S. Tahoe parking garage ownership questioned
By Kathryn Reed
Title to the South Lake Tahoe parking garage is in the name of the non-existent city Redevelopment Agency. It’s supposed to be owned by the South Tahoe Joint Powers Parking Financing Authority.
A contract was signed in 2002 by then City Manager Dave Jinkens to make that happen. But the title was never filed.
Even so, the city has been in the habit of listing the parking garage as a Redevelopment Agency asset.
When the state did away with redevelopment agencies it forced jurisdictions to unload those holdings and give the state the money after debts were paid. This would technically mean the city would have to sell the garage, the bondholders would be on the losing end and could potentially sue the city, and that there would be no guarantee the garage remained a garage. Though the city could buy it.
But what the city wants is for the state to acknowledge the original intent of the agreement and allow the title to be filed 11 years after it was supposed to happen.
The council members acting as the Parking Authority board voted July 2 during a special meeting for this to happen. Late in the afternoon the oversight board (which handles redevelopment issues) seconded that vote. El Dorado County Supervisor Ron Mikulaco was the lone dissenting vote.
Now the motion goes to the Department of Finance for a ruling.
“It is unfortunate the city administration did such sloppy work in the early and mid-2000s to put the city in this no-win situation,” El Dorado County Auditor Joe Harn told Lake Tahoe News.
The city has asked Harn to leave the parking garage off the due diligence report that he expects to have prepared by the end of the summer. If it were on there, the state would say sell it. The city expected the DDR late last year. There is disagreement between the auditor’s staff and city staff regarding whether the necessary documents have been sent to Placerville for the DDR to be written.
The DDR is a document California came up with when it decided to abolish redevelopment agencies.
Once the DDR is signed off by the state, the successor agency, which is comprised of the City Council members, must devise a Long Range Property Management Plan for the remaining assets that the state eventually would vote on.
Also caught up in the paperwork is the sale of the lot on the corner of Highway 50 and Ski Run Boulevard that the city’s Redevelopment Agency once owned. A buyer has been waiting in the wings since last year.
The other thing the council did while acting as the parking board was to authorize going forward with the next step to have the bonds on the structure be refinanced. They cannot be refinanced until the deed is filed as it was supposed have been done in 2002.
There is no longer money to cover all the debt, so refinancing is imperative. What happens if the state says no to any of this, would be the subject of future meetings.
Will any one claim any thing to do with the infamous parking structure? And does the debt go with the owner?
Sell it !
South Lake Tahoe has to be among the most contractually inept ‘cities’ in the country. Every time we lift our heads from the Tourism Trough of ‘America’s All Year Playground’ (snort, snicker)we find another example of inept management ready to bite us in the ass. I’m curious to know who was on City Council at that time. Where do we find these people? Walmart?
I had previously read that the corner of Ski Run and 50 was slated for development as a CVS pharmacy/store.
Not a bad thing that the status is in limbo as this prominent location surely deserves more than a drugstore.
Perhaps the CVS deal will fail and more creative minds will find a better use for this property.
The City should sell the asset to private enterprise.
Thanks LTN for continuing to let the public know what really happens in the committee’s of our city government.
The fact that the City has requested that the County Auditor omit the mismanagement issues of its dysfunctional parking garage in his due diligence report is extremely troubling and smells of an outright cover-up.
Taxpayers are fortunate that the County Auditor appears to be a no-nonsense straight shooter.
Bring back the grand jury, let’s see who’s left without chairs again when the music stops.
If the State says to sell, who would buy it, and at what price, what the bond holders would have to agree if the price was lower than what is owed. Also this article states that if sold it is possible that it may not stay a parking garage. WOW where in the world did this come from, in order to change the zoning and get any kind of permit to change the use would probably be impossible as it would have to come from the city and TRPA. Change of use is a no starter
Interesting revelation for sure. Good research Kae.
However, think about how anything other than this sort of situation could result from the city administration’s total lack of continuity of leadership. This is evident from the constantly swinging door to the city counsels office, the city manager’s office, and the forever morphing city council.
The byzantine deals/contracts/promises we have all seen are just the tip of the iceberg.
Until a plan is developed which is followed for more than three months,this chaos is our life.
I doubt if there is a professional contract administrator on earth who could ride herd on the series of agreements the city has in effect.
We need to abolish the current administration entirely and start over.
KAE Please go way back in your files !!! Who What When and Why were those clowns allowed to screw the taxpayers in 2002.
Who signed the GOODOLDBOYGIRL Check?? KNOWBODYKNOWS !! YEAH !! WRONG!
Vail resorts will buy it and charge 6 times more.
Don’t forget … the cinema has a contract with the city so its patrons can use that parking garage for free while they watch movies. If its sold, that contract is no longer enforceable and the theater owner would have a real nice juicy lawsuit with the city, loss of use, breech of contract, contractual interference.
If anyone in the city is reading this let me give you a real simple out. Brown in his dictate said that all cities could / should honor their contracts, tell them to honor your contract you need to keep that garage. Luck!
Oh KAE
Where are the Clowns ?? Me thinks THEY ARE STILE PLAYING THEIR GAME !!