Transportation officials interested in KMS site
By Kathryn Reed
Kingsbury Middle School may be turned into a transportation hub of sorts.
“For that location to work definitely the buildings would have to be modified,” Carl Hasty, executive director of Tahoe Transportation District, told Lake Tahoe News. “One thing we are getting into is some facilities planning for the bus yard. We want to know what options are out there.”
The fleet of 40 BlueGo buses that are all owned by TTD are stored on property that is rented from South Lake Tahoe in the industrial area. This location is too small to keep all the vehicles inside and it requires some upgrades, according to Hasty. The ventilation system needs to be revamped to handle the compressed natural gas vehicles (CMG), plus buses are getting taller. There is no fueling station at the city yard nor is there a bus washing facility.
TTD owns the CMG fueling station at Lake Tahoe Airport and then contracts for diesel service.
Talks are at the initial stages between TTD and Douglas County School District for a potential 30-year lease.
Douglas County School District in January 2012 voted to put the 10-acre school on the market with an asking price is $4 million. To date no one has made a formal offer, though there have been multiple inquiries. The buildings encompass 36,000-square-feet.
The district consolidated its three lake schools into two starting with the 2008-09 school year because of declining enrollment. It has sat empty since then.
At the board’s April meeting it was determined that renting the site could be an option instead of only selling it. For what price remains a huge unknown. Tenant improvements would be part of the equation.
TTD is hoping to have its facilities plan done by the end of the year. What is likely to be a document that looks at needs for the next 20 years will be designed to address at short- and long-term issues. Until that time, Hasty said it would be premature to enter an agreement with DCSD.
Hasty said facilities dollars are hard to find, but it’s easier to do so with a plan in hand.
Part of the equation is if the basin goes to a regional transportation system, what would that look like. The East Shore Express based in Incline Village is growing in popularity and may become permanent. That would make having a transportation site there be logical as well. TART is the North Shore transit agency. That entire fleet is CMG. The facility is at Cabin Creek on Highway 89 outside of the Lake Tahoe Basin.
Another component is that TTD offices are currently inside of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency offices in Stateline. If the bus garage were to move down the road to the KMS site, so could the employees.
So the plan is to turn a neighborhood school into an Industrial Complex. Is this what the neighbors want or don’t they get to say.
40 buses up and down that street everyday I sure that’s what the neighborhood wants. But Carl Hasty does not listen it shove,shove,shove.
In a mixed use area, commercial, police, court, public park, no dense residential that I can see. Maybe a house or two mixed in with the commercial. Might be a good location, other than the steep exit off of 50 during the icy winter conditions.
look at google- its already industrial,business.
looks like busses enter and leave right off 50
If the net result is less busses transversing the entire route from stateline to the y , its a good thing for air quality and traffic.
Look for the unintended consequences resulting from this. New signal light (not totally a bad thing), new reasons for the loop road, loss of revenue to the City from storage fees, loss of fuel taxes (unless exempt). Busses should be getting smaller as ridership continues to fall, instead of forty big buses you could have 60 smaller buses and run more often including adding a route to Meyers down Pioneer Trail legally, the weight limit on Pioneer is 10 tons GVW. My opinion only.
The worst left hand turn in town. They need to add a center merg/turn lane.
Though the football field would be a great place for Carl’s trans lake Zeppelins to land.
The way this man wants to spend money he should be in DC.
It’s been assumed that Kingsbury Middle School would eventually be converted into an office-type use, generating about 300 additional daily trips at the intersection of Highway 50 and Lake Village Drive.
A bus yard would be quite a different matter, and I can only speak for myself but I’m certain the Lake Village Home Owners Association would go to a war footing if this becomes a serious proposal. This is not a commercial/industrial area. Some of the previous posters must be looking at the Kahle Park/Lower Kingsbury area, but the only access to the middle school is up Lake Village Drive.
So the Tahoe Transportation District can do whatever they want because there is no oversight.
The giant octopus that is the TRPA with it’s many arms of agencies weild alot of power. They’re being the all powerful force seeing “development agency” that decides it’s okay for the aquisition of this property and many others, like at the old Kingsbury Middle School and construction of the needlessly planned and expensive loop road up at stateline.
So be it! Look at what happens! OLS
OLS; TTD is part of TRPA I think. GO Lake Village and thanks Kenny for another view of lost revenue to SLT.
Funny how no matter what is proposed in this town some are so quick to throw a wet blanket. I am sure one of the reasons the TTD would like to have a transit center on Kingsbury is because it IS outside of South Lake Tahoe.
SC: Kingsbury is a totally different road and highway. The school is located on Lake Village Drive. Google a map of the area and see it is different. Their offices are located on Kingsbury in Nevada and their storage yard is located in South Lake Tahoe, Ca. They are only trying to consolidate the two. As far as the wet blanket theory all one has to do is follow the “studys” of the TTD. In choosing what study they are going to do for a proposal TTD always picks the ones that can’t happen yet will use tax dollars from federal funding to sustain themselves for years doing studies on the unfeasible in todays market. i.e. Ferry across the lake, Meyers bus route, Loop Road and now this. Even the director of TTD said at an earlier conference that the loop road will not happen as the they cannot get funding and see no way to get funding yet the study’s continue. The backlash they will get from Lake Village will either stop this altogether or tie it up in litigation for years and years yet the studies will continue but only if they can get grant money and that well is getting dry for everything and everyone. I am not an alarmist, I am a realist.
KC – I did google it and it shows the middle school just off Kingsbury grade near Kahle. No matter though, I’ll take your word on it as I have never been there.
And I agree that you are a realist. But what this town needs is some visionary leadership. The type of person that can see both sides of an issue and drag some of the unwilling, kicking and screaming, into the future of what needs to be done for the better good of the community.
