‘This is our last chance to reinvent Kings Beach into a funky fun beach town,’ said George Koster, Kings Beach resident, at the July 22 Placer County Board of Supervisors Meeting. Kings Beach does have that feel; many consider the area the ‘banana belt’ of the Tahoe basin, with beautiful sand beaches and glistening waters of the lake beckoning all. Everywhere is the sounds of children at play. In the water, on the beach, and in the ‘grid’ – the neighborhood of small streets with modest and not-so-modest homes clustered together. Kings Beach is a cacophony of sounds, smells, cultures and ‘funk’ – along with blighted buildings, no sidewalks or streetlights, frustrated citizens, hopeful businesspeople, frightened pedestrians and a non-existent bike path. It’s those children that have caused this community to split apart, in the belief that each side’s chosen plan better protects those children from harm.
Joe King acquired the future town site from George Whittell in 1925 by winning the land in an all-night poker game. King developed the community into a family destination. I wonder how cardshark Joe King would ‘bet’ on how the Kings Beach Commercial Core Improvement Program will eventually play out?
The chasm between ‘4-laners’ and ‘3-laners’ is 8 feet. That’s the difference between the proposed 62-foot three-lane option and the proposed 70-foot four-lane option for the road that currently separates the neighborhoods, aka ‘the grid’ from the beach.
‘You can do it right, do it wrong, but you can only do it once,’ Said Ellie Waller, Tahoe Vista resident and Kings Beach Post Office Employee. The challenge is that ‘main street’ is also State Highway 28, one that takes residents, property owners, tourists and gawkers along the north shore of Lake Tahoe. Statistics show that around 70 percent of drivers only use the highway to get though the community. According to many organizations, the majority of the community wants people to stop shop and walk – creating a vibrant commercial core area, and more importantly, a pedestrian-friendly, walkable community. According to people advocating the four-lane plan, three lanes with two roundabouts will only create gridlock and increased traffic on the back streets. Four lanes will provide the same amenities as the three-lane, without the congestion. The highway divides the beachfront, shops and restaurants from the local neighborhoods and shops on the other side of the street. The highway has become the line in the proverbial sand. Divided, ‘the civil war’ of Kings Beach.
Sometimes it’s not so civil. And it may be headed to civil court. The four-lane advocates known as the Kings Beach Business and Citizens Alliance are contemplating a lawsuit against Placer County for recently approving the project plan known as the three-lane hybrid alternative. ‘This decision was forced on us, we have not had a fair, true hearing,’ said David McClure, board member of Kings Beach Business and Citizens Alliance. ‘The group is putting together a lawsuit, defending our rights. Legally, we have 30 days to respond after Placer County files a notice of determination. It’s the only way to stop this process to protect the views of neutral citizens.’
After attending three public meetings, interviewing many people and reading countless reports, analysis, research and comments, the last thing I’d call most citizens involved in this Kings Beach issue is neutral. How did this line in the sand separate the people from their passion of revitalizing their community?
For over a decade, residents, businesses and local government have wrestled with how to revitalize the Kings Beach community. Placer County held public meetings beginning in 2002, and contracted with the Sierra Business Council (SBC) to conduct a series of meetings in May 2007 to educate and engage the public about the four ‘alternatives’ for developing the highway. According to Nikki Riley, Project Director for SBC, there was a comprehensive bilingual outreach with clear communication about the process and how the community would decide which alternative they preferred. ‘Our charge was to come from a neutral standpoint. We can’t be responsible if people chose not to participate in the entire process. We presented all four of the alternatives to the community, including the traffic report from the draft environmental impact report (EIR).’ In the third workshop held in May 2007, community members had the opportunity see the street marked off with sidewalks, lanes, roundabouts and showing what it would be like to cross the street with the different road lengths. Following that exercise, workshop participants was given $1,000 in play money to ‘vote’ for the alternative road design of their choice. ‘Over 200 people were at the workshop, the three lanes with roundabouts was the preferred choice.’ This third workshop was ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back,’ and the beginning of the Kings Beach Business and Citizens Alliance, according to McClure. ‘This meeting was a complete farce. Placer County and SBC weeded out anyone that had an opposition or concern. They created the consensus,’ he said.
