The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s (TRPA) start of the new year has kept the agency knee-deep in its legacy of controversy.
The Governing Board voted Feb. 28 to continue its hearing on the Villas at Harborside project in Homewood, until the board’s March 28 meeting to allow better opportunity for public input. Board members agreed that poor road conditions may have inhibited people from attending the Feb. 28 public hearing, including some Board members themselves who joined the meeting via telephone. The proposed project involves construction of nine timeshare units on the lakefront across from Homewood Mountain Ski Resort. The League to Save Lake Tahoe has expressed opposition to the currently proposed project, citing impacts on traffic, viewsheds and watershed.
But the Governing Board did vote yes Feb. 28 to the controversial Heavenly Master Plan Amendment, the subject of nearly eight hours of discussion and public testimony. The main debate swirls around a stand of 500-year old red fir trees, located in the area where a new North Bowl lift will be located. An angled or ‘kinked’ lift could be built to go around the old-growth forest, local activists say, still allowing skiers to reach the top faster than the current old lifts. The kinked lift alternative, known as 4A, was supported by the Tahoe Area Sierra Club and Sierra Nevada Alliance.
But how important is this stand of trees, TRPA asked. ‘I believe in the end, and the science showed us, that this stand of late seral forest was already highly fragmented and did not offer the ecological benefits important to an old growth forest,’ said John Singlaub, Executive Director. Also the stand is a small chunk of the big picture – just six acres, the agency said.
Moreover, if Heavenly were to construct a ‘kinked’ lift, the amount of ground disturbance and grading would double because of the need for a mid station and additional lift towers, the agency said. The board approved instead the lift to go straight through the fir stand with ‘further protections for the environment,’ such as not allowing Heavenly to cut trees over 24 inches in diameter nor to groom the run. ‘TRPA believes the modified alternative was the best option for total environmental quality – removing trees is only one part of the equation,’ said Julie Regan, Communications Chief.
And the debate on the Shorezone Plan continues. ‘We have been meeting with two California State agencies – the California State Resources Board and Department of Fish and Game – that requested more information/clarification,’ Cowen said. ‘We are expecting the Shorezone program to be heard by the Board in March, but have left it open.’
The March 28 Governing Board meeting will be held at the North Tahoe Conference Center. Info, 775-589-5235 or trpa.org.
Update!
News Release, March 8, 2007: Three TRPA board members have asked for a reconsideration of the vote to approve the Heavenly Mountain Resort Master Plan Amendment.
Board members Mara Bresnick, Norma Santiago, and Jerome Waldie requested the reconsideration which will be put to a vote of the full board on March 28, 2007 at the meeting in Kings Beach. If the board votes the reconsideration down, the approvals granted at the February meeting still stand. If the reconsideration vote is successful, the board will re-hear the North Bowl project item and will cast another vote.
In a letter explaining the request, board members Bresnick, Santiago and Waldie said: ‘The request for reconsideration is based upon, among other reasons, the numerous requests received by Supervisor Santiago from her constituents asking the Governing Board to reconsider its decision to approve Alternative 4; the lack of full board participation in this important decision, and the difficulties experienced by some or all of the board members participating by phone; and a desire to review and compare the environmental impacts and their relative significance associated with Alternatives 4, 4A and 5, as analyzed in the project Environmental Impact Statement.’
To review the final environmental document, visit fs.fed.us/r5/ltbmu or www.trpa.org.
