STATELINE, Nev. – The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) conducted its last governing board of the calendar year and discussed improvements at the Van Sickle Bi-State Park, accessory dwelling unit (ADU) lot sizes and amendments to area plans, as well as changing pier regulations. They also discussed a year review of the TRPA’s work and approved salary increases.
Van Sickle Bi-State Park
The Van Sickle Bi-State Park is in Phase 2 of improvements and was brought to the governing board to approve adding employee housing units and a maintenance building. These improvements would benefit the park, as well as housing initiatives at the TRPA, California and Nevada.
Currently at the park, the staffed ranger lives in a trailer on the California side of the park, but as the park is built out, there needs to be better housing for staff and their families. So far, the Phase 2 improvements have garnered wide support.
Support for the rangers would also enable them to potentially catch wildfires ahead of time. Evacuation from wildfires was, as it typically is, a matter of concern among both governing board and the public.
James Settelmeyer, who serves as the director of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in Nevada, said, “It would be phenomenal to be able to solve some of the resource problems we have there… it is impossible almost to have people who can work in the Tahoe area without some form of housing and living in a trailer is not ideal to say the least.”
Settelmeyer, along with others, gave his full support for the project.
Cody Bass noted that the proposed site would require taking down 30 old-growth trees and requested that if there was another site to consider, they would use that instead. He pointed out that there is a space near the entrance on the Nevada side that could be used.
ADU lot size requirements
The TRPA was brought an amendment that would remove the one-acre minimum lot size requirement for ADUs, and a second amendment that would enable local governments to set design standards for ADUs. ADUs have caught on as a concept in the north shore to help address the housing crisis, and city council in South Lake Tahoe recently approved another item on ADUs.
Douglas County commissioner Wesley Rice said that he was unsure about the item as the commission had not had the ability to discuss it. He said his constituents were concerned about both density and evacuation.
TRPA’s executive director Julie Regan said that the item would not prescribe anything for the county, simply allow them to have those parcels if they wanted to. Others added that the item was enabling and would simply allow the commission to vote on whether or not they were interested in it.
Washoe County proposed the removal of the one-acre parcel requirement, while Douglas County had no proposed changes.
The two motions passed, with a no vote from Rice on the amendment removing the requirement.
Amendments to Washoe County Tahoe Area Plan
Phase 2 of Cultivating Community, Conserving the Basin were adopted in December 2023. While Washoe County staff explored potential alternative standards with the TRPA, they were ultimately deemed insufficient and they adopted the Phase 2 housing amendments as well.
The Washoe County Tahoe Area Plan amendments are also in service of affordable and workforce housing, and proposed amendments allowing 100% affordable, moderate or achievable deed-restricted housing in the Ponderosa Ranch regulatory zone, allowing multifamily housing through administrative review in regulatory zones within Incline Village and Crystal Bay and aligning residential and commercial setbacks in mixed-use development and reducing the minimum lot width in preferred affordable areas.
Washoe County also proposed changes to their ADU regulations such as allowing ADUs up to 1,200 square feet in size on parcels smaller than one acre, removing the minimum lot size, allowing detached ADUs under 12 feet tall to be located as close as 5 feet to property lines and requiring an administrative reviews for the addition of a single off-street parking space per ADU.
The amendments also address Tahoe-specific portions of Washoe’s development code to reduce barriers to housing and modifying requirements around town centers.
Washoe County recently received a donation to fund an evacuation study, and the county recently secured a contractor to perform wildfire and evacuation modeling. In spring 2026, the TRPA will likely hear about the status update regarding potential code or plan amendments in conjunction with the PROTECT grant.
The motion passed with two no votes.
Pier regulations
Amendments were proposed to incentivize environmental improvements for non-conforming piers, especially rock crib piers. Back in 2018, the TRPA adopted the Shoreline Plan, which limited construction of new piers on the lake to 128 piers over the life of the plan—12 every other year.
However, this plan allowed modification or expansion for existing piers. But to expand a non-conforming pier, all the non-conforming elements must first be brought into conformance, de-incentivizing these changes.
Rock crib piers cause more stagnant water conditions, which could help breed invasive species, affects sediment deposition near the shore and impedes fish movement. Tiffany Good noted that these issues of conformance have led to missed opportunities to incentivize removal of these kinds of piers, noting some past appeals.
Therefore, the proposal allows eligible piers with rock cribbing elements to expand as long as they replace the rock cribbing with open-pile construction. It also allows certain safety elements, such as handrails, to be added as long as associated impacts are mitigated.
Some members of the board noted that this amendment might not affect all rock crib piers, to which Good said that this amendment was to help target some specific ones they saw.
Bass brought up the use of Styrofoam in buoys and the attempt to get plastics out of the lake. During the surprise storm in June in South Lake Tahoe, several buoys burst and released Styrofoam into the lake. There was some interest in getting the APC to look into shore zone material issues.
Year in review
Regan spoke to the board about what they’d achieved in the last year. There were 68 board actions taken this year, including both resolutions and larger policy actions.
Golden mussels were overall prevented from entering the basin, with one being intercepted before entering the lake. Regan again noted the importance of their work in the stream environment zone threshold and restoration of 1,100 acres collectively. She also highlighted the removal of Motel 6 as part of that work.
Regan reported that more than 700,000 pounds of fine sediment were kept out the lake as a result of the Tahoe maximum daily load.
Homewood’s master plan was approved and while it is privately owned, it will be open to the public in the future. They are also doing a large private fuels reduction process. TRPA approved the use of tools like BurnBot and the increase of pace and scale of fuels reduction to reduce wildfire threats.
Bruce Barr, a forester who also works with the Lake Tahoe Community College, helped with the Rising Scholars program. Some of Barr’s students were deployed to help with the Los Angeles fires early this year.
TRPA gave $11.4 million in regional grants to support transportation, the mobility hub, the aquatic invasive species inspection station and trails. The Tahoe Blue Events Center supported transit through $1.4 million that was collected in surcharges from their tickets.
Regan addressed the Meyers roundabout and their work with Caltrans to prevent drivers from going the wrong way. Bass noted that he was interested in a sculpture to be placed in the roundabout’s center.
Regan reported that on average, 50-60% of jobs are now commuting in on the north shore, though she said the number was probably closer to above 60%. She noted they would be looking at housing policy in January. She talked about evacuation and density, saying, “We’re not growing the basin. This is about using development rights that we have already allotted to place them in concentrated areas that are walkable, bikeable, and are closer to services that can be evacuated more efficiently in a fire.”
In the new year, Regan said the board will focus on housing and finalization of the environmental impact for Phase 3 in January. She also noted that in the new year, they will be reformatting their agendas to make them easier to navigate.
Salaries
Director of human resources and organizational development Angela Atchley presented two salary increase recommendations to the board. Both Regan and TRPA’s general legal counsel Graham St. Michel were recommended to have a 4% increase in their salary.
Regan’s salary would be $227,057.15 and St. Michel’s would be $187,200. Both of their increases were approved by the board.
Reports and public comment
Cindy Gustafson said that evacuation was a concern among many people, even those who were located close to I-80. She also celebrated that Fanny Bridge was close to completion.
Todd Poth called in and informed the TRPA that Douglas County’s school district was interested in closing or consolidating Zephyr Cove Elementary and George Whittell High School to address their budget deficit.
Poth requested that the TRPA reach out to the school district, especially as it would impact the community, the workforce and vehicle miles travelled.
The next governing board meeting will take place in January.
