TRPA going after owners of illegal fences in water

The high-end Tahoe Beach Club development in Stateline has an illegal fence. Photo/Anthony Spatucci

By Kathryn Reed

Illegal fences going into Lake Tahoe have caught the attention of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

Property owners must get a permit from the bi-state regulatory agency before construction. This was not done.

A TRPA inspector was at the Tahoe Beach Club on June 2 to talk to the Stateline property owner.

“The fencing is not allowed, but if you look you will see some sort of metal material buried in the sand in the water on the other side,” Tom Lotshaw, spokesman for TRPA, told Lake Tahoe News. “The TRPA inspector asked the property owner to come up with a timely plan to remove that buried metal material and to remove the temporary fencing, but allowed them to leave the temporary fencing in place for now since the buried material on the other side could be a safety risk.”

Just north of Cave Rock a chain link fence is extending into the lake. It starts from the land, with several sections extending into the water. It looks like it could have been out of the water during the drought. Now it just looks like trash.

A chain link fence has become a water hazard near Cave Rock. Photo/Anthony Spatucci

TRPA on June 5 contacted that property owner. According to Lotshaw, the landowner intends to let TRPA know this week how he plans to remove the fence. 

California and Nevada have different rules regarding the public’s access to the shore. This is why there tend to be more fences on the Nevada side to keep people out.

California owns a public trust easement that allows access for the public year-round between the high water mark (6,229 feet) to low water mark and below. In a drought, this can be a large swath of land, aka beach.

Such an easement does not exist in Nevada. This means it would be trespassing to walk along private property or to dock a boat there.

While it may be private property, owners still must abide by the law when it comes to putting up fences at the lake.