Where do we start on this one…. The realities of over-development are hitting Placer County in many ways with varying opinions. To put it plainly, the majority of residents feel there is too much development, it’s too dense, too tall, not enough parking and creates massively increased traffic. For the sake of this page we will focus on North Tahoe and the issues faced there due to proposed developments that will materially alter the landscape forever and lead to disastrous traffic WHEN THE BIG FIRE(s) HITS.
If you live in Tahoe you have undoubtedly seen a massive jump in vehicle traffic, congestion and what appears to be over-tourism. Some in the North Tahoe community want “heads in beds” at all costs and will try to convince you that this tourism is how the basin survives. Yes, tourism is the lifeblood, but it was never this crowded, there used to be “shoulder seasons” and the towns and businesses survived just fine. During COVID many new residents moved to the area, Short-Term Rentals (STR) exploded and the basin has become overrun with people, mainly day visitors driving cars from surrounding areas. In a 2021 Executive Summary/Study by Morse Assoc. Consulting prepared for the Tahoe Transportation District it clearly stated “The ‘Tahoe Experience’, enjoyed by the Basin’s 55,000 permanent residents daily, is also shared with more than 25 million annual visitors. It is this experience, and the visitors who are attracted to share it, that is the primary driver of the Basin’s economy. Of the visitors, an estimated 42% come into the Basin for a part of one day while the remainder stay longer, averaging 4-5 nights.”
Now, if you do some pretty simple assumptions and math you come to the following assumptions:
- At 25,000,000 visitors that is 454.5 visitors per year for every basin resident
- With a conservative number (4 people per car), the visitor vehicle count added to the basin is 6,250,000 cars per year. If you use a more realistic average of 3 people per car that is 8,333,333 cars per year added to the basin.
- During peak times the roads are jam packed, cars are parked illegally, unsafe conditions exist on all highways (89, 267, 28, 50) and people are leaving massive amounts of trash.
Keep in mind, the report was from 2021, the numbers have increased and the District 5 Supervisor is proposing more large scale development that will only exacerbate the congestion and life safety of the residents and tourists alike. The same report stated:
The new projects in planning are proposing massive scale and density, 1000’s of new daily visitors and reduced parking required in the developments, this could literally kill us! WHEN THE FIRE COMES… HOW DO PEOPLE EVACUATE???
A recent study provided data that it may take 9-13 hours to evacuate North Tahoe when a large fire is present. What happens when the fire is raging and all exit routes are completely backed up? Just ask all the families who lost loved ones in the Paradise Camp Fire where people burned alive in their cars.
Here is a list of projects being proposed and links to them. These projects are supported by Cindy Gustafson and she has received campaign contributions from Palisades Tahoe:
- 39 North – Kings Beach: This project belongs in South Shore, not the North Shore!! 179 hotel rooms with only 195 parking places in a parking structure, 62 workforce housing units with 50 surface parking spaces and 38 townhomes with two car garages and 30 additional surface parking spaces. At 75’ high (6 stories) and 450’ long this is a massive development, it will add roughly 1,000 people per day with visitors and staff and how many cars? If you very conservatively use .5 cars per person that’s 500 cars. As part of the TBAP, the community wanted heights of 48 feet maximum on the mountainside and 36 feet on the lakeside. The Board of Supervisors (BOS) ultimately approved 56 feet of height for both sides of the highway. (This additional height was not advocated for by the community members and to date and TRPA changed their rules mid-stream to accommodate – Cindy is Chair of TRPA by the way). There are law suits against Placer County and TRPA because of these issues.
- Palisades Tahoe: This massive expansion has been fought for many years by great locals trying to preserve the valley. There was even talk of a 100’ tall water park structure proposed but that may be off the table. This project includes up to 850 hotel, condominium-hotel, and fractional ownership residential units and a maximum of 1,493 resort bedrooms. New and replacement commercial uses in the plan area would total up to 297,733 gross square feet. Again, WHEN THE FIRE COMES how will residents and visitors escape the fire? They have proposed “shelter in place” as one option but that seems very unlikely and dangerous. What will this do to traffic on 89 and in Truckee? It certainly won’t get better on weekends and holidays, the amount of time to get through the “mouse hole” on 89 will be a disaster!
- Boatworks Project: The proposed project would redevelop the existing Boatworks Mall, the Inn at Boatworks and the El Dorado Savings Bank building with mixed-use development that would include 79 hotel units, 29 residential condominiums, independent commercial spaces and a full-service spa. The proposed hotel would also include new restaurants, conference facilities, event space and a rooftop bar. The project would be served by underground parking with both valet and self-park.
If you support Cindy, you are supporting a developer backed politician who will build whatever it takes to bring in tax revenue. If you want to stop over development do not vote for the developer interests.