Riley says she understands that the four-lane advocates have concerns but emphasizes that the process was open and transparent. ‘I can see where they have some concerns about the process, but we were held to a very high standard,’ Riley said. Following the ‘voting’ workshop, another workshop was held to help find consensus. ‘The fourth workshop was designed to create the best plan. We wanted to see how we could address the neighborhood traffic and the grid. That was the intent of that workshop. Everything in all the workshops was totally open and transparent.’
The EIR, a 3,200-page document, includes two different models of analysis for determining traffic volume in the next 20 years. The first model shows that if in 2028, all development built out in the Tahoe basin, including Truckee and Martis Valley, Highway 28 would see a 50 percent increase in traffic, and that there would be significant ‘cut-through’ traffic through the back streets of Kings Beach. The second analysis is looking at the ‘trending’ of traffic in the area, which shows about a 10 percent increase in the next 20 years. The build-out numbers are the ones most worrisome to many businesses, in their mind the gridlock, congestion and fears of safety in the grid makes the four-lane alternative their choice.
Ken Grehm, Pubic Works Director for Placer County, believes that the numbers are somewhere in between. ‘This is the project about balance. Balance is the best for everyone,’ he said in an interview. ‘There are significant impacts – congestion, that is a negative thing…no doubt about it. (Moving) traffic is where the four-lane shines. The three-lane hybrid alternative brings all the good things; it wins out on safety, walkability, and economic viability. By our board’s decision, that’s what we’re bringing forward.’
Placer County is indeed moving the three-lane project forward, after a couple of maneuvers that would have made any seasoned gambler look for the slight of hand. In June, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board voted 7 to 6 against the three-lane alternative, sending Placer County back to the re-examine the four-lane alternative. One week later, TRPA board member Steve Merrill made a request for reconsideration, citing that Placer County’s presentation to the TRPA board didn’t explain well enough how traffic would be mitigated in the neighborhoods.
On July 22, the Placer County Board of Supervisors voted overwhelming in favor of the three-lane alternative with a 4 to 1 vote. The no vote came from Supervisor Bruce Kranz, District 5, who represents the area. Kranz was then removed as the Placer County representative to the TRPA when he commented that he wouldn’t carry the board’s decision to the Tahoe planning agency. Alternative Larry Sevison was his replacement. The following day, TRPA voted to reconsider the three-lane alternative, with requests for additional information about the neighborhood safety plan, further traffic analysis, parking and pinpointing funding sources.
Kranz continues to push for the four-lane alternative. At a recent ‘coffee klatch’ at the GarWoods Restaurant, ‘The four lane is not dead. It’s difficult when the public doesn’t understand the facts,’ said Kranz to a mostly sympathetic crowd of about 30 people. ‘I’m going to be an advocate for no gridlock.’
‘The community is uneducated due to the media,’ Kranz continued. ‘I’m going to educate people that we’re spending $45 million to make traffic worse.’ There are community members that think Kranz is totally wrong, and others that respect his stand. ‘I think Kranz is a hero,’ said Tamara Blanco, owner of Lakeside Gallery. ‘He stood up to the plate. We don’t have all the facts, we just don’t know how the three-lane project will impact visitors, traffic and the backstreets.’
On the other hand, ‘This community wants a community,’ said Tony Pastore, Kings Beach resident and principle with Pastore-Ryan, an EcoDesign, Engineering and Green Building Firm located on the highway. ‘The classic line, ‘think globally, act locally’ applies here. Do the right thing. The three-lane alternative achieves all the goals of TRPA, Placer County and the Kings Beach Community plan of creating a livable, walkable community.’
Walking the ‘main street’ of Kings Beach right now is not as easy task. Dusty, noisy, wandering around parked cars is not anyone’s vision of a serene day shopping. Most of these shops don’t have that ‘Tahoe look and feel’ of cedar siding and slate. Instead, it’s almost like stepping back 30 years, to a slower time when the lake was affordable for middle income families to come to Tahoe for their long-anticipated vacation. The fear in most of these shops is the loss of parking. The three-lane alternative hybrid removes on-street parking during congested periods. That would be most of the summer. ‘I was hoping they’d make a compromise,’ said Don Hotaling, owner of Tahoe Bike and Ski. ‘I wouldn’t mind one roundabout, but two is too much. Taking away the on-street parking is going to take away business. No doubt about it.’
