Tahoe Keys homeowners to dredge channel
Tahoe Keys Property Owners Association plans to dredge the west channel in September.
The Tahoe Keys Marina has yet to file for a dredging permit, even though the lake continues to drop.
Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board is taking comments on the TKPOA permit application until Sept. 5. The permit is expected to be granted Sept. 15.
TKPOA plans to dredge no more than 5,600 cubic yards of sand to a depth of 6,217 feet from the west channel and lagoons. This could continue through 2016.
Lahontan is also reviewing an application from Fleur du Lac to dredge. Tahoe City Marina has its permit in hand, but has yet to dredge.
No other applications for dredging at Lake Tahoe have been submitted to Lahontan.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
What’s the rush? Summer is over in a week.
What if we have a wet winter, bringing the lake level back up and dredging next month a waste of money. Why not wait til Spring? TKPOA has never been the brightest of the bunch.
Back in May all you heard from TKM was that they were dredging. They swore permits had been filed. Now they are on radio silence. Gonna be a great buying opportunity for someone in the next year or so post BK. Unfortunately short term pain for anyone that rents a slip there.
A lot of locals use the lake in the Fall and Winter when the fishing is good.
The Tahoe Keys Marina has collected over $300,000. from the slip holders for maintenance dredging & will not dredge. Instead they will just keep the $$$. We call that theft, Spinnato (Skippy) calls that just doing busines.
GM Spinnato and the owners have a long resume when it come to doing things illegal.
The maintenance dredging needs do be done mainly because of storms that deposit sand in the channel. Just look at the beach east of the marina channel, that’s what the channel would look like if maintenance dredging were never done.
Steve-
Unless you are a keys property owner (which I doubt) why would you care?
Or is it just the nature to point fingers and criticize.
i would guess that he cares because maybe he pays slip fees to the marina. what would happen if we dont have a great winter? i would guess dredging now may be cheaper when the water is lower(but that is a guess only)
I totally agree with Capt.Steve, Spinnato is a thief. I go out on the marina side almost every day. Every time I see beached rental boats trying to get off the sand bar. Most of the bigger boats can’t get out and soon nobody will be able to use the marina channel. It makes business sense to keep that side open but the the feud will keep that from happening. He’s recently changed the fee structure to charge extra ramp fees for large boats because they do more damage to “his” ramp. Only to get more money from homeowners that have already paid the fees. I could go on for pages but I just wanted concur with Capt. Steve.
This Spinnato fool should leave town. He is a complete irritant and environmental curse. I didn’t know that he is now charging for larger boats. Sounds a little like extortion…..something he may be familiar with.
Dredge fee was being charged long before current ownership and management. The channel is dredged every 8-10 years. Quit pointing fingers and name calling and get your facts straight. Management is directed by ownership.
I don’t recall the last time TKPOA dredged? Can anyone help me out with that? I know that Ray did the Marina about 10 years ago. Just curious
Joby,
What do you think TKM is waiting for to use the dredging funds? I don’t care who collected the funds don’t you think its about time to use them?
Agreed, unfortunately they did not have proper permitting and the time should have been now. It is inevitably going to be done. As one of the post’s above stated the current carries sediment and sand that way naturally. I would think from doing projects on my own on a much smaller scale that a consultant would have been needed to wallow through all the paperwork needed to dredge in the lake.
Joby,
Fact 1. When you buy an existing business , you are buying the assets as well as the liabilities.
Fact 2. Spinnato has lied about dredging all along and has instructed his employees to do the same.
Fact 3. Ray did the maintenance dredging about 15 yrs. ago.
Fact 4. Maintenance dredging permits for TKM can be obtained within aprox 60 days. The reason that the Home Owners just got their permit is because Spinnato (Skippy) has been lying about the TKM’s participation & they got tired of waiting.
Any more ?’s
With all due respect Cap. With the exception of the 60 day thing, which could be argued as permitting is never an easy process and the timeline can change regardless, all of what you state to be fact is personal opinion, character assassination and incorrect. I worked out of the keys for many years and still do.
Curious as to how an article about TKPOA even wandered over to the Marina. If you don’t like the management don’t go there, but I believe that bashing people and getting personal on a blog is weak. If you can’t say it to him personally then you shouldn’t say it, or blog it.
It is important to consider that all the prablems of the Tahoe keys marina have only one commen denominator. Sewage leaks, illegal grading of state land, trespassing on state land, countless OSHA violations, endless lawsuites, building violations, BMP violations all have occurred in the last year under the instruction of Robert Spinnato. Any informed critical thinker would see through his lies and excuses.
People don’t point fingures or blame Spinnato because of his unethical business practices or annoying sunglass sales pitch; but rather his criminal activity that is hurting our lake and economy.
The deal is that lieing, cheating and stealing are those traits that makes you a bad person and we have no need for a punk like Spinnato in the hard working town of south Lake Tahoe
Bad Chad,
Another guy with an alias bashing?!?! Sewage leaked was deemed accidental. Trespassing on state land I think would run withe conservancy issues. Why is it that the conservancy can go into a meadow and grade, tear it up and live by different rules then the rest of us? OSHA violations, not sure if your in business, on welfare or employed. OSHA could go to just about any business or worksite and tear it up with fines and infractions. Building violations were a false claim as no action was taken by the building department. I have dealt with the building department, whether you are rich, poor, friends it makes no difference if they find an issue it’s addressed. So any person with common sense or as you state “critical thinker”, would step back and see what happens. I’m done defending Spinatto, but tired of faceless bloggers bashing people with no accountability. Grow a pair and stand behind your claims!
Problems at the marina are well-known within the boating community, and mainly relate to what one might gently call “poor management” but more truthfully call “negligence,” which is par for the Tahoe rentier-class course.
The condition of the docks and equipment has been deteriorating for the last 6 years that I have witnessed. The boat hoist has been breaking down and becoming incrementally more unsafe for the last 4 years with minimal upkeep until OHSA shut it down this spring – and it still took 6 weeks in peak season for management to get it fixed, causing me to launch my boat at Obexer’s instead – which is also where I will haul out in October if the West Channel is deep enough to get out.
Dredging is a similar situation: potential problems with shallowness of the channel became evident over a year ago, and TKM STILL has failed to make any progress. One might suspect that the onsite manager’s hands may have been tied by the ownership purse-strings, but it would be pure speculation to imagine that the “dredging fee” funds could have been commingled and embezzled, thus no longer available for the intended purpose. Time and litigation, and a criminal investigation if warranted, surely will bring this mystery to light.
Joby,
It is a waste of time to defend Spinnato. One day his action will lead him to what he deserves and in the mean time we can agree to disagree.