Lakeview Commons — battle rages on over lease, name

By Kathryn Reed

Does the landowner or the lessee have the right to name a piece of property?

That is the fundamental question as to what the name of Lakeview Commons in South Lake Tahoe will permanently be called.

City officials believe the name is fine based on the decision earlier this month not to sit with county officials to discuss the name.

El Dorado County officials on Tuesday spent considerable time discussing the whole area, which includes both sides of Highway 50. The entire area is loosely called the 56-acre project because that is how large the area is.

Phase one of two for the waterfront area is what is called Lakeview Commons. But at issue is how it got the name, whether it was a working name and who gets to have final say regarding the name.

Supervisor Norma Santiago gave a history about the area, which goes back to the 1920s when longtime families gave the land to the county to be used in perpetuity as open space.

South Lake Tahoe leases the land from the county. Through the years a number of agreements, leases, and memorandums of understanding have been signed between the government bodies.

South Lake Tahoe Assistant City Manager Nancy Kerry spoke on behalf of the city and for the council at the May 8 supervisors’ meeting in Placerville.

“It’s a false controversy about the name that has been used well over three years,” Kerry said. She even pointed out how all the supervisors’ documents listed the discussion item as Lakeview Commons.

Santiago, to her board said, “I ask for support for county counsel to work with our facilities group to look at the lease for clarity of what is contained in the lease in regards to any aspects of what happens on this property.”

On the May 15 council agenda is an item to possibly appoint a subcommittee for review of the lease agreement at El Dorado Beach-Lakeview Commons.

Supervisor Jack Sweeney has records dating to 1968 that he cited, where the land is called South Lake Tahoe-El Dorado Recreation Area. That name was what was used on working documents as the 56-acre project got under way until it morphed into Lakeview Commons.

Supervisor Ron Briggs said, “I never once thought we approved Lakeview Commons.”

Keeping it named El Dorado Beach, as the area was known before the $6 million renovation of the site, is what the majority of the supervisors want.

Supervisors Sweeney and Santiago were appointed to the El Dorado Beach ad hoc committee to look into the lease and work with the city.

The board will have its annual Tahoe meeting June 25. At that time a report to the board about the lease would likely be made.

However, on June 20 is the dedication by the city of Lakeview Commons.

Supervisors said a plaque can always be replaced if the name on it should be changed. The city has ordered the plaque. It says Lakeview Commons at El Dorado Beach.

Kerry mentioned how every City Council member who ever had anything to do with the project has a right to their name on the plaque. Plus, state reps, including a slew from California Tahoe Conservancy – the agency that funde the renovation – will be on the plaque.

The supes want the people of El Dorado County to be on the plaque and not their names or any other electeds. There was a little discussion about the order of the words, at which time Sweeney made a homosexual slur which can be heard at the very end of the video from this agenda item.