UPDATE ON 2/9/2024 AT 12:50 PM
In response to the filed lawsuit, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Executive Director Julie Regan provided us with the following statement.
“The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) has been made aware of legal action by Mountain Area Preservation Foundation asking the courts to overturn policy changes approved by the TRPA Governing Board last December. The policies are intended to encourage more affordable and workforce housing in limited areas of the Lake Tahoe Region consistent with TRPA’s strict development caps and environmental standards.
The agency will review the plaintiff’s lawsuit and respond appropriately.
The current affordable housing crisis is impacting Lake Tahoe’s environment and communities. Creating more affordable housing while protecting our incredible environment is a high priority of the TRPA Governing Board, partner agencies, community members, and the agency itself.
The agency’s regular monitoring of environmental conditions in the Tahoe Basin tells us that although the demand for outdoor recreation is changing, the number of cars, visitors, and residents has changed very little over the last decade. Transportation improvements are needed in our busiest recreation corridors to address changing recreation travel patterns," said Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Executive Director Julie Regan.Â
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE PUBLISHED ON 2/9/2024 SHORTLY AFTER 12:00 PM:Â
Grassroots Environmental Organization Sues Tahoe Regional Planning Agency
A grassroots environmental nonprofit organization has filed a lawsuit against the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency in Eastern District of California court.
Mountain Area Preservation (MAP) says the federal agency is in violation of the 55-year-old Tahoe Regional Planning Bi-State Compact, the Regional Plan, and TRPA regulations. It says the lawsuit is necessary to ensure TRPA fulfills its duties set forth in the Compact, a congressionally approved agreement between California and Nevada. Under the Compact, TRPA must ensure that new development will not exceed or impede environmental threshold carrying capacities adopted to protect water quality, air quality and scenic views.
Since TRPA’s last Environmental Impact Statement for its Regional Plan Update in 2012, MAP says the lake’s health has deteriorated from, among other things, microplastics and new invasive species.
MAP’s lawsuit contends that TRPA failed to comply with the Compact and TRPA regulations by adopting amendments to the Regional Plan and TRPA code that will increase height, density, and coverage limits without considering impacts of land uses, including wildfire evacuation safety.
By failing to prepare an EIS, MAP's lawsuit says the agency deprived the public of information pertaining to impacts on environmental resources and mitigation and alternatives to reduce those impacts.Â
Click below to read the lawsuit -Â
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UPDATE: 1/26/2024:Â Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Executive Director Julie Regan provided the following statement in response to this article.Â
"We all share the common goal of protecting Lake Tahoe. Since the 1980s, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) has capped residential and commercial development in the Tahoe Basin. We have a sustainable plan to restore Lake Tahoe and support our communities. TRPA is working in partnership with more than 80 organizations to improve forest health, reduce traffic, encourage more workforce housing, and help build regional resilience to climate change. We will continue to engage community members in our work to achieve this essential mission," wrote TRPA Executive Director Julie Regan.Â
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE: 1/25/2024Â
The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, or TRPA, is a bi-state compact enacted by Congress and funded by the American taxpayer.
Since 1969, the TRPA has been working to preserve the environment of Lake Tahoe and strengthen communities around it.
But, a large constituency of residents argue that it's not staying true to its mission.
On Tuesday, the Nevada Legislative Committee on the Oversight of the TRPA held a public meeting to review the agency.
Tahoe residents from north, south, east, and west showed up to make their voices heard during the public comment period.
1/13/23 Tahoe greenlights high-density housing
The TRPA is a complicated organization that straddles two states and multiple local jurisdictions, with conflicting priorities from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. The board has seven members from California, and seven from Nevada, many elected officials, and one appointee from the Federal government. TRPA Executive Director Julie Regan says nothing happens without partnership.
"The truth is we have to harmonize all of them, there really isn't an order to that, we have to find that they are all maintained and achieved," said Regan.
When pressed by State Senator Skip Daily on how the agency orders priorities, Regan compared the agency to the functioning of a human body.
"The compact as you right point out is not the word balance it is equilibrium and harmonizing, and therein lies the challenge. Harmonizing a community with this natural resource, and it is the community utterly relies on this natural resource to live, for quality of life, and for the economic vitality," said Regan.
Glenbrook resident Brett Tibbets voiced his concerns over the TRPA's move to change zoning laws to embrace new urbanism with high density "villages"
"The TRPA often approves massive new projects without any consideration for evacuation planning or parking. Zero parking requirements, so people park on the street," said Brett Tibbetts.
Robert Byron with the Tahoe East Shore Alliance analyzed how safety evacuation would be impacted by urban development.
"Without some control over new development these measure will always fall short. TRPA's approval of new housing, mid rise condos, mixed use zone and beach resort townhouse projects in an area already overpopulated will just add to the evacuation traffic loading," said Byron.Â
North Shore resident Pamela Tsigdinos argues TRPA's leadership has re-tooled top priorities to favor developers over the agency's original mission.
"When we asked TRPA directly why isn't it doing more to prioritize the lakes health, and the public safety, we are told, and I quote "the developers are TRPA's customers. That would make the originators of the TRPA roll over in their graves, the agency has lost any pretense of being an independent environmental agency." said Pamela Tsigdinos.
In December, the TRPA held a more than five-hour meeting where citizens voiced their opposition to the approval of zoning changes that would allow for high-density housing in town centers up to 65 feet.
This is not a comprehensive report of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, and we will be sure to follow up with all sides as this developing story continues to impact our region.
We all share the common goal of protecting Lake Tahoe. Since the 1980s, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) has capped residential and commercial development in the Tahoe Basin. We have a sustainable plan to restore Lake Tahoe and support our communities. TRPA is working in partnership with more than 80 organizations to improve forest health, reduce traffic, encourage more workforce housing, and help build regional resilience to climate change. We will continue to engage community members in our work to achieve this essential mission.