Where do you suppose we find that?
any thing that the TTD or their Boss the TRPA dreams up is only to further their agenda.
the Marvelous Makeover marches on.
you folk’s that live within the KGID, don’t worry you are going to get Porked also.
SCTahoe:
I concur with your comments.
SkiBum
Check out Douglas County recorded document #2015-860777. They’re trying for $28 million in FLAP “Federal lands access program” funds to keep the loop rd. alive.
What happens to the funds if the voters of SLT says no we do not want all our visitors on a loop road behind our town and deposited in NV.
sc: yup yup
From Wikipedia: “U.S. 50 (U.S. Highway 50) was created in 1926 as part of the original U.S. Highway System and is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway System stretching just over 3,000 miles from Ocean City, Maryland on the Atlantic Ocean to West Sacramento, California.”
If the U.S. Highway System (the Federal highway system) decides they want to re-route Highway 50 to expedite traffic flow, build Bicycle Lanes with legal Widths and Construction Standards, and improve safety there will be little if anything that 1,800, 5,000 or any amount of people in SLT who are in opposition to this will be able to do. Also, businesses built their structures along Highway 50; Highway 50 wasn’t built through the business core.
Not everyone in this community is against the Loop Road. The current safety hazards that presently exist in the Stateline area on either side of the Stateline need to be addressed, traffic needs to move instead of sitting and spewing exhaust when idling, and bike lanes need to be constructed. Good for Douglas County, NV for going after Federal Lands Access Program funds for this project.
Be sure to require a signal light to allow the buses to enter and exit in a safe manner on to the 50 hwy.
The light would stop traffic on the 50 hwy to allow the buses to exit and then allow home owners to exit our complex as well in an organized safe manner.
This is not an industrial area and it shouldn’t have buses housed here and be a hub. The noise issue to residents early in the morning and late at night, the leaking fluids from the buses, the extra traffic at all times of the day entering Lake Village Drive onto Hwy. 50 will cause many problems.This is also a great hiking and biking area that is now a quiet place to enjoy. Keep the buses in an industrial/commercial area.
I’m a Lake Village homeowner. This proposal will have very significant impact on the village and on the un-built condo development on the south side of Lake Village Dr. Yes, the KMS site is isolated and currently underused, but the access to KMS is problematic.
Lake Village Dr. and Echo Dr. wrap the southern half of the circumference of a quiet residential complex. Have a look at this image:
https://www.google.ca/maps/@38.9747874,-119.9323285,670m/data=!3m1!1e3
Here are some of the obvious problems:
1. Forty busses will each enter and exit multiple times a day, all day long. Plus employee vehicles, service vehicles and an occasional diesel tanker.
2. There has to be a new traffic light at the entrance to the village. Lake Village Dr. and Echo Dr. will need improvement to handle the increased weight and volume of the extra traffic.
3. There’s an uphill climb from Hwy 50 (aka Lincoln Hwy) to KMS with two 90-degree turns. The diesels will be smelly and noisy from climbing and shifting gears. A number of residences are very close to these streets.
4. Moving downhill from KMS to #50, there are three stops – more noise and exhaust emissions.
5. I understand that the Burke Creek watershed adjacent to the south side of the village is currently undergoing an environmental rehab. To prevent damage from this TTD proposal, considerable mitigation will be necessary. What will happen if there’s a diesel spill?
6. Cars exiting the village will have to contend with busses and added traffic at the new light and at the two stops signs along Lake Village drive. Add some snow and I see potential difficulties.
7. Parking space is an issue in the village. Will this proposal have a negative impact?
I certainly support TTD’s desire to consolidate its facilities and reduce its costs. However, I have images of excess noise, diesel fumes and traffic negatively impacting a residential community.
Far as I can tell no one in this community is totally against the loop road and the progress that needs to happen in our community with all our projects to and including Meyers. Contrary to what some people think or post about how I feel about wanting to stop everything is speculation at best as most of them have not actually talked to or with me. I am not afraid nor ashamed to put my name on anything I write or post. I do not want to stop everything. The problem we have is the lack of transparency and justification for moving forward. Just because someone has a college degree and is able to get govt grant money to sustain their job does not mean it is necessarily the correct path for the community. We have a problem in this town with the old guard and the new guard. We need to meet in the middle if we are ever going to get anywhere. The agency’s are looking at the solution through grant colored glasses and the community is looking through trying to survive colored glasses. We know we need to move forward but can’t we help the business’s and residents who built this town first. If we help the residents first we can retain that mountain community feel that we came here for so long ago. We know we need to clean up our act but we do not have the deep pockets of a corporation that can come in and do what the agency’s require to have happen. How about a grant to study reality and help our residents who are already here before we actually turn into Heavenly Vaily.
Unless the city agrees to take over Hwy 50 if a new hwy 50 is created , aka loop road, there can be no loop road. see what is going on in Tahoe City where the Tahoe City supervisor is saying that Placer County can not afford to maintain the old fanny Bridge if a new reroute is done to bypass Tahoe City. Same deal.
Also,TTD still needs the city for eminent domain if they can’t cut a deal with the property owners.
All that being said, if the TTD can convince everyone with half a brain that the loop road makes sense, bring it on. At this point, they have not made the argument.
KC-
Help the businesses and residents who built this town? Help them do what and why do they need help? You ask for some type of justification for moving forward and then, through your comments, give that justification.
I think if got your grant to study reality you would find that your position does not represent the majority except for one thing. There is a problem between the old guard and the new guard but it is the old guard that is struggling. They struggle because they refuse to meet in the middle because it requires them to accept their responsibility to admit prior mistakes and to embrace change. Instead they just keep bringing up the Stateline/Vail strawmen.