League to Save Lake Tahoe Employee Wins Planning Award

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.
Eckmeyer is an environmental attorney specializing in natural resource protection and land use. She joined the League in March 2012 as policy makers and stakeholders were entering final negotiations over Tahoe’s new regional plan.

As the League’s policy analyst, her role includes reviewing and critiquing long-range development plans to ensure they include measures to protect and restore water quality. This involves working intensively with staff from various counties, jurisdictions and agencies, including the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. Her role requires her to confront these organizations diplomatically with the potential flaws in their policies or plans, and to suggest solutions.

“I try to treat everyone with respect for their role and their intentions, knowing we are all here to do a tough job, and that’s to protect Lake Tahoe,” Eckmeyer said.

“She quickly came up to speed on complicated regulations that govern development in Tahoe,” wrote TRPA Senior Planner Shay Navarro, one of the people who nominated Eckmeyer for the award. “She is very dedicated and thorough, has taken heat from various entities throughout the process, and has sacrificed a lot of her personal life for the benefit of Lake Tahoe.”