Note from Recap Editor: Because of difficulty with the recording, this recap includes a gap where [inaudible] appears. Corrections are welcome.
Peter Todoroff – Moderator
I’m wondering if anyone watched the Washoe County Commissioners meeting on Tuesday?
There were two women who said they need to get rid of all the Commissioners except Jeanne Herman. I concur with that. Jeanne was absent. She’s an honest and good person.
I watched the CAB Meeting. I worked for four different commissioners. And I was shocked to see that nobody asked me what the CAB meeting was about. I saw we had three people at the CAB meeting working for Washoe County, and I don’t know what their function is. To be honest I have no clue. Because, as former CAB Chair Judy Miller knows, the Washoe Planners sent out a notice to members of the CAB to let us know if there was going to be a variance or any other type of construction. It would come to the CAB members. The Planner from the County would come to the meeting. The contractor or the planner for the project would come. They would give their presentation to the CAB. And if everyone agreed this was the way it should be, it was great. But if there were any amendments it would go to the Board of Adjustment and they would vote for it or not, and so on.
I didn’t get anything out of the last CAB meeting in that department. There was absolutely nothing said about the projects that are going on up here. We have all kinds of construction going on, and I asked the Commissioner very early in the year to send me a list of projects. I didn’t receive any information whatsoever.
I also watched the TTD meeting. It was supposed to start at 1pm, but it started at 3pm. I don’t know if anyone listened to that meeting, but it was pretty sad. The first thing that was sad was the bus strike in Reno. Since September 22. That would definitely affect what’s going on up here. If they have a bus strike in Reno, how will we have bus service from Reno to IV?
There was no Environmental Impact Study on the Old Elementary School use as a bus station. If you use any property differently than it was previously used, you need to do an EIS. Before, children were bused from their residences to school and back home. They weren’t taken to Sand Harbor every 45 minutes. It was used in a different way than it was used originally. How do I know? Because I lived there and my next-door neighbor taught at the Old Elementary School when it was still operational. It’s ridiculous to say there was no change in use. It was a completely different use. Also, there was nothing said about alternative sites like the old Stanley restaurant place and the old Chevron station. All I heard was how wonderful Carl Hasty is and how he did this and how he did that.
Nobody that I know wants the bus hub there. Village Market has gone out of business because we don’t have a place for employees to live. We need workforce housing. So how many others will go out of business because we don’t have a place for employees to live?
Why do we need a bus hub? How are they going to get here from San Francisco or Sacramento without driving their vehicles? Then they’ll park their vehicles at the Old Elementary School and have a bus take them to Sand Harbor. Why is Incline Village a parking lot for Sand Harbor? This doesn’t make sense to me. Nobody is addressing these problems. I don’t understand what needs to be done to get people’s attention to do something about it. It’s just unbelievable that nobody’s mentioning anything about it.
And short-term rentals…. This is the thing that really got me. They have one person to come up to do the inspections of STRs. We have a Fire Department. When I went into business to do my computer work, the Fire Marshall come out to make sure I complied with all their requirements. Why can’t we use our Fire Department instead of having a person drive all the way from Reno? Why have someone from Reno to check compliance? It doesn’t make sense to me. The NLTFPD is really qualified to determine if a STR meets the requirements. And from the beginning I said the occupancy should be 2 people per bedroom. I didn’t say 1 person per 100 or 200 sq ft. I said 2 people per bedroom plus two if they have a sleeper couch. Not 1 per 200 sq ft, because the people aren’t going to measure it out.
I’ll give you an example of County Code Enforcement. We had a place right across from the Fire Station on Tanager, a roofing company, which looked like a junkyard. They didn’t comply with any rules or regulations. All of the crates were sitting on dirt, which is against the TRPA and the County code. And they parked their vehicles on Tanager, which narrowed the street. The County Code Enforcement guy came up and said what I should do—not them—is to go down and talk to the owner and say you need to comply with the codes. And that’s it. He didn’t do his job and fine these people, so we looked at this garbage every day and it was an eyesore. That’s why I’m asking why don’t we have a person here like the Fire Department do the STR inspections like it should be done. To wait for the County… what if Highway 431 is closed? I don’t know how many Veterans Administration appointments I missed because 431 was closed. How will they get up here to do the inspections? We have a Fire Department here. This is what should be done. Not wait for someone from the County to show up.
