Community Workshop on Meyers Area Plan to be Held Wednesday

Residents of Meyers and the surrounding South Lake Tahoe community have been actively participating in what is called the "Meyers Area Plan." During the last community meeting on February 26 several concerned citizens spoke about what they wanted, and didn't want, to see their in their town.

El Dorado County officials took the numerous public comments made both at the meeting and on-line and have created potential revisions to the Draft Meyers Area Plan.

This new plan will be discussed at a community workshop on Wednesday, March 19 at the California Conservation Corp main hall from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The CCC is located at 1949 Apache Avenue in Meyers.

The goal of the Meyers Area Plan is for it to be the comprehensive long-term plan for the Meyers Community. It seeks to achieve the Meyers vision and recognizes Meyers unique characteristics. There is no clear, universal vision since those that have participated in the plan to date are divided on which path to take.

The potential revisions to the draft plan that address the public's concerns include the Community Incentive Program, building height, hotel locations and density, project review process, the vacant gas station at the intersection of US 50 and State Route 89 (Tweeten property), and opportunities to promote small-scale local businesses.

Incentive Program

There are three different options for an incentive program that would waive some fees, offer 10 extra feet of height and add increased density (10 extra hotel rooms/acre or 5 extra condos or apartments/acre) for projects that provide a list of environmental and community benefits. 83 people commented on this with 40% supporting incentives if some modification were made, 37% not supported incentives and 23% supporting the current proposal. The majority suggested reducing or removing the extra height and density offered as an incentive.

Building Height

The draft plan limits building height to 35 feet within the commercial, residential, or mixed-use areas, but would allow buildings up to 45 feet in the center of Meyers if projects meet requirements of the Incentive Program.

The majority of comments suggested that maximum height be limited to 35 feet, while others suggested maximum heights ranging from 24 to 60 feet. Many comments suggested a desire for “small-scale” development, and several comments suggested allowing extra height for recreation uses like a climbing wall. There are five different height options to be discussed Wednesday, from 35 feet with no incentives, limits of 30 and 40 feet, incentives to 45 feet and height variances okay for projects like climbing walls.

Hotel Locations and Density

The draft Area Plan would allow tourist accommodation uses (e.g. hotel, motel, timeshares, etc.) anywhere in the community center or Upper Truckee residential/tourist districts, Hotel density would be limited to 30 rooms/acre in most cases but densities of up to 40 rooms/acre would be allowed for projects that meet the Incentive Program requirements. There are four options thus far on this portion of the plan: allow hotel rooms anywhere but reduce density to 15 rooms per acre, allow no hotels anywhere in Meyers, maintain the current limits but restrict them to the east end or allow hotel rooms at a density of 30 rooms/acre or up to 40/acre in the incentive program.

The County would like the public to either comment on the revisions at Wednesday's meeting, by email at MeyersAreaPlan@edcgov.us or via the on line form at www.edcgov.us/Meyers/.