South Lake Tahoe planning session creates goals for a healthy balance for residents, businesses and visitors

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Creating a South Lake Tahoe community that is a win-win for everyone, business owners, full- and part-time residents, and visitors alike will be the underlying thread as the City works through a list of strategic goals.

The City of South Lake Tahoe held a strategic planning session Tuesday with the City Council and staff, led by facilitator Reva Feldman, a retired city manager from Southern California.

While the 2021-2026 Strategic Plan was previously created, projects and benchmarks are being worked out to accomplish the goals outlined in the plan. As the community comes out of challenging times with the pandemic and Caldor Fire, maintaining a healthy balance for community growth and redevelopment will be key.

"The city had a very productive planning session about economic development in our community," said Mayor Devin Middlebrook. "The city will be taking a more proactive role in economic development to ensure our community can afford to work and live in Tahoe, our businesses are resilient, and visitors have a quality experience without impacting residents’ quality of life. Economic development can be a tool to address other challenges facing our community including housing, transportation, and climate change."

Out of the planning session came a list of action items, summarized here:

A strategic plan is the basis for all goals, and the goal is to improve the quality of life for residents and improve the experience while in South Lake Tahoe for visitors, all while keeping recreation in mind.

1. Redevelopment - They will direct staff to create summary of all vacant, dilapidated, and underused properties in the zone from Lakeview Commont to Stateline, and the Y. That list will come back to Council, then provide staff with a priority list of properties on which to focus for potential redevelopment. Renew and update commercial standards. Look into how they can continue with outdoor dining, and look at any changes to the code needed to facilitate desired changes. Some statewide emergency statutes created during the pandemic will expire, and impact some of the changes allowed during covid.

2. What resources are needed to create a transit hub at the Y? They would need to partner with others (both private and public) due to a shortage of available land, and current transit plans. Identify what resources are needed to create that transit hub. The end result would be an increase in the walkability around South Lake Tahoe and a decrease in vehicle trips.

3. Reimagine the quality of life for all - residents, businesses and visitors. Councilwoman Tamara Wallace said many residents feel the Council only cares about the tourists, but "that couldn't be further from the truth. Everything we do is for them (residents). We can’t live here without tourists."

4. Business resiliency - Direct staff to work with partner agencies, both chambers and businesses to ensure stability, and workforce opportunities during disasters and other unforeseen events like COVID-19 and the Caldor Fire. Have community-wide emergency preparedness - climate change, recession (first thing people cut out of budgets are vacations). Help businesses weather storms. Councilman Cody Bass said South Lake Tahoe could become a niche, a cool place for conventions (once the Tahoe South Event Center opens in 2023). Rethink and reimagine conventions that allow for recreation until the mid-afternoon, then start the convention activities later in the day. Create an action plan for the peaks and valleys of business, encouraging mid-week travel.

5. Infrastructure - Direct staff to capitalize on grant funding and development projects to enhance city infrastructure projects that improve the quality of life and recreational experience for residents and visitors. Improve relationship with Caltrans (speeds on the main road through town). End of emergency orders is coming soon, so need to look at what they allowed like outdoor dining, different signage. Council said they needed an economic development director to facilitate all of the items. Just adding items without capacity to handle them could be setting them up for failure.

"I commend the City Council for prioritizing the strategic visioning session yesterday, as we embarked on a very important topic in an effort to take a more proactive stance in economic development for our city,” said City Manager Joe Irvin.

Besides facilitating the session Tuesday, Feldman still has some other responsibilities going forward. Part of that will be the creation of a city demographic and development climate brochure to be used for recruitment efforts, while conducting city tours with perspective investors, developers and other interested parties.