That’s all I’m going to say. I said a lot, but I think these issues need to be addressed. Nobody’s doing anything about it. We have three new people at the County. I don’t know what these people are doing. We didn’t have one Planner at the CAB meeting. Did you see any Planners? And that’s what the CAB did—planned development to make sure construction doesn’t make mistakes. And believe me, they did. I know. They were going to build a 5600 square foot house on a 3500 square foot lot.
Jack Dalton, MD – Incline Resident
I was going to talk about the IVGID Trustee meeting on Wednesday night. The first thing was the access. I have no concept —no understanding—why we can’t have a hybrid meeting with both in person and Zoom. I can tell you, that was ruled out. The other part is that Livestream was difficult to look at. My 12-year-old grandson easily uses Zoom for the last year. It’s easy as 1-2-3. Just like the Zoom meetings here—1, 2, 3. Livestream is hard to access. I’ve talked to others and it’s not just me who doesn’t know how. And it’s wrong. I think it should be easier. Zoom is not expensive. It’s cheap.
Diane Becker – Incline Resident, Washoe General Manager Citizen Committee, Citizen Advisory Board Chairperson, Ordinance 7 Member
I actually want to address some comments about the CAB. I think at the CAB we have a great opportunity to …
Kathie Julian – Incline Resident, CAB Vice-Chair
Diane might I suggest you let IVGID respond to Jack’s points first and then let’s discuss the CAB?
Diane Becker
Sure.
Kari Ferguson – Incline Village General Improvement District, Communications Coordinator
Jack, there are two different formats. Livestream is not real time. That is on our website. You can view the meeting even now today. It’s a recording from Livestream. That’s not how you make a public comment. The Zoom format is a separate thing. We do have Zoom and it is on our website. The link was posted at 2pm the day of the meeting. That’s how you make public comment in real time. Call in to do that. So there are two separate formats. I think it was confusing because you were trying to comment on Livestream. But that’s not real time. There’s a few minutes delay.
Jack Dalton
I wasn’t trying to make a comment. I was trying to see faces. I heard voices. There was no picture. Then after about 15 or 20 minutes there were finally two pictures. There wasn’t a picture of the trustees. And the other part was that it said there were 18 people in attendance.
Amanda McPhaill– Washoe County Incline Library, Librarian
Sometimes there are technology issues.
Jack Dalton
There have been no technology issues all the time we’ve had Zoom for this meeting.
Amanda McPhaill– Washoe County Incline Library, Librarian
Yes, we’ve had issues.
Jack Dalton
Well, it’s okay for you to defend. But it’s easy to put in the Zoom contact numbers, although it wasn’t easy to find those contact numbers for IVGID. You had to play with it. I think that’s unfortunate. The other part of it is only 18 people going to this. I think that’s extremely poor attendance, and we don’t know how many of those are IVGID employees. We don’t know how many from the public are there.
Kari Ferguson
That’s the number of Livestream viewers. That’s not the number on Zoom.
Jack Dalton
Okay, so how many people were there?
Kari Ferguson
Right now I can’t tell you but I can check with IT and get back to you. That’s not something I have at hand.
Jack Dalton, MD
Well I did see Zoom and I saw the number 18.
Peter Todoroff
I heard that was going to be the last meeting on Zoom and from now on it’s only in person.
Jack Dalton
They had it in person too. Then all of a sudden a week ago it came saying it was going to be only Zoom, but it isn’t. It’s not like what’s here. This takes 20 seconds.
Kari Ferguson
Yes, it’s not that type of meeting. I’ll give your feedback to IT. We’ve had the same feedback before about the Zoom meetings. They are a different format than what we’re doing here. We’re not all able to see each other. We don’t want people becoming panelists and running the meeting. It’s like a whole thing. So I can have IT write up the reasons why we do it the way we do and get that back to you. I can also get the number of how many people were on the actual Zoom.
22:37
Margaret Martini – Incline Resident, Ordinance 7 Member
It would be nice to see the full IVGID Board up there as a full Board instead of here, there, and everywhere, and sometimes not anywhere. On Zoom it was very incomplete.
