Clock ticking on South Shore loop road time line
By Kathryn Reed
STATELINE – In two months the Tahoe Transportation District board expects to know which alternatives for the loop road will be studied in the environmental documents, what businesses in the affected area think about the economic analysis, and it hopes to have finally appeased the South Lake Tahoe City Council with a nighttime airing of the issue.
Much of Friday’s TTD board meeting centered on what the newly created U.S. 50 South Shore Community Revitalization Project Business Review Committee should actually do.
This group has been tasked with reviewing the economic analysis that has been prepared. While it was stated they would perform a “peer review” of the financial document, that phrase was loosely used with acknowledgement it has many meanings.
They will determine the pros and cons of the economic analysis.
Their exact tasks will be outlined in a letter still to be written.
The area that would be impacted by the loop road. Photo/TTD
The following people will be on the committee, with those with an asterisk having until Feb. 15 to complete their form. Next to their name is the business or property they represent and classification/criteria they meet, according to TTD. Parenthetical information is from LTN.
• 986 Park Hotel, Chris Minnes, small local owned tourist accommodation. (Minnes manages the property. The owners are from Southern California.)
• Heavenly Mountain Resort, Pete Sonntag, large corporate recreation provider.
• Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce, B Gorman, local collective business representative.
• Tahoe Prosperity Center-Carson City rep, Lee Plemel, regional collective business representative. (TTD employee Alfred Knotts called the TPC a neutral party.)
• Sidestreet Boutique, Barbara Parina or Tara Parina, local small retail.
• Edgewood Companies, Mitchell Mize, local recreation provider-large commercial property owner.
• Tahoe Beach Club, Bob Mecay, large tourist accommodation. (Their project is undeveloped at the end of Kahle Drive in Stateline where the trailer park is.)
• Naked Fish landlord, Mike McKeen, small commercial property owner.
• Village Center landlord, Terry Hackett, large commercial property owner.* (TTD calls it Crescent V Center.)
• Dog Dog Cat, George Richter, local small retail owner.*
• Duck Tours, Shawn Kerney, small local recreation provider.*
• Holiday Inn Express, Pete MacRoberts, large corporate tourist accommodation.
• Raley’s, TBD, large corporate retail.*
• Stateline Brewery, Debbie Brown, local restaurant-dining.*
• Pacific Crest Gallery, Rosemary Wool, local small retail.
• Basecamp Pizza, Ted Kennedy/Ray Villaman, regional-local restaurant dining.*
• MontBleu, Jack Fisher, large corporate tourist accommodation.
• 7-Eleven-Subway landlord, Glyn Burge, small commercial property owner.
The board agreed to see if someone from the commercial real estate industry wants to be on the committee.
McKeen suggested Kathay Lovell, who owns the Bottle Shop, and Dave Jinkens, a consultant to opponents of the loop road, be added.
The economic analysis, according to TTD Executive Director Carl Hasty, will also undergo independent review by HDR consulting, which he said has expertise in resort finance.
While the TTD board will consider the committee’s recommendations, they are only that. Nothing that group suggests is binding. The committee is expected to meet Feb. 27, March 6 and March 20. Meetings will be open to the public. The facilitator has yet to be named.
Mark Rayback with Wood Rodgers, the firm hired by TTD to do work on the loop road project, will be the project engineer going forward.
The loop road is a proposal to make Highway 50 near Heavenly Village and then beyond the Stateline casinos into a city street and turn the city street behind Harrah’s-MontBleu into a state highway.
There will be a meeting in a month before the South Lake Tahoe City Council to discuss all things loop road. The expectation is a bit of history will be told, why the loop road is being considered and the alternatives still being considered.
Norma Santiago, El Dorado County’s TTD board member, wants the public to understand “no decision has been made.”
“This is just the kickoff for land use and economic vitality choices for that area,” Angela Swanson, who is the city’s rep to the TTD board, said. The city will begin working on its Stateline area plan in March, too.
Dates to know:
• March 12, 6pm South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting to discuss loop road; Lake Tahoe Airport.
• March 22, 9:30am Tahoe Transportation District meeting to receive progress report from Business Review Committee; Market Street office in Stateline.
• April 12, Tahoe Transportation District meeting to hear final report from Business Review Committee. (Time, location forthcoming.) Board likely to decide what should be studied in environmental documents.
“The loop road is a proposal to make Highway 50 near Heavenly Village and then beyond the Stateline casinos into a city street”. At least one of the public meetings had a proposal with no street between Heavenly Village and the stalled Chateau project(currently hi way 50). The city of Riverside Ca. has a similar venue in a very dense downtown. This is a great venue for a non automotive thoroughfare that gets used for awesome craft fairs at minimum. A so called expert in the past has called this proposed open area (promenade) critical to the success of the tourist core, stateline area. In effect, getting the Chateau (hole) project rolling. If desirable economic benefits are really the result of a 50 reroute…………
Where is the U.S. 50 South Shore Community Revitalization Project “Community” Review Committee.
this project isn’t just about business, it’s about how it affects the lives of residents as well.
I’d suggest either a 2nd committee or cut half the business owners to 9 and add 9 homewoners.
