Friends of Ski Run donate parcel for new neighborhood park in South Lake Tahoe

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Once the location of the Slalom Inn, a fenced empty lot at the corner of Willow Avenue and Ski Run Boulevard will soon be a neighborhood pocket park thanks to the generous donation fo the Friends of Ski Run.

The Safeway Corporation bought the aging Slalom Inn to use its associated development rights in 1999 when they built the new South Lake Tahoe Safeway at Johnson and Lake Tahoe Boulevards (the existing Safeway was smaller and located near where the current gas station is located). They then tore down the motel and the .57 acre corner lot has remained vacant since then.

The parcel is subject to deed restrictions that it be “restored and maintained in as natural a state as possible” and that prohibit the transfer back of commercial floor area to the parcel, such that it has limited potential uses and is a good candidate for park use.

Three families make up The Friends of Ski Run, and they closed escrow on the parcel Friday, June 11 under their newly created entity called SkiRunPark LLC. They are now donating the property to the City of South Lake Tahoe for use as a community park. The property donation was made possible by Wynn and Lauren Ruji, Lincoln and Galena Else, Chris and Victoria McNamara, and Corey and Marina Rich. They have been diligently advocating for this project for six years as they recognized the need
for a gathering place for the neighborhood.

On Tuesday, the South Lake Tahoe City Council accepted the donation. Creating a park will support the City Council’s strategic priority of developing “a park or community garden in every neighborhood”.

The two parties have negotiated a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to set
forth their mutual objectives and responsibilities with respect to the proposed Ski Run Park.

"Families and children of the Ski Run neighborhood will now have a safe, accessible area to play in and spend quality time together,” said Devin Middlebrook, South Lake Tahoe mayor pro tem. “This has been a major goal of mine and I’m so excited to see it progress. I look forward to seeing the park construction break ground and am grateful to the Friends of Ski Run for this generous collaboration.”

The City, under the MOU, will be responsible for ownership, operation, and maintenance of Ski Run Park, while the Friends of Ski Run may act as an advisor to the City on proposed projects, fundraise to support the design, construction, maintenance, and operation, and may provide volunteers to carry out the development and maintenance of the park.

Safeway, Inc. had banked the existing TRPA development resources (Land Coverage and TAU’s that were converted to CFA) and then transferred the vast majority of the development rights offsite to their store at 1140 Johnson Boulevard. There were 256± square feet of banked Commercial Floor Area (CFA). A 2019 appraisal of the property put the value of the land at $25,000 and the CFA at $9,000. That banked coverage could be sold for use in the park.