Loop road OK to discuss, but not Lakeview Commons name

By Kathryn Reed

Two issues not on the May 1 South Lake Tahoe City Council docket received more public comment than the entire published agenda.

Operators of businesses in South Lake Tahoe near the state line descended upon the City Council chambers Tuesday to give the electeds an earful about what they think about the proposal to reroute the loop road.

Another group voiced its support of renaming Lakeview Commons Tahnu Leweh, which in Washoe means the people’s place.

Angie Watson, an owner of several apartment complexes that would be impacted if the loop road were to go through, said she wants to keep her property and not be bought out.

“We don’t want to sell,” she told the council.

Mike McKeen with Powder House, Curt Carlson with Tahoe Bottle Shop, Barbara Parina with Sidestreet Boutique, and Umang Patel with Tunderchief were the business owners who all said the loop road is a bad idea.

JoAnn Conner, president of South Tahoe Chamber of Commerce, said, “We feel it will hurt California businesses to help Nevada businesses.”

The council under the recommendation of City Councilwoman Angela Swanson agreed to have a special workshop about the loop road on May 29 from 6-8pm at Lake Tahoe Airport.

The Tahoe Transportation District at its regular May 11 meeting is expected to be discussing the loop road. (Swanson is the council’s rep to the TTD board.) The meeting begins at 9:30am at Embassy Suites in South Lake Tahoe.

All things related to TTD besides the loop road – like the trial ferry service on the North Shore this summer and BlueGo bus service – are scheduled to be discussed at the May 15 council meeting.

With Lakeview Commons, this was the first time El Dorado County had formally approached the city about the request to consider the naming. Judi McCallum, assistant to Supervisor Norma Santiago, read a letter from her boss into the record.

The letter states the naming on Aug. 19, 2008, was supposed to be temporary.

Santiago on Tuesday night told Lake Tahoe News, “According to our lease, we have the ultimate naming authority. We will figure out how to do that.”

That is not how the city interprets the records.

When Swanson at the end of the meeting asked for a future agenda item to discuss the naming of this reconstructed area at El Dorado Beach, she didn’t receive a second. That means the council is good with the name Lakeview Commons.

The Board of Supervisors will take up the Lakeview Commons name issue May 8.

It was agreed by the council that at a future meeting the council would like to hear about potential funding sources to complete what was known as the 56-acre project and to talk about reconvening the steering committee. The project area includes Lakeview Commons and the land on the other side of Highway 50.