Letter: How a developer can prepare an area plan
Publisher’s note: The following is an exchange between Tahoe Vista resident Ellie Waller and Placer County Planning Director Michael Johnson regarding the Martis Valley Area Plan.
Johnson: I have provided responses to your inquiries below. It appears there is some mis-information being circulated, as the county is not a part of the preparation of the “Martis Valley West Area Plan”. As noted below, there is nothing in county law that prohibits a property owner from preparing an area plan. Should a property owner chose to prepare such a plan, the plan would be subject to the same extensive public review as any other document submitted to the county. For further clarification, I have provided responses below. Let me know if you have any questions.
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Waller: I found out that Placer County is the lead on the Martis Valley West Area Plan. Placer (?) has enlisted Lew Feldman, attorney for the project and Kurt Krieg, the applicant for the project to complete the draft Martis Valley West Area Plan before the public has opportunity to participate and comment. Placer County has not retained the services of Lew Feldman or Kurt Krieg. The applicant is preparing the Martis Valley West Area Plan as a part of its application – there is nothing in county regulations that prohibit an applicant from preparing such a plan. As is customary, any submitted applications/documents will be processed through the county, and a full public review will be included.
1). When was Mr. Feldman and Mr. Kreig asked by Placer County to start this process?
Johnson: As noted above, the county did not retain the services of Mr. Feldman or Mr. Krieg. This is an applicant-initiated project.
Waller: 2). Why wasn’t the public asked to participate? Being this is the first Resort Recreation District-based area plan amendment to the Regional Plan update separate from the RPU EIS, I believe Placer and TRPA must be even more diligent in engaging the public.
Johnson: Once an application is submitted to the county, the public will be engaged in the review process. At this time, the county has no documents for the public to review.
Waller: Further, while the proposed specific plan is a project, the proposed area plan is an amendment to the TRPA Regional Plan. This process will set a precedent for all future area plans, master plans, and other special plans which may be proposed to the TRPA Regional Plan and/or Placer County’s future area plan, and it would be in all of our best interests to ensure the public is sufficiently notified, engaged, and included in these plan processes.
Johnson: As with all county and TRPA projects, the public will have more than sufficient opportunity to review and provide comments prior to any public hearings.
Waller: Mr. Feldman stated the area plan document will possibly be released in two weeks. He also stated that because there are no adjacent private property owners this is a non-traditional area plan, and the area plan process did not warrant notification to people in North Shore.
Johnson: I cannot attest to Mr. Feldman’s statements. As will all county projects, a robust public review process will be included, and residents of North Shore will have adequate opportunity to review and comment on the proposal.
Waller: As several members of the public stated, the project that is driving this area plan will mean development in the Lake Tahoe Basin that all of us can see forever, and traffic all of us will be impacted by. I request Placer County notify and engage all who will be impacted by this project, including residents, second homeowners and visitors who currently enjoy the mountain ridgeline views along North Shore.
Johnson: Until such time that the visual analysis is completed as part of the environmental review, it is premature to conclude what impacts may or may not result. A visual impact analysis is being prepared as part of the environmental document for this project, and the visual analysis will assess impacts that may be created by the project.
Waller: Finally, I have been asking for updates to the process since September 2013. Therefore it was even more surprising to learn that East-West Partners and others have already started the Martis Valley West Area Plan process behind closed doors. This is yet another precedent that Placer County should not be allowing. As you are aware, North Shore communities are already frustrated with finding out about new Plans and projects and what they mean “after the fact.”
Johnson: As noted above, there is nothing that prohibits a property owner from preparing/submitting an area plan as part of its application. Should such a document be submitted, that document will be subject to extensive county and public review. Accordingly, there will be plenty of opportunity for the public to review and comments on submitted documents prior to any public hearing.
I don’t think one needs to pay a scenic consultant to know that when you build 112 new homes on a ridgeline that can be seen from Lake Tahoe, there will be a scenic impact.
The project itself is a despicable precedent. The public process related to the project (or rather, lack thereof) just makes it that much worse.
Thanks, TRPA, for this wonderful new Plan that builds on our natural ridgelines and gives the planning lead over to the developer. Way to go!! That is, watching out for Tahoe and all…
J&B, Yes, the developers along with investors, lawyers and consultants and paid off govt. agencies have these things all figured out.
Go thru the process of purchase of property, plans, having the area re zoned for commercial / residential, paying off permits and fees and then at the very end hold a few public meetings where the public is ignored, and that’s AFTER the whole deal has already been approved and the starting date for construction has been set.
The Martis Valley West Area Plan is a prime example of this tactic as is the plan for Meyers here on So. Shore.
Thanks Tahoe Regional Developement Agency (TRDA) for destroyng more of Tahoe’s naturual beauty! You must be proud for wrecking another beautiful area in The Tahoe Basin! Old Long Skiis
The Sierra Club lawsuit against the TRPA Regional Plan Update (RPU) would have stopped this. Now these battles can be fought one by one if enough interested residents can be brought together to do it.
Lew Feldman along with the “sold out” TRPA are leading the charge to cover every open view space in the basin.
This is another “follow the money” story.
Ellie Waller is to be commended for her attempt to bring this corrupt process to light. The North Shore residents need to get organized and put a stop to this projct.
Sounds like the process we’re dealing with here in Meyers Ca. Hmmmmm ….. Isn’t that interesting
Area Plan wrapped-up before the public has any input !
The wholesale sell off of Tahoe is like a runaway train! Meyers, Martis Valley and now Crystal Bay. At the Meyers meeting we didn’t get to discuss if we wanted this plan, it was”how high do you want the buildings”. What a joke!!!
I know Kae doesn’t allow swearing on LTN, but I’ll self-censor and say this f%&;**@^ s#%has to come to a screeching halt!
If we don’t reign in these developers, paid off politcians and govt. agencies there will be nothing left of this beautiful place! OLS
Umm… Old Skiis. Look around Lake Tahoe from Google Earth. Notice something? Development everywhere.
The US Congress had thought of making Lake Tahoe a National Park in 1900, but by 1935 this is what was said, “The inspector for the national park system reported his conclusions in Washington: … in its pristine state, the proposed Lake Tahoe National Park area was worthy of recognition as a national park; HOWEVER, under the present conditions, I do not feel justified in recommending this area for future considerations as a national park.” The inspector cited as reasons the facts that: 1) more than 90 percent of the proposed park area, slightly less than two hundred square miles along the lakeshore, was already in the private hands of about two thousand individual owners.
Sorry, but the cows left the “no development” barn years ago.
rock4tahoe, Yes rampant developement is everywhere around the Tahoe Basin and beyond. My Dad still talks about ,as a kid, he recalls much of San Jose was mostly full of orchards. One by one the farms , ranches, mountains and fields with horse and hiking trails, were bought up and turned into housing tracts and commercial centers. The same is happening here, our forests, meadows, mountains, lakefront properties are all being bulldozed and built upon. I guess some would call that “progress”.
At least I’ll remember how it used to be. Sadly, OLS
Old Long Skiis:
My Father used to tell me stories about his Great Grandfather coming across country by wagon from Massachusetts and settling in Marysville, CA and about how he (my Dad) watched teams of horses drag logged redwoods down Woodside Road (which was then only a dirt road) to the corner of Middlefield Road and Main Street in Redwood City to where the bay was located (no Highway 101 or Veterans Boulevard then). I was born in Palo Alto and remember my Mom driving on El Camino which was surrounded almost entirely by open fields, from Atherton to Mt. View to her Father’s home and the only way you knew you were going from one city to the next was by the signs on the roadside identifying the next city or town. After marrying we lived in our Menlo Park home for 26-years and I left for work one morning at 8:45, came home for lunch at 12:45 and the house directly behind ours was gone. No house, not a single tree, not a single shrub, no debris, no equipment. It was a leveled, dirt lot. In less than four hours everything had changed and construction on a mini-mansion started immediately thereafter. I learned right then that there’s no way to stop the future and the best one can do is attempt to control the outcome in some reasonable manner.
I miss the long ago state of California where I was born and grew up and now I won’t even go to the Peninsula or any other Bay Area town. The hard truth is that the old must move over and make way for the young; it’s kind of the natural order of things. I’ve started believing that we old folks have earned the right to just enjoy life and not worry so much about what we won’t be here to see. It works for me.
Spouse – 4-mer-usmc
Spouse-4-mer-usmc, Thank you for that letter! I am guilty of clinging to the past, but as you say “the old must move over and make way for the young it’s kind of the natural order of things”. Well said. I just hope there’s enough left of old Tahoe for future generations to enjoy.
Sure, I won’t be here, it’s just that I don’t want this beautiful place we call home to become over built and polluted.
I reckon I’m just an old sentimental guy who wants to save what’s left of “Old Tahoe”. Lets try to save what we can.
Speaking of such things, has anybody heard about what’s going on with the TRPA and the Barton House?
Take care and lets try to save some of what’s left of Lake Tahoe history, the lakes clarity, the environment of this incomparable place whether it be ridge tops, our shoreline , our meadows and streams. Save it ALL for future generations. OLS
Long Skiis:
I know what you’re saying, but like it or not the young will decide and do what they believe is in their best interest. In my life I’ve done my part to protect the environment and support other causes I believed were important and now it’s up to the young to do their part. I’m going to stop stewing and fretting since controlling those guys is long past a done deal and just kick back in a comfortable lounge chair on my deck with a great cup of coffee and enjoy the beautiful environment around me. It’s time for a nice, peaceful life. I think we’ve earned that.
Have a good one – Spouse of 4-mer-usmc