Last Tuesday night Washoe County made it clear that if you live more than 500’ away from a major project like Boulder Bay your opinion doesn’t count.  That’s you Incline, Crystal Bay, Brockway and Kings Beach residents.  Never mind we are all affected by traffic congestion and emergency evacuation on the two lane SR 28 right of way. Never mind that traffic impacts have changed since Kings Beach went from, 4 lanes to two and Covid increased the fulltime population.  Can anyone dispute the world has changed since the 2008 Boulder Bay traffic study?

Washoe County Commissioners and our district Commissioner, Alexis Hill ignored the 3 separate appeals that argued there must be a defined project before the developer can take a public right of way and excavate over 200,000 cubic yards of material.

EKN, the new developer has yet to reveal their changed project or submit a project application to TRPA.  No one knows what is planned and EKN isn’t sure themselves.  The Commissioners voted unanimously that North Tahoe Preservation Alliance and an Incline resident have no standing to appeal.

Washoe County is reviewing Boulder Bay grading permits right now and Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) won’t weigh in until they receive a formal application from the developer which EKN continues to avoid.

It appears TRPA has ceded their authority to Washoe County’s interest which appears to not be the same as protecting the Tahoe Basin.  The county’s financial interests aren’t aligned with protecting the Lake.  If it’s every county for themselves, why do we even need TRPA?  If adjacent project neighbors don’t have standing it isn’t just vacating a public road it’s vacating a basin wide process.

North Tahoe Preservation Alliance represents the concerns of residents who signed petitions on our website NTPAC.org.  This County/TRPA work-around is not just about mass grading, it is about massively ignoring community concerns

We need TRPA to do their job and not be complicit in the Washoe County abandonment of process.  The Bi-State Compact which created the TRPA was supposed to environmentally unite the 5 Lake Tahoe counties under one cohesive plan and code.  It wasn’t created to let the counties do whatever they want and bypass the TRPA review process.

The affected public far exceeds 500’.  Fires exceed 500’.  Small County thinking has no place for one of the biggest projects on the North Shore.
Washoe County and TRPA stop serving the interests of developers, serve the interests of Lake Tahoe.