Diane Becker
I’d like to address the CAB because it’s going to be a new format that I hope is different than in the past. I think we need to give it a chance. One of the things we’re going to do—because of timing—is get two or three topics–depending on how much public comment we get at the beginning that we can move to the end—where we get good information presented and have the ability to present back our information. I believe we’re going to have a list of topics that will be continually updated. The community can come up with topics for the upcoming agenda, and have it available more than 4-5 days in advance so we can give sufficient public notice. It’s going to be a new format. Will it result in changes? I don’t know. I’m hopeful. But I think as a group sometimes we tend to expect it’s not going to work. But you now have on the CAB a group of individuals who want to make sure the community is heard. And we’re going to endeavor to do that. So I hope people will attend and have an optimistic viewpoint.
On the other hand, we have a limited time so it would be great if people could keep their public comments short and not repetitive so we can get more information from the County on the important topics and give them more of our information on the specific topics.
We’ll see what the next agenda holds. I’m going to take back comments from you as to what you think should improve on the CAB. Anyone is free to write to me on any thoughts you have about procedures, etc. I’ll give my email (dbecker8891@gmail.com) But I’m hoping at the next meeting that we’ll start talking about “What is the District 1 CAB going to be with the County.” At least we’re going to request that our important topics be on the agenda.
Peter Todoroff
I have a question for you Diane. I didn’t see anything about the Boulder Bay project at all.
Diane Becker
Boulder Bay is on the list, Pete.
Peter Todoroff
I mean at this last CAB meeting. There was no mention of it whatsoever. It should have been mentioned because it has issues that have not been addressed. There was no mention of the construction of the roads and everything. Ann Nichols can attest to that because we worked on this project for I don’t know how many years—since the Bonanza days. I feel that’s an important issue.
Diane Becker
It is, and it is on the list. It’s not on the next agenda. That is only because it seemed we had other really critical issues— like “Is our CAB going to have the ability to have input on development projects?” We need to know just generally what the rules are. And then there are the short-term rentals and the Old Elementary School bus hub. If we actually get presentations from the County it will take up much of the meeting. Now I don’t really know what the meeting agendas will be. I will know sometime later in the next week after I hear back from the County. Boulder Bay can certainly be on the agenda. It’s just that the other topics seem to be more urgent. Maybe it’s hard to decide which is more urgent. We have a list giving the current contact information for the CAB members. We’ll appreciate hearing from you about what you want on the agenda.
[https://www.washoecounty.gov/CABS/IVCB_CAB/2021/Files/IVCB-CAB-Roster-21-22.pdf]
I think we asked that at the last CAB meeting. Anything that has come in has gone on to the agenda. But we can’t go over everything at each meeting. That’s something that at the next meeting people will want to discuss. “How do we decide what’s on the agenda for the next meeting?” But Pete, you’re right that is a very important topic. I want to assure you it is on the list.
Peter Todoroff
I think Tahoe Keys is another very important topic. Judith Simon and I have been working on that for over 10 years. When they’re going to pollute the lake—our drinking water—with herbicides—I think that’s a very important topic. I sent the notice out to everybody. I think that’s something that needs to be addressed.
Diane Becker
That is also on the list. My intent is that… unfortunately the list was prepared after the meeting based on what people suggested for the list. And if anyone wants to write to me, I’ll add more to the list. But the list has both of those Pete, I assure you. You may look at the list and want additional things. We have everything from issues that are maybe lower priority like e-bikes all the way up to the Tahoe Area Plan and how it will affect development. So there are lots of topics on there. It’s just that there’s a time limitation. That’s one of the things I’m worried about—how will we communicate fully to the County our positions and hopes on each of these projects.
Peter Todoroff
Do we have a Tahoe Community Plan yet?
Diane Becker
The Tahoe Area Plan was approved by TRPA and by Washoe County.
Peter Todoroff
Is there a possibility I could get a copy of that? They’ve worked on that for 14 years.
Diane Becker
It’s on line. I don’t have a copy. It’s really long.
Peter Todoroff
Just send me a link. That’s all I need.
Shirley Appel – Incline Resident, HOA President
There was a project yesterday on Oriole with power lines. It looked like they were taking down the power line. Last night our power went out at 10pm and didn’t come back on until 4am.
I’m just curious as to what was happening. We had no input.
Peter Todoroff
NV Energy?
Diane Becker
On IVCB Community 1st we’ve arranged to get notices of all construction by the County. We look at the addresses on their list and anything in IVCB we put on the Community 1st website. We have not asked NV Energy about their projects. That’s a good point—but a separate issue. Sara Schmitz is the head of IVCB Community 1st and she has done a really great job on that. But I’ll ask NV Energy if they’ll give us information also. That outage was terrible.
Shirley Appel
And it was not on the County list.
31:00
Ann Nichols – Crystal Bay Resident, North Tahoe Preservation Alliance, Director
This is a vibrant meeting. The new buyers of Boulder Bay want to make it a vibrant project. Where have we heard that before? Anyway, it’s been 14 years since this all started with Boulder Bay. They still have not done their affordable housing or their employee housing. All they did was a park without any signage, and a retention basin by the Cal Neva.
So now they’ve made their millions on their 18 condos and they’ve sold for $57 million to these new people. But none of this stuff has happened. The new people are going to proceed with this huge development based on a traffic report from 2008—which is beyond stale. It’s going to have a population on site of 2448, a 275 condo-hotel, 59 condos, 14… I looked up the group, and they don’t seem to be very… accomplished. They seem to be more like consultants. I don’t know. They’re probably wonderful. Maybe what they have planned is even better. But if past history is any example, I’m skeptical about how things are going to go, because TRPA does not enforce their own regulations. The 3-year permit was extended numerous times. They were supposed to prove financing for the whole project before they started. They didn’t do that either. And it’s not going to be any different with these new people. Because TRPA feels very sorry when these developers invest a lot of money in our area. They really want to help them. So does Washoe County. So, we need to stay on this. We need to demand a new environmental review, demand a new traffic study. We can’t continue on like this forever. There’s no end. And then we all know about the Hyatt selling. Which seems to me like Larry Ellison got a lot better deal for $365 million than EKN paid $57 million for the dilapidated mess we’ve been suffering through for 10 years. So anyway, this is not going well.
The other complaint in my kvetch session here is Dave Duffield sent the cops out again trying to keep people away from our public access of the lake on Summers Loop. So this is just out of control. The fat cats have taken over. Thank you.
Kathie Julian – Incline Resident, CAB Vice Chair
Just to supplement what Diane said about the CAB, we do have two people I see online on Zoom from the County: Candee Ramos and Alexander Wilson. I’m sure they would be happy to give you some background on what they do for the County. We can always request on the CAB agenda another presentation for people on what each of these employees of the County does for our community. That certainly can be an agenda item. But just to reinforce what Diane said, this is very much “in process.” At least some members of the CAB will be asking the County for a further discussion of the role of the CAB and its functions, and how we can make that appropriate for this particular community. I think that will be discussed at the next CAB meeting, and at following meetings.
Peter Todoroff
I have one thing I think needs to be addressed immediately—inspections of STRs. During the CAB meeting, there were three different numbers of STRs given. One person said that one was a mistake. Then another one said another one was a mistake. Three people had three different numbers. So I have no clue how many STRs we have up here. Our Commissioner didn’t know exactly how many were up here. “Yeah, I think that’s right… You have to deduct this from that, etc. etc.” I think that needs to be addressed. And I think we need to have somebody other than a County inspector to come up here to do STR inspections. We have a Fire Marshall doing all of these inspections for businesses. I think those are the people who should do the STR inspections. They’re right here. They can do them right away. You don’t have to wait a month or 6 weeks for this to happen. I think that would expedite inspections considerably.
I watched the entire CAB meeting. I didn’t voice any opinion because I just wanted to see how this meeting is run. As far as construction goes, the only people I wanted to deal with at the CAB were the planners, builders, and owners. That was important for me because I found there were lots of mistakes. I went out to every property that applied for a variance or a special permit. I’m not an expert, but I took an expert—Wayne Ford—with me on every single project to make sure projects were right. I don’t see this happening with the new CAB. I see three new County people, but I don’t’ care what their job is. I want to deal with Planners when I’m looking at what’s going on in this community. I don’t care about these other three people that mean nothing to me. Planners represent the homeowners building on their properties. Those are the only people I’m interested in talking to. Like I said, I’ve worked under four Commissioners, and, believe me, I pretty much know how things should be.
Margaret Martini – IV Resident, Ordinance 7 Member
I have a list of STRs. I’m disappointed that Alexis Hill isn’t here as our representative on the County Commission. If you look at the list, you can see there are 14 single-spaced pages of STRs in Washoe County. I parceled out those not in IVCB. And out of the 14 pages 33 addresses are not in IVCB.
When we started this whole STR issue, Commissioner Kitty Jung and others on the County Commission said, “Well this has to be good for the whole of Washoe County. We’re not just dealing with Incline Village.” Well, proportionately speaking… In the rest of these 14 pages there are currently 564 STR addresses of which 336 have permits, and 228 do not. And there’s been no fines assessed by Washoe County on the unpermitted STRs. So the rest of these 14 pages are in our small community. And the whole thing when this STR issue started—at the County level—was like, “Well it can’t just be good for you. It has to be good for all of Washoe County.” They are so shortsighted down there. They have blinders on. So, what if they’re all in Incline Village? That wasn’t the starting premise when Marsha Berkbigler was coming to these meetings to address STRs. So now we have a mess. We have a big mess. It’s all on the County. They think they’re doing something with their rules and regulations. But they really need to look at other Counties around Lake Tahoe to see what they’re doing. What Washoe County has proposed is weak.
41:28
Judith Miller – Incline Resident, Former CAB Chair
I watched the Commissioner Meeting. There were two items I thought were really relevant for our community. One had to do with public records. The County was trying to set a fee for fulfilling Public Records Requests (PRRs) that take more than 2 hours of staff time. Thankfully there were members of the press and Reno Gazette Journal who were very familiar with our PRA and convinced the Commissioners that a 2-hour charge was not equitable. Public Records are the County’s duty, not some afterthought where extra work will be put on it. They have to plan for that in their budget and assign a person to provide it. The public has a right to the information.
More specifically, I have been asking for information from the County’s Acela STR website since before the permits were even issued. I’ve been asking where to find in the applications what is the maximum approved occupancy? I got answers from the Planners—one from Mojra Hauenstein and one from Chad Giesinger. Both were not true. There is still not a display online for the maximum approved number of occupants. That’s a very simple thing to write. I ask for it in the form of data. I was told “Oh no, we won’t give you data because it’s online.” I don’t know if this is coming from the District Attorney’s office or from staff, but they are living in the dark ages. A request for data is not a request for a new record. This is an existing record. So it is required to be provided to the public. The County needs to provide the maximum occupancy. Right now they provide a download that only has a very limited amount of information. It has the address —which Margaret provided—and it has the permit numbers—and that’s basically it. Two things need to be added to that Excel list: the maximum number of occupants and the parcel’s APN number so that citizens can download that data, and know immediately where the STR rentals are and how many occupants they’re allowed. In addition it can be linked to the Tax Assessor’s files so we can find out how many bedrooms it has and how big the house is. That is information that is all public and a public record and should be provided to citizens in a useful manner.
Kristina Hill – Incline Resident, Washoe Board of Adjustment Member
I agree with Judy. A possible solution might be to form a STR Compliance Committee comprised of residents who are interested and can be trained to determine these things and map it out and provide that information to the County.
I know how to look at the Tax Assessor’s information to find out how many bedrooms there are. I can look at a list and find out if they have a permit. I can determine if they have external access off the second floor of their STR. This is important to the community. So maybe we can get a volunteer committee together to do this on our own and have the information given to us of what is permitted. And we can research how many bedrooms there are, and how many people would be allowed. We could go around and be the STR Compliance Committee. I would volunteer.
Peter Todoroff
How about we put you in charge and you tell me who you want, and we’ll see that you can do it. Send me an email that you’re willing to do that, and I’ll post it to everybody, and we’ll go from there.
Kristina Hill
I think we need more than just me. Maybe other people who are concerned about STRs could help me too. We need a committee, not a person.
Judy Miller
Those are all good ideas. I just want to emphasize that we need the data to be able to make intelligent decisions about this. Our Commissioner keeps saying, “Oh, we’re going to base decisions on data.” Well, the public needs that data too. We need to be able to display on a map—which I tried to do, but I don’t have all the data. We need data that shows where the STRs are concentrated… We need the data to show how many people could potentially be coming into our area on any given day. And those numbers aren’t available. I’m not looking to enforce or go after anybody. And that’s one thing that came up in the public records discussion. The County views anyone who asks for public data as someone with some ulterior motive or something like that. I don’t have an ulterior motive. I just want to work for our community to make it the best place it can be. And that’s why we need the data to know just what are the impacts. Thank you.
Kristina Hill
But didn’t Margaret just quote that data? How many STRs are permitted? How many are operating without permits? If we could get a map showing where these are in our community, we can go around and determine whether they are in compliance or not. I don’t want to use the word “enforcement.” I want to have a committee that does the footwork to find out if they are in compliance or not. How many bedrooms? How many parking spaces? Are they permitted or not? And I’ll look at the Assessor Records and find out how many bedrooms they have, how many parking spaces they have, find out if they’re permitted. Keep track of the unpermitted ones.
And I want to point out also with the Cal-Neva and the Biltmore now basically out of commission as far as providing hotel rooms at a reasonable cost to people coming to the North Shore, this has put a huge demand in IVCB for STRs. There are no hotel rooms other than the Hyatt and the Parkside Inn. The Parkside is pretty limited and the Hyatt is pretty expensive. If you have 8 people coming in, it’s just easier to get a STR. Those hotels provided a huge service to our community by providing transient housing, and now we’re taking on that burden of housing these transients in our STRs.
Jack Dalton, MD – Incline Resident
Kristina, I’d like to hear what Ronda has to say because she’s put out a couple of emails. But I for one will absolutely volunteer to be part of your group. Because among the other things that have been possible—all of these things Margaret’s done and I’ve done thanks to Ronda sending out the lists— is look at the STR ownership. Not only are there so few STRs in the rest of Washoe County, and only 20 in Crystal Bay, but most STR owners are not local. When the first list came out about 6 weeks ago with 400 addresses, only 10% of the STR owners lived in IVCB. All the rest of the 400 on that initial list were from around the country. We need to publicize that fact as well.
Judy Miller
We need the data. We need the data with the APN parcel numbers. I have to give the County credit because they do have a file online that can be downloaded that has all the parcel information. So once we can tie STRs to the APN parcel information, we’ll have all that ownership information available. Without the link between those two, it’s very difficult to do. The addresses aren’t consistent. Sometimes they have a unit, sometimes a street number on the highway. So data is the key. We need to get all the information tied to the parcel number and the maximum number of allowed occupants. That would do it.
Peter Todoroff
So Margaret and Judith Miller are volunteering to help Kristina Hill.
Kristina Hill
Good, but I just want to point out that STRs affect affordable housing as well, and they have a huge impact on our community. I get these letters on a regular basis from these companies saying “Turn your home into money.” “You’re an idiot if you don’t have a STR.” I think we really have to put our finger on the pulse to find out what is going on. We can’t do that without data. Like Judy said, we need it to figure this out.
Peter Todoroff
Those three will coordinate with you. If you don’t have Kristina’s email address, let me know.
Kristina Hill
Judy Miller, Margaret Martini, and Jack Dalton. Okay.
Judith Simon – Incline Resident, TRPA Advisory Planning Committee, Member
I have a couple of things, but I’d like to speak mostly about the herbicides in Lake Tahoe, which, as Pete mentioned, has been an issue for 7 or 8 years. Possibly 10. What has happened in the interim is they’ve tried all sorts of things but herbicides are still on the list. That is my most important point. What is dangerous is that now the League to Save Lake Tahoe is writing editorials in favor of a limited use of herbicides. “You know, it’s just going to be a little tiny bit.” That’s where we are. The Lahonton Water Board is taking public taking comment through November 1st. That’s kind of a deadline. I did spend a bit of time on their website and I can’t really give you the link because I couldn’t find it. But it’s there somewhere. Their meeting is actually in January as is the meeting of TRPA and perhaps the TRPA-APC. So when you look at the agenda and the timeline, it looks like January is the time when they’ll do all the approvals. And I want to say that it will be approvals unless we take the time and make the effort to track this because it is our drinking water. I think that’s the most important point.
We’re trying to get the herbicides in Lake Tahoe and all that on the CAB agenda, and to make sure we have a December meeting—which sometimes we don’t— so we can get information through. I think the main problem with the herbicides is that… Building the Tahoe Keys would never be approved today. It was a swamp and it wants to be a swamp. That is the main ecological reality that we’re dealing with. That is something we have to keep on top of. There is a wealth—I mean there are so many different documents—environmental Impact reports and so on that are on line at the Tahoe Keys website. They have not moved even one iota from their position that “you have to poison the lake.” The position of the people in favor of the poisoning is that we’ll have a worse problem if we do nothing. But the alternative methods we’ve tried are not “nothing.” They’ve been successful. Maybe they haven’t been tested long enough. But I’ll get off my soapbox.
Peter Todoroff
When Tom Lotshaw was with TRPA, he mentioned the ultraviolet light method was working. It was a good thing. I don’t know why they’ve all of a sudden changed. This herbicide wasn’t supposed to be used. I attended the meeting in South Shore when they decided against it. Now all of a sudden it’s going to be used. It doesn’t make sense to me. Why is it being considered?
Judy Simon
“It’s just a little bit”… “Just for one year. Just for a little tiny bit.”
Peter Todoroff
“Why poison the lake at all?
Diane Becker
I just want to mention that this is a really important issue. I met with Judith on this. Everyone at this meeting needs to go on line—it will only take a minute; it’s very easy to find information or Judith can give the information to Peter to send out.
But it’s really a simple letter we need to take a position on. I’m in the process of writing a letter to the other CABs, because Reno also gets its drinking water from the lake. When we’re talking about our drinking water, we should have a right to make sure it’s safe. I’m hoping maybe we can expand on the work Judith has done. I think it is really important. Judith told me one other thing that I think should be repeated here. The more you poison the invasive species, they adapt, and the more they come back stronger. So there’s no way to know when they say they’re only doing this one time and only a little bit whether they are not going to have to do it every year. Each year they could come back with a new reason they have to do it because stronger plants will come back the following year. So if there was ever a time for all of us to get together and write to the Lahontan water Board, this is the time.
Ann Nichols
It seems to me that a petition needs to be started about this. And isn’t it the case that sadly because we’re below the natural rim in the lake, why couldn’t they close off the keys right now and dredge the bottom of the Keys. This is the time to do it. And as far as I’m concerned, the League to Save Lake Tahoe has become just about picking up garbage, which is a valuable service but deflects from their real mission.
Kristina Hill
I agree with what Ann said. I have worked on numerous dredging projects—specifically Sunnyside marina. They closed off the mouth of the marina with sheet pile, and used a steam shovel or backhoe to scrape out all the algae and the water milfoil. They don’t have to dredge everything, but they can remove the milfoil and invasive species. Then they let it settle down and they took out the sheep pile. I think the Keys HOA needs to look at alternatives. They never considered blocking off sections of the Keys and dredging that stuff out. That needs to be addressed, because it’s effective and cheap and doesn’t harm the lake
Margaret Martini
As far as the Keys go, I agree with blocking it off. The lake is below its natural rim; but Tahoe Keys property owners don’t own the lake. The bi-state governing body TRPA or other bodies that are bi-state need to step in and tell Keys HOA, “You don’t have this any more. This is our water; this is our stuff, and you’re not taking care of it. So here we are and we are going to take care of it.” And if they have to charge the people who live in the Keys, fine. But obviously the people in the Keys are totally ineffective. For 10-15 years we’ve been going through this and annually the problem worsens. It originated over there but it’s traveling to the rest of the water in the lake, which belongs to the government. Nobody owns the waters but the government. And the government needs to step in and say, “Hey. We’re having you close this off. What you’ve done is ineffective or modestly effective.” And just get it done. This is the perfect opportunity with the lake so low. It gets low several times. But right now—and especially because they’re considering the herbicides— they just need to drain the swamp—and take care of the problem. If they have to let it sit for 2 years with no water in the channels, so be it. This is for the greater good. It’s not for the people who want to keep their boats in the Tahoe Keys. There’s a bigger picture here that needs to be addressed. It is our drinking water.
Peter Todoroff
The Tahoe Keys has a HOA. They are the ones who are responsible. Like I said, Tom Lotshaw told me when we were at a Tahoe Summit meeting in South Shore that ultraviolet worked. Now the Lahonton Water Board says, “Yeah, go ahead and poison this water.” It’s wrong.
Amanda McPhaill – Washoe County Library, Librarian
Just to let you know Judy has put the address is in the Chat Box: https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/lahontan/board_info/agenda/2021_schedule.html
Judy Miller
TTD had a meeting this week. I didn’t get to watch it. But they had to change the funding sources for the Elementary School purchase. Commissioner Hill and the others on the TTD Board got the NV Department of Conservation to provide funding either from license plate fees or from a grant, which won’t close until February. Does anyone know which one of those two options they selected? How long is the Washoe County School District going to wait for TTD to come up with the funding?
