"Let Tahoe Decide" group gathers enough signatures for Loop Road initiative

An initiative prohibiting the City Council of South Lake Tahoe from approving or supporting the US Highway 50 South Shore Community Revitalization Project received enough signatures to make it to the ballot in November.

The group, Let Tahoe Decide, was notified today that their petition gathered enough signatures to take it to the next step. Ten percent of the registered voters in the city, or 879 signatures, were required. El Dorado County Registrar William Schulz said his office received 1,496 signatures, and by verifying the required random sample, found enough valid signatures.

What is next is for City Council to vote on a resolution to allow, or not allow, the initiative for what is known as the Loop Road Project to go on the ballot in November. No items concerning the city may go on the ballot without their consent.

The South Lake Tahoe City Council will have the issue on their July 19 meeting agenda. Local attorney and Let It Decide committee member Bruce Grego said he and some of the members of the group will be there.

"The Council has a couple of choices," Grego said. "They can approve the initiative and put it on the ballot, or just adopt it. This initiative gives the voters the opportunity to approve or reject a specific realignment proposal."

Let Tahoe Decide created the initiative because of their desire to give local voters the chance to give their consent or objection to the Loop Road being built.

The Loop Road project has been talked about since the 1980s. The Tahoe Transportation District has spent the last several years seeking public and agency input to move Highway 50 behind Raley's shopping area and the casino corridor, and free up the current stretch of the highway for a more walkable area without heavy car presence. The plans have the new highway moving through a neighborhood near Pioneer Trail, and the relocation of businesses and residents.