By Barbara Barte Osborn, Sacramento Bee

A meeting for public review of a final environmental impact report for a proposed paved, multiuse trail through Martis Valley is scheduled Wednesday in Truckee.

The board of the Northstar Community Services District, lead agency for the project, will consider certification of the report at the meeting, scheduled for 5:30pm in the Truckee Town Hall council chambers, 10183 Truckee Airport Road.

If the district’s board certifies the report, it will later determine which of two alignments the approximately 9.5-mile trail would follow.

The alignment, width, aesthetics and potential user conflicts were among many concerns expressed during public review of the draft EIR.

Fifteen feet would be cleared for the 10-foot-wide, paved trail, which would begin on the south side of Highway 267 opposite Truckee-Tahoe Airport, continue through Martis Valley to the Village at Northstar, then climb to Forest Service Road 73, which leads into the Lake Tahoe Basin.

The originally planned route follows current walking trails and dirt roads and passes through a wildlife management area operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Because of protests from the public and the Corps, moving part of the trail closer to Highway 267 is also under consideration.

With an elevation change from 5,880 feet at its beginning to 6,200 feet at Northstar and 7,280 feet at the basin’s ridge line, the trail is planned to accommodate bicycles and all pedestrian uses except equestrian. The only motorized use would be powered wheelchairs.