Regional Plan UpdateThe Tahoe Regional Planning Agency is developing its next 20-year regional plan. These regulations will guide all aspects of land management, development, and planning in the Tahoe Basin for the next 20 years.The regional plan should strongly protect the Lake, especially since TRPA is failing to meet 75 percent of Tahoe's environmental standards, lake clarity is continuing to decline, and research is indicating that a drastic reduction in pollution is needed to save the Lake. However, the TRPA is moving in a troubling direction. In spring of 2010, it released four alternatives, including its preferred plan, which drastically increases the intensity of development in the Basin. The plan will increase visitor and resident capacity. It proposes to create minimum height and density requirements, allowing larger buildings that will reduce view corridors, increase parking needs, traffic and congestion, and create more environmental degradation. Furthermore, the TRPA plans to classify nine different areas of the Basin as "urban," including the communities of Homewood and Meyers. In all, by changing Tahoe's zoning and land capability maps, the plan allows for increased development on up to 1,600 acres throughout Tahoe. The League has joined forces with numerous Lake Tahoe community groups and conservation organizations to voice concerns. The conservation community has jointly submitted hundreds of pages of comments to the TRPA on various elements of the Regional Plan Update, including: 2011 comments: October 2011 comments on threshold amendments 2010 comments October 2010 Conservation Alternative cover letter October 2010 Conservation Alternative Executive Summary October 2010 Examples of progressive ordinances from outside Tahoe May 2010 Conservation Community land use comments 2009 comments November 2009 Public Records Act request on Regional Plan documents submitted to Army Corps November 2009 Regional Plan public process comments December 2009 Public records act request follow up |
