Tahoe Valley Area Plan one step closer to adoption

Almost twenty years later and the Tahoe Valley Area plan isn't in place, yet. John Hitchcock, the City of South Lake Tahoe Planning Manager, gave the Council another presentation on the status of the plan and where things stand as of today during Tuesday's City Council meeting.

First proposed in the early 1990's, the resurrection of the Tahoe Valley Area plan made great strides towards adoption in 2014 with Hitchcock holding four public meetings where input was requested, presenting the plan to TRPA three times, three times to City Council and twice to the planning commission.

"No plan has had more public input or received more staff time than this," said Mayor Hal Cole.

"We encourage everyone to get engaged in this planning process," added Hitchcock.

The proposed plan still needs to go through a few more steps before the City Council can adopt it. TRPA is wrapping up their draft analysis in the next week or so and then that will be made available to the public for 30 days for comment. On February 12 the planning commission will see the presentation once again. In March, the Council will have it on their agenda and Hitchcock said he hopes that they can have adoption of the Tahoe Valley Area plan in April or May, just before the summer building season.

The goal of the plan is to have a town center core, for the Y to be a gateway to the community, have a healthcare center and encourage businesses to fix up their places as well as new development that all fits our mountain identity.

With the new Memo of Understanding (MOU) with TRPA, the City can now issue about 95% of all permits. They just can't touch the shoreline or conservation land use. Since many of the properties in the greenbelt of the new Tahoe Valley Area plan are owned by the California Tahoe Conservancy the city hopes that they can work together on creating a usable outdoor space that both visitors and locals will enjoy.

"We have an opportunity to turn it into a gem for the Y area," said Hitchcock. He said that he envisions outdoor dining spots along the bike trails that will run through the greenbelt.

If the area plan is adopted this Spring, new commercial projects can use up to 70% coverage. More incentives for those redeveloping their buildings will also include the use of city owned CFU (commercial floor units) and banked coverage in case a project needs more than 70% coverage. Businesses will remain as they are unless they want to make a change, nothing will be required.

"We want to move away from enforcement and towards incentives," said City Manager Nancy Kerry. "We want to encourage owners to fix up their properties and attract customers, especially since their neighbors will be."

There will be notice of the next public meeting made by postcards, emails and the media to encourage even more public input.