TAU battle looming between Placer County, SLT
By Mark Anderson, Sacramento Business Journal
There may be a duel this winter over hotel rooms around Lake Tahoe.
Placer County is interested in paying about $3.7 million to buy hotels from private owners and demolish them in South Lake Tahoe, which is in El Dorado County.
South Lake Tahoe doesn’t wantto lose the hotels, along with the important associated sales and room taxes.
Placer County wants the hotels so it can open development of new lodging along Placer County’s north shore of Lake Tahoe, which hasn’t had a new hotel built since 1959.
Stop crying Nancy. Typical non-foresight by the city of SLT until someone else comes up with the idea. Good riddance to both motels. We will all enjoy the new open space.
There are other motels that can be had for a cheaper price than the Howard Johnson, this motel makes money and is in good shape. Removing it would not give much as far as open space. I doubt the city will never give up these TAU s
Interesting situation. There are certainly hotels/motels that the City would be better off without (esthetically wise, and when’s the last time you heard that word in a discussion of SLT development?)
But, obviously, SLT, not Placer County, is going to have to pick which ones. And there, politics will raise its ugly head in the ugliest manner possible.
I’ll hesitate in naming which City Council folks will be looking for the out that most profits them rather than the City itself. Largely because at least one of them doesn’t like to be called by name, and, in fairness and balance, I likewise post under a pseudonym.
Bulldoze the sleazy monthly junk. SLT needs to pick the hotels and hopefully get the owners on board with incentives to sell. This is exactly what this town needs; a higher quality bed base. Too many ghetto rooms in this town leads to lower pricing and no reinvestment. Kerry no doubt understands this, hopefully things don’t get too compromised in the politics.
Please buy them all and bulldoze them! Let the $50 a night crowd stay on the North shore!
Why doesn’t Alpine County bulldoze their own dive motels? Both Tahoe City, and Kings Beach have old poorly rated dive motels (per Yelp).
Why does a city need to get it’s TAU’s from another city? Why should Alpine County grow, and South Lake Tahoe shrink?
Alpine County’s cities are smaller than SLT, why do they get to grow their cities beyond what they have historically been at the detriment of SLT?
let’s convert them into free ‘warming shelters’; the placard art form can flourish, maybe even with ltcc credit…
“Free” warming shelters? There is no such thing as free. SOMEBODY must pay for them. Property tax, utility bills, cleaning, maintenance, policing,. . . endless expenses that SOMEBODY must pay.
I think Tahoe’s biggest problem is that most of the residents have absolutely no understanding of basic economics. They always think somebody else should take care of everything for them.
careaboutthecommunity
Where did Alpine County enter this ????
Care, alpine county does not have TAUs as it is not in the TRPAs jurisdiction. The areas you names are in Placer county. The motels that are trying to be purchased were chosen because they are in a stream zone and I they developers can get 3 times more TAUs from stream zone areas.
In order to get the extra TAU’s that Placer County wants, the hotels have to be in a stream zone, which is where the 2 mentioned are. And are rebuilt in “town centers”.
The article also says, ” Agencies usually have to get local agency acceptance to do swaps”.
Maybe SLT has no say in the matter. Especially since TRPA wants the old hotels out of the stream zones.
My mistake meant Placer county, too late to edit!
Actually Steven the local agency is the city, much like when the old C & M lodge was torn down and replaced with a park. The city had to approve the transfer to Edgewood in order for them to proceed.
reloman, Yes, the demolition of C&M rooms was a good thing. The small neighborhood park is much better than what was there. A run down old place that had become weekly and monthly rentals. It was in bad shape! An old motel that was showin’ its age.
I’m not real thrilled about Edgewood properties building a hotel and timeshares on that property fronting the lakeshore. But you know how it goes around here. Enough money to the right agency and you can build ANYTHING,ANYWHERE!!! Unless of course you’re just a regular guy who wants to build a deck or put up a storage shed. Then you might have problems. You got the big bucks? You have no problem getting approved. OLS
old Hal and old Tom selling out our Town again.
Town centers just like the one that’s going to be in Meyers.
it’s all part of the Big Plan.
Chief would love to place a bet with you that old Tom will not vote to allow the TAUs for HOJOs to go anywhere.
Smells fishy and spreading the dirt all around.
Placer Co., stay out of El Dorado Co.
SLT clean up the ratty motels/properties and use the TAUs to an environmental benefit for this area.
reloman:
Nor will Hal Cole vote to allow TAUs to leave the City. The topics of commodities (TAUs, Units of Residential Use, and Commercial Floor Area) have been regularly discussed at the City Council meetings for years and Cole has been very vocal about protecting those commodities from ever leaving the City unless SLT was more than adequately compensated.
Well, since Placer Cty is taking action to help clean up a stream zone and this is one of TRPA’s priorities, SLT’s ok may not be needed. TRPA says ok and it’s a done deal. SLT is just sitting on their thumbs as usual and will once again lose out.
OLS observation of if you have money you can build anything while snide also reflects that if you want to build something it takes millions to get through the approval process so oftentime what gets built is by those who have they money. It’s been reported that Edgewood has spent over a decade and north of $15million to get the project where it sits today that does not include construction costs, financing costs, mitigation etc. I would guess it’s somewhere over $100 -$125million. Think about over $100 million for about 150 units and what is built will be a net reduction in sediment loading into the lake.So while your comment is framed in a way that intimates only the wealthy can game or manipulate the system I think is faulty. The regulatory process is brutal,APC, TRPA, litigation etc. and makes sure these projects meet all the regulatory requirements. But because of these regulations it also ensures that only big investment can get a project done.
After speaking with someone in the know about HOJO, this is a dead deal and has been dead for a couple of months.
I see the work going on at Edgewood every day. Have they described, dedicated or at least illustrated the location of the new “PUBLIC” beach yet??
PS
I agree with Slapshot. That’s why people build McMansions instead of cabins.
True. When it costs you $40K just for the permits, you’re not going to build a $100K shack.
People think it’s the ‘greedy developers’ who cause housing prices to be so high. It’s actually your government. Again.
We, in Tahoe City area, do not want those credits, so that a big tall hotel can be built and ruin our small town with a faux village and ‘high end’ shopping. We just want our town to remain our community, but our local politicians want tax dollars. And they want to help out a developer who already has purchased a property and is in need of their help to get TAU’s. It all stinks.