South Shore officials attempting to erase state line

By Kathryn Reed

STATELINE – Land capability is being redefined on the South Shore.

Mostly it has to do with using what exists to its maximum potential. A presentation Nov. 4 by Richard Shaw, principal planner with Design Workshop in Aspen, pointed out what is lacking on the South Shore and what could be changed.

“One of the fundamental problems is recreation is not close to the bed base,” Shaw said during the inaugural joint meeting of the South Lake Tahoe City Council and Douglas County Commission.

Richard Shaw presents the South Shore Vision Plan on Nov. 4 to South Tahoe and Douglas County officials. Photo/Kathryn Reed

The South Shore Vision Plan if implemented, would aesthetically and functionally transform the area of Highway 50 from Ski Run Boulevard to Kahle Drive.

It’s about creating an area that appeals to locals and tourists. It’s also about making the built environment as pleasing as the natural landscape, recognizing gaming is not going to be the driving economic force it was, and that the environment could benefit from redevelopment instead of the status quo.

While Shaw talked about providing more public beach access in the Stateline area if and when Edgewood Lodge is built and via a future water borne transit terminal at Lakeside Marina, South Tahoe Mayor Hal Cole took issue with whether the plan really provides more beach access when people might have to get on a boat to get to some strip of sand.

The casinos are a seven-minute walk to Lake Tahoe, but there is no signage in the casino corridor saying where any recreation entity is.

The financial feasibility of the project is going forward, with the South Tahoe Alliance of Resorts having sought request for proposals. Mike Bradford, CEO of Lakeside Inn and a driving force behind the South Shore Vision Plan, said Carl Ribaudo’s company Strategic Marketing Group is likely to be selected for the job.

All that is holding back the financial analysis is South Lake Tahoe agreeing to put in $10,000. STAR, Douglas County and Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority have contributed to the pot.

Once the feasibility study is done, the next major component is environmental analysis.

The LTVA board will hear a presentation about the RFP candidates at its Nov. 10 3pm meeting in Stateline.

Other items

• The two elected bodies also discussed looking at ways to better share resources, perhaps even combining things to reduce redundancy. While no decisions were made at the gathering at Edgewood Tahoe – libraries, police, fire, recreation, special events, transportation – all were broached.

• John Hester with the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency gave a brief update on the Regional Plan, saying the idea is to give more control to local jurisdictions.

• Nevada Senate Bill 271, which could alter how TRPA functions, was touched on. All agreed it seems to have been a stimulus for igniting dialog in the basin about what really needs to happen.

• The electeds agreed more joint meetings need to occur. This was the first time many of them had met each other.