Tahoe Keys Marina preps channel for dredging

Metal poles outlining the channel leading to the Tahoe Keys Marina were put in May 5. Photo/Kathryn Reed

By Kathryn Reed

After months of bickering, the channel leading to the Tahoe Keys Marina is about to be dredged.

Poles are in outlining where the dredging will take place. The boat that was to put in the silt screen had a hole in it, so that was delayed a day until Wednesday.

The marina received a permit earlier this year from Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board to dredge. The hold up has been the fighting between marina owners, Tahoe Keys Property Owners Association and the Tahoe Keys Beach and Harbor Association.

An agreement from 1991 is the root of the troubles – that and distrust between the parties. The document says the marina is to pay for one-half of the dredging and the other two groups are to equally split the other half. The marina wanted the money up front, the other groups wanted to pay upon completion.

Bid documents to do the work were not provided, so the associations did not want to blindly put up money. Plus, they didn’t want to pay for something in advance in case it didn’t really happen. The marina did not want to finance the project.

The original cost was estimated to be $2.2 million, but those close to the project said that price has been reduced by about one-third.

Work will not be done by Memorial Day, which is often the start of the boating season at Lake Tahoe. There are about 600 docks on this side. While the dredging occurs there will be no boat access in or out of the marina. Boaters could launch elsewhere and tie up at a friend’s dock on the homeowners’ side.

No one from the marina returned multiple calls.

“The parties are actively pursing resolution and it appears the dredging project will be completed as everyone wants,” Bob Henderson, legal counsel for the marina, told Lake Tahoe News.

The Beach and Harbor Association has a recording saying they are trying to get things worked out, but apparently are unaware the prep work for dredging started May 5.

Kirk Wooldridge, general manager of TKPOA, said there had been a “stalemate over all aspects of the project.” He did not know the marina was starting to work on its channel.

The TKPOA channel is currently being dredged, with all work expected to be done May 21. It will be open to two-way boat traffic May 22 – the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, Wooldridge said.

Wooldridge explained that the sand that was dug up was placed on the beach per state agency requirements. He told Lake Tahoe News the discoloration was temporary and that the dredged material is already starting to blend in with the rest of the beach.

Without the marina returning calls, it is not known where its dredged material will go. In the past it has been sucked out and put into a holding area near the Beach and Harbor Association’s parking lot on Venice Drive.

It also isn’t known how long this channel will be off limits. Original estimates were two months, but now boaters tell Lake Tahoe News it should open in June if there are no obstacles.

Another bone of contention between the marina and TKPOA is that homeowners are supposed to be able to launch for free if the boat is registered to the person whose name is on the property deed. Now the marina is saying it will cost $90 for homeowners to launch.