SLT making it lucrative to redevelop at the Y
Tahoe Valley — aka the Y in South Lake Tahoe — may become more of a destination. Renderings/Design Workshop
By Kathryn Reed
South Lake Tahoe officials believe the best way to get people to renovate their properties is to dangle a carrot in front of them. For those with property in the Tahoe Valley Area Plan, the carrots are coverage and commercial floor area.
At a meeting Thursday night about the plan, where only a handful of residents showed up, it was revealed that incentives are part of the draft plan.
“Some properties in Tahoe Valley are 70 percent or 100 percent covered,” John Hitchcock, planner with South Lake Tahoe, said. “Either they can’t afford the fees or they don’t want to rip out the coverage.”
Tahoe Regional Planning Agency has rules about how much of a property can be covered with an impervious material. When it comes time to remodel, mitigation fees come into play. Either that, or the end result must be less coverage to comply with the regulations.
The city plans to match coverage transfers in certain instances. Projects will have to meet city environmental and economic goals to receive the incentives.
The city will create specific criteria for when incentives would be allowed.
Commercial floor area (CFA) is another TRPA-created commodity. Based on the Regional Plan, jurisdictions in the basin have 200,000-square-feet of CFA to use. The city has less than 50,000 square feet banked and will get another 15,000 square feet from the TRPA when the Tahoe Valley Area Plan is approved.
Above, is what a section of the Tahoe Valley are looks like today. Right, is conceptually what it could become.
TRPA limits development with CFA instead of allowing jurisdictions to use more traditional zoning methods.
The incentives are being used so the plan gets implemented instead of being a document that collects dust or is disregarded on some computer server.
Some of the written comments about the plan include having large swaths of landscaping in front of buildings to keep an open feel and not impacting views of ridgelines.
Hitchcock said that while the design of future buildings or redevelopment projects will have a mountain theme, there is leeway for creativity.
People also said they have no desire for the Y to look like the Stateline end of town.
The stormwater basins are still projected to be turned into a greenbelt that people could use for walking and biking.
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Notes:
• For more info, go online.
• The draft Tahoe Valley Area Plan and notice of preparation of an EIR/EIS will go before the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency June 25, to the City Council on July 1 and to the Planning Commission July 10.
• The final plan is expected to be released later this summer, with it going to the City Council for adoption in the fall and likely to TRPA in December.
“South Lake Tahoe officials believe the best way to get people to renovate their properties is to dangle a carrot in front of them.”
Interesting, you would think some aesthetic sense and civic pride would be enough.
‘Aesthetic sense & civic pride’ are not ‘incentives’ in this town anymore, therefore cannot be offered as ‘carrots’. . .
And if TRPA “has rules about how much of a property can be covered with impervious material” then that better be looked at, as Harrison Avenue is once again wall-to-wall “impervious” material, & then some: tear down another 50+ trees for even more paved areas. . . and that project took 20 years to come to fruition. . . with a ‘status quo’ sensibility.
In that sense, “leeway for creativity” is a moot issue, especially where any design aesthetic is concerned. . . not to mention environmental stewardship. . . we can & should do better than that. . .
Ljames
Just read the SLT planners explanation and think about it. Remodeling costs tons of money, and there must be some sort of economic benefit to the property owners. Civic pride won’t pay the bills.
The best motivator is increased earnings, and a quick payback of invested remodel funds.
No business person wants to outlay money for no reason, other than to feel good about how it looks.
Show them how their bottom line will improve.
Then again, if some do it, the ones who don’t may see their business decrease.
WHAT ABOUT BRINGING BACK THE MOVIE THEATERS TO THE Y?!
I think having movie theaters at the Y would be great. It could make you feel like it’s really your own town versus going to the Stateline tourist center. Maybe we need a “locals village” at the Y.
Spouse-4-mer
Rock & 4-mer,
In the spirit of the start of Summer, I’m making it a point to emphatically agree with you! I miss the theatres at the Y. Wish we had them back!
Don’t just miss having them at the Y, I miss the feel of those theatres. Probably were a little too dirty and rundown. But still, had a down-to-earth community feel that the big screens at Stateline just don’t have!
