By Kathryn Reed

MEYERS – Get rid of the bug station, put in a crosswalk on Highway 50 and have a welcome sign.

Those are just the basics that people in Meyers want.

But when it came to free form discussion Wednesday night of what else they want, the ideas ranged from the immediate – create an app that includes all things Meyers – to the more ambitious – build a direct link to the Pacific Crest Trail.

Adam Lewandowski with TRPA explains the area plan process Feb. 13 to Meyers residents and business owners. Photo/Kathryn Reed

Some of the other ideas include restoring the Meyers Creek which once ran through town, erect wayfinding signs, establish a recreation hub, build a sign that involves recreation like bouldering and/or a slide, have parking lots that connect to trails, make the Old Meyers Grade more welcoming, have Tahoe Paradise Park be more prominent, provide public transit that goes to Reno, put a bridge across the Upper Truckee River.

This South Shore enclave at the base of Echo Summit embarked on a path starting last April to capitalize on assets instead of reinventing itself. An advisory panel of seven (three representing recreation, two residents, two business people) has been meeting since August to fine-tune elements from community meetings.

Facilitator and Meyers resident Michael Ward said locals, not tourists have been the focus — which he said is the way planning should be done.

The priorities of this group were outlined Feb. 13:

• Maintain Meyers’ unique character – this in part means focusing on what locals want, not how to attract tourists; as well as embracing heritage.

• On the ground improvements – do things, don’t just talk.

• Simplify permitting – potentially streamlining how special events can take place.

• Recreation – connect trails, make Washoe Meadows State Park more integral.

• Bike-pedestrian friendly – have businesses along routes so people can easily stop.

• Clustered parking – so people don’t have to drive from one business to the next.

• Decrease Caltrans right of way – so the frontage paralleling Highway 50 is put to better use.

All of the information is being gathered to be put into an area plan that will eventually have to be approved by the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors and Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board. It then becomes the planning bible for Meyers. Area plans replaced community plans in the new Regional Plan. (Despite a lawsuit filed this week, the Regional Plan passed in December is the law of the land today.)

The draft area plan for Meyers will be developed between now and May. Another community meeting will be called in May to go over it. The final area plan should be done in June.