While the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency will continue to hold meetings on the North Shore, local residents will still have to drive around the lake to speak with the agency, due to the Jan. 15 closing of its Tahoe City office.
‘Now, if you want a face-to-face with the TRPA, you’ve got to come to South Shore,’ said Dennis Oliver, spokesman for the planning agency.
Under economic stress, and forced to cut weight, minds within the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency were recently considering ways to slim the budget. Minor belt-tightening measures – cutbacks in coffee, more conservative standards at the copy machine – have already been taken.
‘Now, it’s down to real cuts,’ Oliver explained.
The agency was set to cut its semi-regular meetings on the North Shore. In scrapping the meetings, held within the Incline Village General Improvements District’s Chateau, the TRPA was looking at a savings of about $18,000 annually.
North Shore residents plugged into the local planning scene were noticeably upset. No longer would they have a home venue in which to voice concerns over development projects planned for their neck of the woods.
‘There was a big uproar,’ said Ann Nichols, president of the North Tahoe Preservation Alliance. ‘To cancel the meetings that were convenient to us, we felt was a real slap in the face.’
Nichols felt that local issues would inevitably get less public attention due to the drive to South Lake Tahoe required to attend TRPA meetings.
After the agency’s decision to nix North Shore meetings, the call was reversed when both IVGID and the North Tahoe Public Utility District stepped up with an offering of free meeting venues.
‘This happened within the course of a week or so,’ Oliver said.
So, North Shore residents will continue to enjoy local theaters – the Chateau in Incline Village and North Tahoe Conference Center in Kings Beach – in which to hash out local planning issues, but ….
Local Presence
Still searching for areas to trim costs, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency cannot paint a completely rosy picture on the North Shore. During 2009’s opening month, the TRPA will send its Tahoe City office to the chopping block. The office was opened two years ago to better serve North Shore residents.
The closing will net an annual savings of between $40,000 and $50,000. Oliver doesn’t think the closing will impede northern input.
‘The citizens of the North Shore are very well organized and very involved,’ he said.
Oliver said the agency will attempt to stay in touch with the North Shore public in other ways. For example, TRPA representatives will regularly attend local meetings, such as those of the North Lake Tahoe Resort Association.
‘What our hope is, is that we’ll be able to plug the holes by working a little harder to engage the North Shore community,’ Oliver explained.
Additional Casualties
The TRPA’s North Shore presence isn’t the only aspect of the agency that’s taking a hit during these sketchy economic times. The planning agency cannot help but to suffer along with the rest of the economy.
‘People just aren’t building stuff,’ Oliver said.
The TRPA lives and breathes applications and permits. When money dries up and no one is developing, there’s little need for either.
‘I think it’ll be fine, we’ll just have to weather it,’ Oliver said.
Normally, the agency has an operating budget of about $11.7 million (roughly half from the California and Nevada governments and the rest from fees. Of the governmental half, the Golden State provides two-thirds of the funding and the Silver State one-third). Oliver estimated the current fiscal year to be about $500,000 less, before taking a moment to reconsider.
‘ – we’re short as much as $800,000 now.’
In response to the financial short fall, the TRPA has made numerous operational cuts. There is less travel time paid for, and less training. The agency has issued hiring and pay freezes.
Employees are being encouraged to take unpaid, year-long sabbaticals. Oliver said the ‘voluntary separations’ may starve off layoffs. Realistically, however, there might be people sent home.
‘We may have to lay off some employees,’ Oliver said. ‘It’ll probably be six or eight.’
The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency will also be reducing the amount of time its doors are open. For the first six months of this year, the agency will close for one day each month. The first close occurred Jan. 16. Most will be on Fridays, and advertised in advance.
Oliver said the TRPA’s purse strings will be loosened ‘when things change.’