Lets see if Heavenly and Edgewood have the cajones to tell everyone that if there is no loop road there will be no further large scale investment. Where is Harvey’s and Harrah’s in this mix? MIA again. They are only the largest employer and have the most real estate.
And yes Tahoe Advocate, where are the private property owners in the equation.
Where is Caltrans? They will be the agents of eminent domain seeing as the council has pledged not to use it.
Dryclean, why would Heavenly and Edgewood say that? It isnt true and would be a dumb move.
I, also, wonder where the private citizens represented? There are many of us who use this route who have intelligent opinions, knowledge and education to offer to the group. That seems to be a big missing link here.
Who is representing the TAXPAYERS whose pockets will be picked for this boondoggle? I suggest the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.
Steve, you pay $0.18 per gallon is gas tax plus state gas tax. That money goes to roads, so its hardly pick pocketing. The funds already exist. And yes I guess you can call it a boondoggle, but that just strongly shows you have no intelligent comments against it. So it must be a good idea.
WHO IS GOING TO PAY THE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS to rebuild our new City Street?
is it going to be the State lINE Core?
is it going to be the City of SLT out of the Genral Fund?
maybe the parking meter’s can pay for it
Good grief, Chief, wouldn’t ya think it would be part of the project?
do your homework John $70,000,000.00 is for the Loop Road
and that is not enough money to accomplish that part of the project
look at the South Shore Vision Plan
look at the full page pictures of what the new City street is going to look like
here’s an old saying for you ” wish in one hand crap in the other and see what you get “
I thought the whole purpose is to create a pedestrian plaza, why know a city street?
If they cut behind the casinos, why not cut right through Raley’s parking lot, then they only need to deal with one property owner? Plus it could be good for the Crescent’s business. Go right through the middle, then connect with Pioneer & 50.
Chief, its all listed together, but the budget is rough. Clearly that has to be addressed but a final alternative has to be picked first.
But Chief, I am glad I dont see poop everywhere I look. In fact I think South Lake can rise again and quit looking like a dump.
Who would invest in the hole if the road goes around it? Is there money, and a performance bond for this project? I find it hard to believe it would be a positive for South Shore residents and business. Also police and fire ability to get to the fronts of all those businesses.
The TTD will outlive all of us so the project will most likely happen. No loop road is the best alternative .
Use some common sense and take the 70 million and fix the other streets that are more LESS SHOT!There’s so many deep holes in our local roads it dangerous when its icy, people swerve try not knock the hub caps off or screw with the alignment on their rides, keep the kid in the baby chair from hitting their heads on the roof.
Its shameful when you come from Nevada at stateline by the casinos ,soon you hit the ca. highway system your riding like in a wagon train of bumps,holes,no sidewalks by the hole.Talk about Blight..its not the business sector ,it’s the roads,curbs,gutters, lack of painted lines on the frigging highway.
Its more important to the main structure of the road system to fix than to create more costly problems.
I have a bad feeling about this loop road proposal. I think it will go on as planned no matter how many people speak out against it.The city council has little if any authoritY over The Tahoe Transportaion District nor does TRPA, Lahonton or the myrid of other agencies in town.
I would imagine it will be funded by a municpal bond, (can you say property tax increase?) with matchhing funds from the govt.
So who benefits? Certainly not the businesses affected by loss of traffic. Certainly not the people whose homes will be bulldozed.
So who profits from such a plan? As the old saying goes, “follow the money”. I’ll say it… who? It’s the casinos and the new Edgewood hotel.
For as long as I can remember So.Shore acted as kind of a funnel for the casinos. We’d get some visitors in our little town for the motels, resturaunts shops, gas stations and grocery stores. Now the stateline casinos want more of our vistors money which equates to less for the residents and workers of SLT.
I hope I’m wrong on this but only time will tell.Hoping for the best, Old Long Skiis
Grandma always said “if it’s not broken don’t fix it”! Leave the Loop Road project in the grave where it belongs…there is NO money to do it regardless. Get real people and please put this one to rest. Your time and talents could be much better put to use.
I recently watched and closely listened to the January 29th City Council Special meeting at which the candidate applicants to serve the remainder of Claire Fortier’s term were interviewed. It was so refreshing to hear so many new voices of intelligent and capable individuals in our community speaking out and offering positive, well thought out visions and suggestions on how to turn the tide on the demise of SLT so there might be something left here for the next generation other than more empty dilapidated storefronts and even fewer employment opportunities at jobs paying minimum wage. I was pleased and impressed at the vision some of these individuals possess, their forward thinking, and their understanding that the status quo will bring death to this town. This City is extremely broken and in serious need of fixing and the very stale “same old-same old, leave it alone, it’s good enough” type of thinking won’t make anything better, it will only guarantee more of the same which is the continued decline of SLT. And trying to go back to the past is going backward, and it doesn’t work. Fortunately some of the individuals who spoke actually give me hope that there’s some chance for a decent future for SLT. I hope some of these individuals will run for office in 2014 and 2016, get elected, and start infusing some much needed new thinking on how to solve SLT’s problems and right this ship.