Boat channel at Keys narrowing as lake drops
Navigational buoys at the mouth of the Tahoe Keys main channel on Nov. 25. Photo/LTN
Getting boats in and out of the Tahoe Keys is not getting any better as winter progresses.
Buoys for navigation and speed limits at the main channel are sitting to the side, in muck because the water level is so low.
If the lake level rises — especially in any significant way, it won’t be until the spring from runoff.
It remains to be seen if boaters who use the South Lake Tahoe waterway will get any help in regards to dredging. The marina owners are responsible for the main channel and the homeowners for the other inlet.
“(Tahoe Keys Property Owners Association) has a permit from Lahontan to dredge the homeowner’s channel in the lake. We have recently heard from their consultant that they will be submitting a request to amend the permit. We do not have anything in writing regarding this request to amend the permit,” Lauri Kemper, assistant executive officer with Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board, told Lake Tahoe News. “We do not have a complete application from the Tahoe Keys Marina for dredging.”
The U.S. Coast Guard station in Tahoe City said it would not issue a hazardous navigation warning because the marina is privately owned.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
The marina owner/GM has ZERO intentions of ever doing the dredging is my guess. They seem to be intentionally running the whole place and restaurant into the ground. We refuse to give those idiots any business and warn tourists about their crap.
Every one in this town will be hurt by the marina’s bad business practices. Hopefully some entity with business since will take over and teach this lake how to run a business instead of a hobby.
Django- you are wrong on this account. The owners of the marina know exactly what they are doing. Watch for the “soon to be” fire. It’s what happens when one has a history of insurance fraud.
Interesting. Possibly the homeowners assn. Can use their power.
If you look back at news paper articles in the past,(Tahoe Tribune) you will see that GM Spinnato said that the Marina already had a permit & would be dredging any day. One lie after another. The only one that believes him is himself.
The Marina has collected over hundreds of thousands of dollars from the slip holders for maintenance dredging and all they’ve gotten in return is Spinnato’s middle finger.
Spring is around the corner, get ready for another string of lies.
Capt. Steve: I’m afraid you are right about this spring. It would have been so easy to dredge this fall with the water so low, the good weather and no boat traffic. Boating will have a very slow start this year if any.
One would also think that property values in the Keys HOA area would begin to drop since one of the big draws and therefore main reason to own a home here is access to the lake from your own boat dock. This is difficult to impossible now, and even if we had a banner rain/runoff year there is much deferred maintenance needed. The bulkheads which form the channels and serve as the only dams keeping yards and even homes from tilting into the channels are in great need of upkeep.
Idiotically, it was a long term practice to cut holes in the steel sheet piling to drain rain and snowmelt water from yards and homes. Of course, it also took dirt and sand with it, causing some possible damage to home foundations, and definitely filling up the channels designed for boat traffic. Sink holes along the bulkheads are very common, many 4 or 5 feet deep.
Naturally, the HOA is very quiet about such things.
The Keys has fairly low HOA dues and fees for the type of facility it is. Look for significant increases in dues/fees and/or significant assessments to bail them out of the hole they are in on many fronts.
These dirty little secrets could, over time, extend to a dramatic loss of taxable value for the city/county if the current trends continue.
Cranky Gerald, Good assessment of the Keys and it’s bulkhead dilemma. I would add it’s not just HOA but also The marina bulkheads are looking bad as well. All the steel is slowly tilting towards the channels and then they’ll be nothing to hold the landfill in place.
A poorly constructed project from its very inception.
Let it go back to a marsh! OLS