Do you value open space and trails? Are you a cross-country skier? Well, then I have some bad news to report. My own Tahoe Donner Homeowners Association has been destroying one of our open space areas and has proposed to build a new 6,400 square foot, $3.1 million forestry multi-use building in the open space and trails area at the dead-end of Alder Creek Road. This is also smack in the middle of the much-loved Tahoe Donner Cross Country Ski Area, which is an amenity both Truckee residents and Tahoe Donner members enjoy. There are three other proposed sites, two of which are off of Skislope Way, and they too would negatively impact open space, the cross country center, and trails. The other proposed site is on Northwoods Boulevard, which is where other maintenance and facilities buildings are located. Despite numerous complaints from homeowners, the Tahoe Donner Board and management has thus far refused to remove the sites that encroach on the cross country center and trails from its list of possible sites for the building, which would include heavy equipment operation and storage (chippers, dump trucks, groomers, chainsaws, trucks, etc.) and wood slash and chipping operations. Any use of these sites would go against members’ surveyed wishes, which put trails and open space as number one on their list of priorities, and would also directly contradict Tahoe Donner’s own previous planning efforts. The Alder Creek site is also at the headwaters of Alder Creek in a sensitive watershed area. Nonetheless, Tahoe Donner and the Truckee Donner Public Utility District have already been using this area, without approval from, notification of, or consultation with homeowners, as a dump for dirt and wood slash. We have complained loudly about this, but our association management is ignoring us.
Are you as appalled at these management actions as we are? Then please write an email to the Tahoe Donner Board at board@tahoedonner.com and Tahoe Donner General Manager Robb Etnyre at retnyre@tahoedonner.com and tell them to STOP destroying open space, repair our Alder Creek watershed, and put any new maintenance and forestry facilities where they belong — on Northwoods Boulevard, the main corridor of Tahoe Donner.
Or alternatively, send an email to savetdtrails@hotmail.com and we’ll add your name to a petition that states the following: ‘We, the undersigned, oppose any proposed site for a new forestry multi-use building outside of Tahoe Donner’s main corridor, Northwoods Boulevard. We urge the TD Board and management to follow the current general plan, including site recommendations of the General Plan Committee for forestry and maintenance facilities. We want the TD board and management to know that we adamantly support the preservation of open space and trails and expect the board and management to cluster all maintenance and forestry facilities to avoid encroaching on open space and trails. Clustering and centralization should also be used to minimize the cost and increase the efficiency of remodeling, rebuilding, and operating maintenance or forestry facilities.’
