Updated Dec. 12:

By Kathryn Reed

One of the eyesores entering Kings Beach will be gone by this time in 2018, according to the CTC.

Placer County with state funds funneled to it via the California Tahoe Conservancy is planning to purchase two parcels on the corner of highways 28 and 267. An automotive shop currently operates there.

Both boards this week took action to solidify the deal. Placer County supervisors at their Dec. 6 meeting in Kings Beach approved the Griff Creek project, as well as the negative declaration. The CTC board on Dec. 8 allocated the $1.2 million in Proposition 1 funds to purchase the properties. The Conservancy will retain the right to the coverage – a commodity the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency has created.

While the CTC staff made it seem like this was all a done deal, Placer County officials after the meeting told LTN not so fast.

“We now have to move into negotiations with the sellers of the properties – and so it is not a done deal, yet. And while it will be nice to have a more attractive entrance to Kings Beach, the goal of the agencies is to restore the environment in a stream environment zone – an area that we probably shouldn’t have allowed development on in the first place, but we are much smarter about those things now than we were back in the day. So we need to restore the area to its natural habitat… everything else is an added bonus,” DeDe Cordell with the county told Lake Tahoe News.

The goal is for the 4,300-square-foot auto shop to be removed, along with 11,000-square-feet of impervious surface. This acreage is considered 100 percent stream environment; 97 percent of the property is covered. Griff Creek borders the property.

According to the Placer County staff report, “Once the properties are acquired and site demolition and stabilization activities are complete, future improvements on the private properties will be planned and designed with further community input.”

CTC would like to turn this into a gateway for Kings Beach that is more welcoming.

The tenant will receive $70,000 to relocate. Relocation should occur by fall 2017, with the project being done by the end of 2018.

Placer County will be responsible for cleaning up the site, if need be. In the past it has been operated as a gas station.