Opinion: TRPA has plenty of room for improvement

By Kenny Curtzwiler

The problem with the TRPA now is they have gotten so far from their original mandate that even they don’t remember what it was.

I am really surprised Mayor Hal Cole has not jumped on this as he is a contractor and has several firsthand nightmare stories with them.

Kenny Curtzwiler

I do feel we need the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, though, but only in the capacity of enhancing water clarity, i.e.: BMPs, runoff controls, free transportation system and bike paths. No need to be redundant with the city, county, state and federal agencies that are implementing most of the same policy and standards not to mention the League to Save Lake Tahoe and Sierra Club.

I got an award for Best in the Basin a couple of years ago and the following is what I read to the board as an acceptance speech and I don’t think it’s gotten any better.

Thank you for your recognition and award for the building. This project was the first of its kind in the Tahoe basin and El Dorado County in over 25 years and I honestly hope it will be the last.

There was not one agency I dealt with, and I dealt with over 25 of them through the county of El Dorado alone, that had a clue as to how to go about creating, developing or moving this project forward. That was left up to me.

Only after I submitted something would the agencies begin their mitigation, litigation and extortion of the project. Two agencies, TRPA, specifically Norma Santiago and Dave Landry, and the Meyers Community Plan folks, were the only ones who were proactive in helping me through this project as they showed they cared and were willing to try and get through this nightmare.

Every other agency, specifically El Dorado County and Sierra Pacific Power, I had to deal with all had the same initial reaction and statement — “I can put a stop to this because” and “What a great idea, this is what we need up here” in that order. Due to the overwhelming power of total oversight of all aspects of construction and myriad regulations, it would be easy to put all the blame on the TRPA, but I really want to share the nightmare equally amongst them all. The TRPA has created a monster all their own through the continued overseeing of every phase of the construction and implementation of all county, city, state and federal rules and regulations. Every phase and fee of this project was doubled due to the fear of the TRPA and all the regulations that could put a stop to my project at any time, the other agencies wanted to be the one to save the environment and damn the TRPA.

The petty squabbling and backstabbing put me in the middle every time I had to deal with it; my lips are sore. To truly understand what I went through and understand my reasoning to never want to see another project like this. I would like the TRPA Governing Board to purchase a lot and build a multi-use, multi-family, commercial and residential property, only in this way can you see the actual effects all your regulations are having on the destruction of this place I call home. We can’t have it both ways. Either we save the environment and destroy the local economy up here or we continue development and destroy the lake.

To add a little icing to this cake I am zero and 13 on getting a commercial loan and will probably lose the building anyway. (I did lose the building to foreclosure as my lender was unwilling to work with me on a 11 percent loan.) I could not have picked a worse time in history or location to build a future. My sympathies to Randy Lane.

If the true goal of the TRPA is to maintain and increase the clarity of the lake it should take the following steps.

1. Declare a permanent moratorium on all new construction

2. Get out of the construction business and back into the environmental business

3. Place a limit on the number of boats allowed on the lake.

Once again, thank you for this award .

Kenny Curtzwiler owns and operates K&K Services in Meyers.