New parking spaces could be coming to the Heavenly Village area in South Lake Tahoe.
57 paid-parking spots could be added along Bellamy Court and also Heavenly Village Way if approved by the City of South Lake Tahoe.
“Our Heavenly Village area has been impacted by a lot of tourists and has exceeded capacity in terms of parking,” says Chief Brian Uhler with the South Lake Tahoe.
The challenge to find parking is happening in the area despite there being a 420 space parking garage near the Heavenly Village.
Uhler says there are even on-street paid parking spaces that currently exist in the area, but these are also not enough to accommodate everyone according to city officials.
“Most of the casinos in the area now charge for their parking and so as a result, people displaced from those areas are impacting areas of South Lake Tahoe,” says Uhler.
Adding the new spaces would cost about $200,000, but Uhler says they’d pay for themselves in approximately two years through parking fees.
“The main driver behind this project isn’t generating revenue, it’s helping to relieve bad visitor experiences in our main tourist area,” says Uhler.
But it’s not just the tourists who may have had a bad experience in the past. Some locals in the area say the abundance of people and requirement to pay for parking is driving them away from wanting to do anything near Stateline.
“You’re paying $10 to park and you only work two hours, it doesn’t even make sense to come down here to find a job,” says Josh Lease.
The city recognizes that 57 new spots aren’t going to completely fix parking issues in South Lake Tahoe. Uhler says there could be other proposals for more projects moving forward.
