Tahoe Keys corporation yard to move from Upper Truckee River marsh

The Tahoe Keys Property Owners Association (TKPOA) will be moving their corporation yard from a 2.21-acre parcel of environmentally sensitive land to a developable 0.99-acre parcel adjacent to the Tahoe Keys Marina.

On Wednesday, the California Tahoe Conservancy Board authorized their staff to move forward with an agreement with TKPOA. This move allows the Conservancy to restore the site as part of its Upper Truckee Marsh restoration project, one of the largest and most important restoration projects in the history of the Lake Tahoe Basin.

“The Conservancy is thrilled that, after decades of negotiations, we’ve found a win-win solution that helps restore the Marsh and provide a permanent new home for TKPOA’s corporation yard,” said Conservancy Vice Chair, Lynn Suter.

The TKPOA membership approved the move in November of 2017. For their end of the deal, TKPOA terminates their 99-year-lease and option to buy on the marsh lot and in turn gets ownership their new site. Both parcels were owned by the Conservancy. TKPOA was in year 42 of their lease. They paid just $1 a year for use of the parcel which was used for maintenance, landscaping, water quality, and Water Company functions for its membership. The corporation yard houses maintenance shop buildings, dumpsters, and parking areas for TKPOA work vehicles. In the summer months, TKPOA staff use the site to dry aquatic invasive plants harvested from the Tahoe Keys channels and marina, prior to being trucked offsite for disposal.

TKPOA won't have to move until 2023 though, giving them time to construct a new corporation yard. To get to their new marsh, the Conservancy signed an agreement with TKPOA to access it through a Colorado Court lot owned by the membership organization.

According to the Conservancy staff report on the transaction, in the 1980s and 90s the Dillingham Development Company settled multiple lawsuits with the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, the State of California, and the Sierra Club involving Dillingham’s proposal to build a 26-unit subdivision in the Marsh. On behalf of the State, the Conservancy acquired several parcels in and adjacent to the Marsh through one of the settlement agreements, including the parcel on which TKPOA maintained its corporation yard under a 99-year lease with Dillingham.

TKPOA subsequently challenged Dillingham’s settlement agreement with the State,
which resulted in a new settlement agreement between TKPOA and the State where
TKPOA agreed to recognize the Conservancy as the lessor of the corporation yard. Both TKPOA and the Conservancy, however, acknowledged that the current site was not suitable for a corporation yard and committed to moving the corporation yard out of the Marsh.

Since then, TKPOA and the Conservancy have spent over twenty years looking for a
viable alternative corporation yard site on less environmentally sensitive land.