Kings Beach event center lease terminated

The controversial lease agreement between North Tahoe Public Utility District and Laulima Kings Beach Event Center LLC has been terminated – and not because of public outcry.

“LKBEC did not submit sufficient documentation to the district’s third-party financial consultant to satisfy the contingencies in the lease agreement and otherwise verify LKBEC’s operational and financial ability to fulfill the terms of the lease agreement,” NTPUD said in a press release.

The lease with Laulima was approved Sept. 18 and effective Oct. 5. That approval also began various performance timelines, including a 60-day financial contingency period which ended Dec. 4.

The board voted Dec. 12 to sever ties with Laulima.

This means the operation of the North Tahoe Event Center in Kings Beach will remain in the hands of TCPUD. North Tahoe PUD said it will be “investigating alternatives that reduce or eliminate its on-going operational deficit.”

The district has operated the center since 1979.

According to Duane Whitelaw, general manager of TCPUD, this all came about from a “property transfer from the county of Placer who had received the property and building improvements from the state of California following the passage of a voter-approved Parks Bond Act. A condition of the state’s acquisition and grant which carried forward in a deed restriction to the county and ultimately to the NTPUD was the property acquired could only be used for ‘park purposes’.”

The board will be discussing what to do next at its January meeting.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report