Peter Todoroff
Jeff, can you give us an update on what the WCSD is doing with the TTD bus hub property?
Jeff Church – Washoe County School District, Trustee
I was expecting that question. I wish I had an answer. But I’m not getting any support from my fellow Trustees nor from the administration to address it. If it were up to me, I’d cancel the deal. I’m not afraid to say that. I’d use it for housing for teachers and other government officials. If it does go through, I’m still going to push strongly that they can set aside some of the land for that housing purpose. That’s a priority for me. I’ve got 3 ½ more years left in my WCSD tenure of bliss and fun. (You know what I’m talking about.) I’ve emailed them occasionally and just don’t get an answer.
Margaret Martini
Thanks Jeff. We thank you for your service.
Peter Todoroff
Yeah. Because I’ve watched some of these meetings at the WCSD Board. In fact, I’m being edited out of Facebook because I posted these meetings. And you were in there and I saw exactly what happened. It’s an absolute disgrace. It’s not just Washoe County. It’s the entire United States where they’re having this problem. I do sympathize with you Jeff.
Jeff Church
Can’t we all just get along? I mean I have my views that may be contrary to others, but I’ve always been an officer and a gentleman… always professional. Just so you know, the censure of me is set for October 25 at 4pm. But I don’t want to get too political and just let you concentrate on Incline Village issues. Thank you.
Peter Todoroff
Thank you for the update.
Ronda Tycer – IVCB Forum Recap Editor
I actually have a good thing to share. Jeff Cowen let us know that TRPA is currently in process of approving a permit for the Natural Grocers to come in and build a huge grocery at 869-973 Tahoe Boulevard. The plans are now online. The description says, “Natural Grocers sells organic produce, sustainably and humanely raised livestock and poultry, and properly harvested seafood. The company also has an extensive selection of natural vitamins, minerals, and supplements, as well as body care products.” They’ve been around since 1955 and have 159 stores in 20 states. As everybody knows, small businesses here often don’t make it. It’s very seasonal and many of the small businesses just don’t have the kind of financial backing to make it through the year. But Natural Grocers is a billion-dollar company and they will provide something that sounds like it will be an asset to the community. I’m very excited about it. I’m looking forward to seeing that approved and the new addition to our community.
Peter Todoroff
Good luck with employees, is all I have to say. You can have all the stores you want, all the big businesses… whatever… but what we need here is workforce housing. And that’s being taken up by TTD.
Tia Rancourt – North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District, Public Information Officer
I just want to remind folks the last day for chipping and defensible space evaluation requests is November 5. Waste Management has another short timeframe of October 4-30 for the curbside waste pickup. That’s about it. Lots of things going on over at the Fire District. Busy with a number of seasonal things including training. But hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the Fall. Thanks for sharing that information with your group, Pete.
Joe Colacurcio – Washoe County Sheriff Office, Sergeant
[inaudible] In the last two weeks we made over 70 traffic stops. [Inaudible]
Peter Todoroff
Thank you for your service. And thanks everyone for joining in.
PARTICIPANTS
Alexandra Wilson
Amanda McPhaill
Ann Nichols
Belinda Carr
Bob Skidmore
Bruce Townsend
Candee Ramos
Chris Wood
Corey Solferino
David Simon
Debbie Nicholas
Denise Daavis
Diane Becker
Jack Dalton
Jacquie Chandler
Jeff Church
Joe Calacurcio
Jon Davidson
Judy Miller
Judy Simon
Kari Ferguson
Kathie Julian
Kristina Hill
Marc DeLaTorre
Margaret Martini
Michelle
Mike McNulty
Natalie Villegas
Pam Straley
Peter Todoroff
Ronda Tycer
Sherry Butler
Shirley Appel
Steve Price
Svata Trossen
Tia Rancourt
Yolanda Knaak
CHAT BOX
09:15:57 From kathie julian : IVGID Can you sign onto zoom if you do not wish to make a comment? Will the Zoom meeting allow for people attending to be seen?
09:19:06 From kathie julian : Is it possible to see a list of persons from the public who have attended (either by Zoom or by Livestream). It is good to see who in our community attend such meetings. We would have this if the meeting were in person.
09:20:23 From Debbie Nicholas : Is there a list of the current CAB members? And schedule of meetings?
09:20:39 From Judith Simon : Yes. It‚ is on the
09:20:50 From Judith Simon : