What’s a TAU?
On October 14, the League to Save Lake Tahoe brought a lawsuit against the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency that focuses on an issue that had been, until now, largely unnoticed – Tourist Accommodation Units or TAUs.
TAUs are the means by which TRPA regulates the number of hotel/motel accommodations, working to keep the same level of environmental impact around the basin. TAUs are hot commodities and are often transferred and/or sold between properties. According to the TRPA, a Tourist Accommodation Unit is ‘One bedroom, or a group of two or more rooms with a bedroom, with or without cooking facilities, primarily designed to be rented by the day or week and occupied on a temporary basis.’
The League’s litigation takes issue with the size increase in what is considered a single TAU. When TAUs were established, a unit averaged 300 square feet while today the units have grown to 3,300 square feet and even more for fractional ownership/timeshare units. The suit claims this drastic change has far-reaching consequences and its effects need to be studied by the TRPA. This study will be done as part of the Regional Plan Update.
Even California Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi weighed in on the issue. In a letter to the TRPA, he said ‘The transfer and expansion of TAUs that is currently taking place blatantly ignores both the spirit and intent of the rules and definitions of TAUs. Allowing these new large subdivision structures increases population and traffic and reduces air quality in and around the Lake. Such significant pressure on Lake Tahoe’s fragile ecosystem undermines our ability to attain environmental thresholds we have worked so hard for decades to achieve.’
What Has TRPA Been Up To?
The new year marks the TRPA’s 40th anniversary.
Regional Plan Update: The Regional Plan Update will be given TRPA staff priority to complete it by the end of 2010.
Projects already in the ‘pipeline’ will be continued as they normally would. This includes the Community Enhancement Program (CEP) projects. The Agency will decide in the next few weeks if the CEP application period will be extended another year for other CEP projects, which have not yet applied. Currently, Boulder Bay, Homewood Mountain Resort, Kings Beach Town Center, and Domus Affordable Housing are in the CEP ‘pipeline’ and will therefore continue as they normally would, including any requests for code amendments. New project applications will be not accepted if they require code amendments.
North Shore Office Closure & Staff Cutbacks: The Agency will close its North Shore office, issue mandatory unpaid work furlough days, and potentially trim its staff in the early part of 2009 to help close a budget deficit in the current fiscal year. The office at 3080 North Lake Blvd. in Tahoe City will close January 15. The closure is indefinite until budget conditions improve.
Also TRPA will close six normal working days and employees will be required to take these days off without pay. See more about TRPA cutbacks on page 17.
Kings Beach: Four Lanes, Two Lanes, One Lawsuit
The Kings Beach Business and Citizens Alliance (KBBCA) has followed through with their threat to file a lawsuit against Placer County. The organization challenges the County’s final decision, this summer, on the future of the community’s main street road configuration, a project entitled the Kings Beach Commercial Core Improvement Program. The County Board of Supervisors approved the project plan known as the three-lane hybrid alternative, which would sport two lanes with single-lane roundabouts. (See MoonshineInk.com, Vin. 6 Nip 9 for more on this decision.)
KBBCA says the County did not perform an adequate EIR, neglecting to report the full effects of the different alternatives. The Alliance contends that in the EIR, the environmental impacts reported on the main road, Highway 28, overshadowed the effects on the entire grid of Kings Beach, which doesn’t give a complete picture.
The KBBCA is supported by 130 local businesses and about 500 individuals who signed a petition to retain the current four lanes.
Shorezone Challenges
After 20 years of meetings and debates, the Lake Tahoe Shorezone Ordinance was approved by the TRPA this October.
Shortly after, the League to Save Lake Tahoe and Sierra Club requested an injunction in federal court. They contend that the ordinance does not mitigate the environmental and public access impacts from probable development.
In December, the Tahoe Lakefront Owners’ Association also filed a suit in federal court that the TRPA violated its compact, TRPA guiding principles established by the federal government. Dennis Oliver, TRPA Spokesman, said, ‘the Shorezone Ordinance represents a middle ground between competing interests at the lake.’