The “Y” as a destination. Are you nuts? Clean up the drainage basins and let the private building momentum take it from there. Some coverage credits would be nice but why spend the money on studies and overhead when we need POT HOLES FILLED?
Destination and sustainability are catch words all the planners and consultants started to use to justify their jobs.
Markleeville, Meyers and now the “Y” are destinations? Why stop there we could turn Sierra Tract into a destination resort.
Another example of the out of the box off the hill big thinking we need more of.
PS
I loved the theaters at the “Y” in the old days.
Parker, Rock & 4-mer. Yes, movie theaters back at the “Y” would be excellent!!! I still remember how to change the movie titles on the marquee! Did it for several years alooong time ago. Do they even have marquees anymore??
Either way, I’m with you guys, lets bring back a couple of theaters to the “Y”!
The Y could become a real cool local’s gathering place, or as spouse of 4-mer said “a locals village”.
Please, please, please don’t make the Y look like stateline!
Save the Barton Ranch House and turn it into a museum, bring back the theaters,lure LOCAL businesses and out of towners as well into some of the empty commercial properties.
Wishful thinking, I know, but you’ve gotta have hope. OLS
p.s Sunriser2, Just read your comment. You jokingly mentioned Sierra Tract as a destination resort. It already is! Almost half the homes in this neighborhhood are destinations for the out of town owners!
Sunriser? Have you been to the NEW El Dorado Beach? Gondola? Crescent V? Ski Run? You say somebody needs to “justify their jobs?” I would say the proof is in the pudding, and the town is looking a LOT better for the hard work. Meyers is stuck in the 60’s and it shows.
If I was a much younger person I might want a roller skating rink. But I think I’m trying to recreate the fun places of my youth. Strapping on a pair of skates now would only ensure a trip to the emergency room.
Ah youth!
Spouse-4-mer-usmc
Hi, Spouse-4-mer-usmc: There was a popular roller-skating rink in the original Round Hill Mall (NV) in the 1960s-70s, also offering sock-hops playing records! That entire indoor-enclosed rustic wood mall with a water-wheel, glass broadcast booth and other esthetic classics (Midnight Mine, Paper & Gold, Birkenstocks, Laine Photo, various disco nightclubs, etc.) was razed and is today’s modern Round Hill Square.
Bill, that enclosed Roundhill Mall was the first place I stopped when I moved to Tahoe. I had never even been here before but was interested a girl that moved here, so I decided to pack up everything in my primer-gray, 1960 F-100 and move here. I stopped at the mall and picked up a newspaper at the coffee shop to look for rooms for rent and found a roommate that is still one of my closest friends. That mall was cool. I drink coffee from a Midnight Mine coffee cup but the logo is almost gone from washing.
Rock:
Ski Run worked, It has upscale lodging with PARKING!!!, beach and tourist amenities within walking/biking distance. Too bad the big thinkers put the bike trails on the wrong side of the stop signs. El Dorado Beach has a campground and a BEACH. The gondola has a ski resort. The “Y” is not a destination.
Mr. Kingman:
Thank you for sharing the great information on that original roller skating rink. I remember going to a much lower-level type establishment in Redwood City when I was young and it was a blast! I still have a small scar where I split my elbow open when I took a header, but when you were at the roller rink having fun you just rubbed any bloody body parts with a dirty hand or on your clothes and kept on skating!
Spouse-4-mer-usmc
Bill that Roller Rink was at the Safeway end of the Mall .1978.
when the furniture store moved out (Carson Furniture I believe) the Rink moved in
they had a blue plastic floor and open 24hrs.
me and the wife would go late at night High as Kites
I can’t tell you Know more it would burn your ears
Wouldn’t it be nice for the City to live within their means for a few years without consultant fees and the like? Fill and seal some streets, enforce and collect TOT and listen to the residents.
We miss the theaters at the Y too.
Sunriser. Yes, the Y was a destination years ago when there were Theaters and Auto Dealerships.
Blue. The City Budget is balanced again.