviewing the opening brief filed by regional plan litigants who, according to the Agency, are continuing their misinformation campaign about the updated environmental plan that is supported widely by environmental advocates, business groups, and state and local leaders.

The Nevada Chapter of the American Planning Association has recognized League to Save Lake Tahoe Policy Analyst Shannon Eckmeyer, Esq., with a Citizen Planner Award for her work on Tahoe’s regional plan update and area plans. The award was announced at the chapter’s conference at Lake Tahoe this week.

The award goes to individuals who are not professional planners but who have advanced or promoted the cause of planning in the public arena.

A major milestone for Lake Tahoe’s restoration and environmental redevelopment was reached today with the unanimous adoption by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board of the Douglas County South Shore Area Plan—the first local government Area Plan to be enacted under the 2012 Lake Tahoe Regional Plan—according to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA).

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency is marking this year’s Lake Tahoe Summit by highlighting the Environmental Improvement Program’s 15 years of achievement restoring and protecting Lake Tahoe’s fragile ecosystem.

Launched at the 1997 Presidential Forum at Lake Tahoe by then President Bill Clinton, and Vice President Al Gore, the Environmental Improvement Program (EIP) is a partnership of more than 50 federal, state, and local agencies, private interests, and the Washoe Tribe.

New ordinances regarding land coverage at Lake Tahoe came into effect June 19 following final approval of a key water quality plan by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and EPA announced recently.

The action updates the Clean Water Act Section 208 Lake Tahoe Water Quality Management Plan — last fully updated in 1988. The 208 Plan provides a comprehensive framework for water quality management in the Lake Tahoe basin and includes provisions for land coverage limits.

A federal judge Monday dismissed a number of claims made by plaintiffs Sierra Club and Friends of the West Shore challenging the Lake Tahoe Regional Plan Update recently approved by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and ordered the them to pay upfront TRPA’s costs associated with assembling the administrative record for the pending litigation.

Cultivating a passion and appreciation for the outdoors is a year-round task, and Heavenly Mountain Resort is stepping up to the challenge by expanding its summer operations to include more interactive, family-friendly learning experiences.

“Lake Tahoe is a year-round destination, and there is a tremendous opportunity to offer more summer activities at the top of the Gondola,” said Pete Sonntag, Heavenly’s general manager. “Our hope is that visitors of all ages and backgrounds are able to create life-long connections to our National Forests through adventure, play and recreation.”

The governors of California and Nevada have agreed to renew a bi-state partnership to preserve, protect and enhance Lake Tahoe through the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Compact.

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval and Calif. Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. announced Tuesday an agreement that renews the partnership, which has been under threat of repeal.