California Supreme Court puts an end to the ''Loop Road' lawsuit

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - In 2016 a group of citizens gathered enough signatures to put a measure before the voters in November of that year to prevent the City of South Lake Tahoe from taking any action on what has been known as the Loop Road project (though the official name is the US 50/South Shore Community Revitalization Project) without first getting approval by the voters.

Today the California Supreme Court put an end to that measure.

Jason Collin, who at that time was a candidate for City Council, filed a lawsuit against the City to prevent that measure from making it to the ballot. He said the measure was "flawed" and a vote on the project was not within the City's authority.

The City agreed with Collin but El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Robert Wagoner said to allow the measure to appear on the 2016 ballot and if it passed and was later determined to be unconstitutional the courts could then make a judgement.

The measure (known as Measure T but not to be confused with the 2018 Measure T on Vacation Home Rentals) passed with a "yes" vote from 59.94 percent of the voters, or 3879 people.

Two months later, in January 2017, the El Dorado County judge found the measure "fundamentally flawed," "unconstitutional" and "unenforceable."

"The case is over, and what the ruling and judgment says is that the city is enjoined from acting on Measure T because it's unconstitutional and invalid," then SLT City Attorney Tom Watson said in a statement at the time. "The city's position in this has been consistent, which is that we wanted the judge to make a determination of how the city was to act in this case. We have a vested interest either way. We're just glad that the court was clear and advised the City Council how to deal with this situation."

But the decision of the court didn't put an end to attempts by local measure proponents attorney Bruce Grego and resident Laurel Ames to let the voters have a say on the Loop Road.

They filed an appeal with the 3rd Appellate District in March 2017 and the case was addressed several times over the following 18 months with documents and briefs presented from both sides.

In December 2018 the Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District in Sacramento affirmed the lower court's decision that prevented Grego and Ames from intervening in their attempts to keep the 2016 Measure T alive. "The order denying proponents' motion to intervene is affirmed; the remainder of their appeal is dismissed," said the appellate log.

In January 2019 Grego filed a petition for the state Supreme Court to review the case. On February 20 the court said the petition for review was denied.

"They had no comment," said Grego.

The California Supreme Court has now put an end to the legal fight and declared the case closed on March 5, 2019.

"I'm very pleased the ruling was upheld and the case has been put to rest," said Collin as a citizen and not a council member. "I am also very happy that the City, and new Council, is taking a more active role in the Highway 50 Revitalization Project. The entire community, not just the small percentage that vote, need to be involved in this process. We have the unique opportunity of having millions and millions of {state and federal} dollars infused into our community and I hope we take advantage of that. I think we all want our City and our community to thrive. There are obviously a lot of different paths on how to get there and what that end game looks like. Nonetheless, if we focus on the things that bring us together rather than the things that tear us apart, we will see a more prosperous South Lake Tahoe. I urge the community, whether for, against, or on the fence, to get involved in this project. This is OUR project and together, we will be better."

The project was presented to City Council during their March 5 meeting and will be presented in a public workshop next week. South Tahoe Now will carry more on the project and meeting this week.