For the next 75 days the public is encouraged to comment on environmental documents concerning the US 50/South Shore Community Revitalization Project, also known as the Loop Road.
Jointly, the Tahoe Transportation District (TTD), Federal Highway Administration, and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency released the Environment Impact Statement (NEPA), Environmental Impact Report (CEQA), and Environmental Impact Statement (TRPA). All of these detailed reports are available on line here: tahoetransportation.org/us50.
The documents include the detailed reports on five alternatives, including the TTD preferred plan, for the movement of Highway 50 at Stateline.
During a public meeting on Monday, Carl Hasty, district manager of TTD, presented the five alternatives as well as new information about affordable and workforce housing opportunities the project will create.
Community impacts the project would create have always been at the forefront of discussions on the US 50/South Shore Community Revitalization Project, and the environmental document recognized this:
The project’s impact on the Rocky Point neighborhood and adjacent businesses has been one of the primary concerns of the public and decision-makers. The realignment alternatives would displace between 68 and 72 residential units and four to seven businesses to accommodate the realignment, depending on the specific alternative. The neighborhood affected by the project has a higher proportion of population that is below the poverty level and are minorities, compared to the general populations of the city, county, and Stateline Census-Designated Place (CDP). As a result, an environmental justice concern arises, because low-income and minority populations would disproportionately experience adverse environmental and displacement effects of the project. TTD has committed to constructing replacement housing and relocation assistance to affected persons prior to initiating construction of the transportation improvements and initiating the right-of-way acquisition process in California.
“There are many who now see the good in the project,” said Hasty about previous vocal opponents. “I believe the project has a lost to offer. There has been good conversation about affordable housing and now we are able to that this to the next level.”
That next level is for the TTD to champion “transit oriented development,” something that has been talked about for decades in the Tahoe basin. With the three South Lake Tahoe area plans allowing housing projects, Hasty has been in talks with both private parties and agencies to get them built. A promise of his is that housing for the residents from the displaced 68-72 homes and apartments will be created before the project is started. An area behind Raley’s at Stateline (on the current large parking lot) and empty lots at the Y have been identified as possible spots for new housing.
“We can now do more than originally the original plans, and there is complete agreement between all (the City, County and others) that quality workforce housing is needed,” said Hasty. “There is now a positive, cooperative nature.”
Public comment will affect which one of the five alternatives will be chosen to make up the final project.
Once the 75 days are up on July 7 (Hasty and TTD extended this past the normal 60 days required to encourage public participation), response to comments will be prepared and there will be another round of public hearings. TTD will then come back with the preferred alternative.
Comments on the draft EIR/EIS/EIS documents should be submitted in writing to Russ Nygaard, Transportation Capital Program Manager at TTD, PO Box 449, Zephyr Cove, NV 89449.