Team selected to build affordable housing project in South Lake Tahoe

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Good news for the South Shore after the California Tahoe Conservancy announced today a major milestone in creating affordable housing at the "Y" in South Lake Tahoe.

The partnership of Related California and St. Joseph Community Land Trust (SJCLT) has been selected to build the community's first modular multi-family housing development. They are naming it Sugar Pine Village.

This project realizes Governor Gavin Newsom’s vision of building affordable housing on excess state-owned land and addresses many needs of the South Lake Tahoe community in regards to housing.

Proposals of projects to go on the State-owned properties on Tata Lane and Lake Tahoe Boulevard were vetted with Related California, a prominent statewide developer of affordable housing, coming out on top. Their partnership with SJLT created the village concept which will include much-needed permanently affordable housing and space for community-focused services on 11.35 acres of Conservancy property at 1860 Lake Tahoe Boulevard and 1029 Tata Lane. At this time there are no details about size, types of units and income restrictions, if any.

“Many in our community cannot afford to live and work at Lake Tahoe,” said South Lake Tahoe City Councilmember and California Tahoe Conservancy Board Member Tamara Wallace. “This effort to use developable Conservancy land to build affordable homes could not have come at a better time.”

The Governor’s January 2019 Executive Order directed the California Department of General Services (DGS) to identify excess state properties that would be potentially suitable for affordable housing development. The Conservancy’s Board had already designated the two parcels for development to help fulfill the goals of the Lake Tahoe Regional Plan and the City of South Lake Tahoe’s Tahoe Valley Area Plan.

The Related California team has extensive experience in the Lake Tahoe Basin, including development of the 77-unit Domus affordable housing development in Kings Beach. St. Joseph Community Land Trust, founded in 2002, provides high quality dignified, permanently affordable homes and supportive programs to Lake Tahoe's low and moderate-income employees and residents.

Prior to selecting the developers, the Conservancy, DGS, and the California Department of Housing and Community Development hosted two community meetings and more than a dozen stakeholder meetings to understand the needs of the surrounding neighborhood and community. The developers and agency partners will continue to involve the community in shaping key features and design elements.

SJCLT said revenue derived from the Sugar Pine Village project will enable it to expand its permanently affordable ownership housing and related supportive programs for low and moderate-income employees and residents of the Tahoe Basin.

Sugar Pine Village is envisioned to be a new residential, mixed-use community that fits into the existing neighborhood while also preserving native species, sensitive land and providing residents with new high quality, sustainable housing designed to support active transportation, the local workforce and their families.

The Conservancy Board has designated 17 Conservancy properties as asset lands that could support sustainable development consistent with local planning at Lake Tahoe. By contrast, most of the Conservancy’s nearly 4,700 properties in the Lake Tahoe Basin are sensitive environmental lands and remain protected for conservation and public access.

SJCLT invites community members to keep in touch with them on the project and sign up for a mailing list. That can be done here - https://www.saintjosephclt.org/sugar-pine-village.