To the community,

I love my old truck even though it’s a little unsightly. It always gets me there and back, gets good gas mileage and it’s paid for. It is not the end of the world if I spill a little paint in the truck bed or load a river-wet dog into the front seat. Indeed, my yellow Lab believes stoplights are made for shaking.

I can be seen on any summer day, at any red light, with muddy water dripping from my face and arms, and a spiky-wet yellow dog laughing next to me.

Just last week, I was disheartened to hear, yet again, from one of our public servants, that “The Meyers people want a bikeable/walkable community so there will be no need for cars”. No, we never said that. However, the county and TRPA did say that and repeat it every chance they get. What was actually said at the meetings I attended was that we would like to have our bike paths finished.

Good grief, Pat Lowe would roll over in her grave if she knew how many grants were applied for to finish a bike path that was essentially paid for 20 years ago. As long as our bike paths remain unfinished, these “sustainable” groups and agency consultants will keep applying for grants and get them.

I also went around and around with the county regarding zone changes in Meyers. My shop was in the Commercial/Light Industrial zone, one of four separate zones in our commercial corridor. The TRPA’s Regional Plan update changed all four zones to one zone called Town Center, which is mixed use: residential, commercial, industrial, retail and tourist accommodation, all thrown together in a sort of “no-zone” zoning.

I asked what that means and the answer was akin to the old Abbot and Costello skit “Who’s on first”.

It went like this:

“Has my property zone changed?”

“No.”

“This new zoning map shows my property in the Town Center zone.”

“Yes.”

“So, is it Town Center or Commercial/Light Industrial?”

“It’s Commercial/Light Industrial.”

“Then why doesn’t the map say Commercial/Light industrial Zone?”

“Because you are zoned Town Center.”

“What?!”

No, what’s on third.

The walkable part of this bikeable/walkable community sounds all snuggly in theory, but I wouldn’t enjoy being forced to hump my groceries home every day because cars aren’t allowed. It’s simply unrealistic to “incentivize” people out of their cars. In the big city maybe, but not in Meyers. Who really wants to walk to an appointment in a snowstorm? Are we really going to walk to some new transit center, catch a bus to town, walk to another bus stop to catch another bus to Stateline or wherever? Do we really have that kind of spare time? And more important, are wet pets allowed on public transportation?

If you see “multi-use” in a planning document where “multi-use” wasn’t before, pay attention, your property value just changed. Why? Because now, a condo can be built right next door. Wonder how those tenants are going to feel when I fire up my panel saw at 10pm? Just like every other business owner, I work late far more often than I care to admit.

A housing project for seasonal ski resort employees could go in beside the Cabinet Shop. Have you ever experience the decibels of a high RPM power tool called a Router, at say, 6am? I can hear the sheriff’s banging on our doors already. If we can’t do our work in an area that we invested our money and futures on, in an area that was Commercial/Light Industrial but which the TRPA changed over 18 months ago without notification I might add, that, changes our property values and our lives. These small service businesses will be forced to move. Perhaps we don’t contribute enough tax dollars for the agencies liking? Perhaps a large housing project/condo/hotel would keep the TRPA fat for a while, but who is going to fix a frozen pipe or overflowing toilet on a freezing January night? By the time a plumber comes up from Gardnerville they’d be all wet. Which begs the question, are wet agency staffers allowed on public transportation?

Look, we have an outgoing county supervisor that is shoving this bikeable/walkable business down our throats. She has also been working hard to push this Meyer’s plan through, and sadly, will not disclose why this has to be adopted before she leaves office. Every candidate for Supervisor 5 has publicly stated that this plan should be held until after the election. They don’t want to inherit a nightmare any more than we residents do.

There was a private meeting three weeks ago that our supervisor organized to presumably have the six members of the Meyers Community Advisory Council vote this plan forward. As of this writing, the homeowner’s, business owners and residents of Meyers have not had access to this revised Meyer’s Area Plan. Thank goodness this was thwarted by a handful of party crashing Meyers residents who left work, left their important projects to stop this mess. They did not vote that day, nor did the attending MCAC endorse the plan.

I would hate to open the “paper” one day and read that “Meyers is thrilled to have their new area plan adopted and are moving forward to become the nation’s prototype for Pack & Stack living” but if we, as a community, don’t keep our eyes open, it just might happen.

For more information on the current Meyers Area Plan, go online.

Angela Olson, Meyers resident and business owner