STATELINE, Nev. – The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) held their final governing board meeting this year. They discussed changes to parcels in the Tahoe Valley Area Plan, among other agenda items, and had lengthy discussion with the legal committee regarding permit noncompliance at the Tahoe Blue Event Center.

Consent calendar

Public transit in the Basin comes through several organizations: the Tahoe Transportation District (TTD), the Tahoe Truckee Area Regional Transit (TART), as well as other entities like LakeLink. The TRPA governing board authorized approval of the State of Good Repair lists for TTD and TART, along with authorizing the allocation of Transportation Development Act Funding for TTD, TART, and the TRPA.

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South Lake Tahoe Mayor Cody Bass stated he was interested in getting LakeLink to hit its ridership goals and wanted to understand how to get funding for LakeLink that TART and TTD receive. Ridership in North Tahoe is recorded for other transportation departments, which is how they are eligible for that kind of funding.

TRPA also approved of appointing South Lake Tahoe’s Robert Erlich to the Advisory Planning Commission (APC) membership.

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Tahoe Valley Area Plan changes

In an effort to manage density and revitalize town centers, the TRPA proposed to amend the plans they had in the Tourist Core and the Y.

Two new parcels for tourist accommodation were acquired along Pioneer Trail. There were 15 new proposed parcels for neighborhood use in the Y and eight proposed parcels in the Gateway district. 19 new one-acre parcels would make up the Emerald Bay Connection corridor to encourage residential development in the area. Lastly, with the relocation of Barton, the healthcare district would have changes to their allowed uses, permitting spots to be used for cultural facilities, general retail, and membership organizations, among other uses.

During public comment, Deepak Sharma pushed against the changes that TRPA has made with determining development plans, saying, “You’re trying to treat the whole Basin as one, which makes sense with the environment… but outside of the lake and the mountains, there is nothing common in this whole region.” Sharma pushed that the city of South Lake Tahoe should be able to make decisions for itself.

Bass did make a yes vote on all of the area plan changes. “I’m happy to support this and happy to see this go through,” he said. Currently, the city of South Lake Tahoe recommends more density per acre than the TRPA—65 units per acre as opposed to 25 units per acre. Julie Regan, executive director of TRPA, recommended that before the motion pass, they remove the sections on density and make an official staff recommendation at a later time.

The motions regarding the changes to the Tourist Core and the Tahoe Valley Area Plan passed.

Tahoe Basin Community Wildfire Protection Plan

TRPA also received a staff report on the new CWPP from the Tahoe Regional Conservation District. The new plan takes into account previous CWPPs, as well as public comment and new technology that can help with wildfire mitigation.

Performance review

Julie Regan received a performance review for her work from December 2023 to November 2024. During that time, the Tahoe Living affordable housing program entered Phase 2, Sugar Pine Village officially opened its first phase, and the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act was renewed.

In her performance review, respondents praised her big picture vision and direction for TRPA. Others also critiqued the work-life balance and staff workload, as well as a need to enhance and streamline decision making.

In particular though, Regan was recognized by Cindy Gustafson and “Team Tahoe” for her work on the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act. Gustafson presented Regan with a plaque and thanked her for her tireless dedication, especially in the timeliness of getting the act renewed. In previous years, there was a five-year lapse between the renewal, leading to a dip in funding—this year, the transition was seamless.

The motions to increase Regan’s base pay and to provide a one-time performance incentive of $5,000 for exemplary staff performance both passed.

Tahoe Blue Event Center permit noncompliance

The Tahoe Blue Event Center opened last year in September, three years after its plan was approved by the TRPA governing board in 2020. One of the major controversies in its approval was the impact on vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and how it would likely increase drastically once events started being held.

To mitigate this, the permit given to the Tahoe Blue Event Center stipulated certain mitigations, such as providing microtransit, paid parking, and importantly, a performance-based requirement that the project not increase VMT on an annual basis and during peak summer days.

Tahoe Blue Event Center had started microtransit a year before it opened, with an extended service area and year-round service. It also managed its mitigation on paid parking in the beginning of 2023. However, the permit noncompliance comes from the lack of tracking VMT before its opening.

The previously discussed way to assess VMT change was through nine different count sites which would have been monitored by Bluetooth. This was supposed to be established by the permittee, the Tahoe Douglas Visitor’s Authority (TDVA). But this plan never came to fruition. According to the TDVA, it was not possible to establish these monitors due to the cost.

As a result, the TDVA requested that the TRPA modify the traffic monitoring plan to bring costs in line with those estimated in the permit. Additionally, the Nevada Legislative Committee for the Review and Oversight of TRPA and Marlette Lake Water System requested that TRPA consider exempting some or all local events from the permit condition restricting the number of events allowed per year at the center.

To get data on previous VMT, it was suggested that the gate count data of who enters and exits the parking would be an indicator of VMT. That data tracks all the way back to January 2023.

Regan accepted that the TRPA was at fault for not checking and enforcing the conditions of the granted permit. “Lesson learned, we share some responsibility for not catching this sooner. This was a very complicated and unique project… and we were very involved in many aspects of enforcement and compliance.” Regan referenced the TRPA’s involvement in the water and environmental aspects of the construction process.

During public comment, many agreed that the violations should be addressed thoroughly. “The lack of consequences perceived undermines public confidence in how we come before committees and boards,” said one attendee. She emphasized that this has been a known problem and how that highlighted her point.

Kirk Walder, a member of the Douglas County Planning Commission, critiqued the current agreement, saying it should be repealed and replaced for how flawed it was. However, he supported amending it.

Bass said, “The event center is a great help… it’s an economic driver in the area and revitalizes it.” However, he also acknowledged, “We really have to do what we say we have to do when it comes to compliance.”

At the end of the legal committee, they moved to direct staff to work with TDVA and stakeholders to bring a proposal to the governing board by February of next year. The proposal would need to bring the project into full compliance and consider the exclusion of local events from the permit’s event cap.

Eli Ramos is a reporter for Tahoe Daily Tribune. They are part of the 2024–26 cohort of California Local News Fellows through UC Berkeley.