South Lake Tahoe city council allows Tahoe Keys Project to move forward
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – The Tahoe Keys Marina Redevelopment Project is moving forward after the South Lake Tahoe City Council denied an appeal to reverse approval of the project.
During its Tuesday, August 11 meeting, the council held a public hearing on an appeal of the Planning Commission decision approving the project. The appeal was filed jointly by the Sierra Club Tahoe Area Group and the Tahoe Sierra Clean Air Coalition on the grounds that the project application did not properly or adequately consider full environmental and safety impacts. The appeal asked that the project applicants, Suntex Marinas, be required to conduct a full Environmental Impact Report.
“First, we’re not opposing replacement of the deteriorating bulkhead, improved stormwater treatment, AIS control, public access or modernization of aging facilities,” said Tobi Tyler, Sierra Club Tahoe Area Group. “But environmental benefits do not eliminate the city’s obligation to evaluate the adverse impacts of the entire project.”
“Redevelopment should be responsibly done,” said Doug Flaherty, Tahoe Sierra Clean Air Coalition.
The Project would involve a major overhaul of the Tahoe Keys Marina, including the demolition of three existing marina buildings, other ancillary structures on the site, and existing parking lots and utilities. It would also include new buildings, parking lots, entrances, and utilities (including upgraded water connections to mains in Venice Drive East and Tahoe Keys Boulevard).
Buildings would include an approximately 52,600-square-foot indoor boat storage facility, three units of workforce housing (to replace the three existing employee units that would be demolished as part of the project), and space for restaurants, retail, concessions, and boat sales. The aging bulkhead will be replaced and the boat launch will be relocated.
An Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration was completed and the project was approved by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.
A large portion of the hearing was taken up by a procedural discussion. The applicants turned in documents to the City Clerk past the deadline of 3 p.m. on Monday, August 10. The documents were distributed to the council and to the appellants.
With the advice of the City Attorney, the council allowed the documents to be included in discussion. Mayor Cody Bass called a substantial recess to allow everyone to read the documents.
However, Flaherty, on behalf of himself and Tyler, said the documents were too in-depth for them to be adequately reviewed in that time and asked the council to postpone the decision. Council decided to move forward with the decision anyway.
Councilmember Scott Robbins also expressed major concerns about the impact the paid parking could have on the surrounding neighborhood, stating people would opt to park on Venice Ave for free rather than pay for parking on the marina.
The council added a stipulation to the project requiring the building owners to validate parking. However, Robbins didn’t think that went far enough and wanted to put tighter restrictions on the applicants’ paid parking policy.
During public comment, a representative of the carpenters’ union said that while they were not in support of or opposed to the project, they asked that the applicant use highly skilled workers who are adequately compensated for their work.
Gavin Feiger said that from a Keep Tahoe Blue perspective, Suntex has been a good partner, especially when it comes to aquatic invasive species removal. Keep Tahoe Blue doesn’t usually publicly support projects but said this does seem like a good opportunity to fix up this property.
During the public hearing, Flaherty implied a lawsuit would be coming, saying, “I wouldn’t go through all of this if we weren’t planning on going forward.”
The council denied the appeal 4-1, with Robbins voting no.