Carolyn Nixon, owner of the Robin’s Nest agrees. ‘The majority of our business is drive-up. It will kill us if they take away our parking. I don’t care how many lanes; just don’t take away our on-street parking. It’s not like we’re a row of shops like Truckee, we’re scattered along this highway.’ Nixon thinks a solution is for Kings Beach to become a town. ‘That way local people can represent local concerns.’
Christine Copland, owner of Brook Avenue Grill, sees the three-lane with roundabouts as a way to revitalize the community. ‘We’re at one of the worst intersections in town. I respect the other side’s opinion. But I see near-miss (accidents) and accidents all day. Businesses are barely surviving. No one wants to walk down a four-lane highway.’
Community member Sara Smith is an advocate of the three-lane hybrid alternative plan. At the Placer County Supervisors July 22 meeting Smith said, ‘It is three times more likely for my child to be hit or die (on Hwy 28 in Kings Beach) than in all of California.’
Yet she also understands the concerns of the businesses losing their parking. In an interview she said, ‘I understand their concern. You might lose three parking spaces on the street, but you increase foot traffic by ten. Where’s the loss? Beautifying the area plus increased foot traffic.’ She is worried about gentrification issues and the long-term impact of economic development. ‘How do we maintain community flavor to prevent some of the local businesses from going under? I’d like to see local businesses thrive within a development plan – instead of wedged out.’
And some businesses are just resigned that whatever happens, happens. ‘They (the county) are going to do whatever they want. I’m in favor of four lanes, but I’ve got friends on both sides. My biggest concern is traffic flow through the community,’ said Dana Ernest of Dana Sports. Ernest brings it back to the children. ‘What about our kids? What about their future? Are we going to gridlock our town for the next 20 to 40 years? I’ve watched personal relationships destroyed, it’s a dog and pony show from both sides. People are way too emotional. People need to grow up.’
Emilio Vaca, Executive Director of the North Tahoe Family Resource Center, spoke at both the TRPA and Placer County meetings on behalf of some of the Latino families in Kings Beach that are in favor of the three-lane hybrid plan. ‘Families have expressed concern about safety, traffic and streetlights,’ Vaca said at the TRPA meeting. In an interview, he likens the chasm as a marriage. ‘We need to get everyone together, there is no perfect marriage, and how do we get together to compromise? Both sides need to put their blinders down, we haven’t done that yet. It’s most disheartening. How does one affect the other – traffic on back streets or main street? We need to address lights and sidewalks. We need to come together as a community.’
And still the children play. On the beach, in the neighborhoods, you can see and hear them, blissfully unaware of the maelstrom that is swirling through the community.
Placer County Supervisor and Board Chair Jim Holmes saw the three-lane alternative as the clear choice not only by the community, but also by environmental, nonprofit, developer and business people. ‘I studied the issue very carefully. I spent a lot of time in Kings Beach. Observed alls sorts of dangerous situations on the highway…people doing u-turns for parking, trying to cross the streets. The TRPA Planning Commission voted 20 to nothing (for the three-lane option) – where can you get a 20-0 agreement in Tahoe?’
Placer County Public Works is now proceeding with completing the tasks for TRPA that will be presented in October, with another opportunity in front of their own Placer County Board of Supervisors in September for final approval. Once approved, the Board will file a ‘notice of determination,’ which will mean the go-ahead for the project, and also opens the 30-day window for any litigation to be filed by the Kings Beach Business and Citizens Alliance or other parties.
This process is democracy at work. The meeting rooms have been overflowing with three-laners and four-laners, the policy wonks, the impassioned mothers, students, residents, property and businesses owners …all have the element of energy. Pure, community energy. Caring enough to sit in a crowded room FOREVER to speak their truth. Now the task for the community is to care enough to come together and move forward. For the children.
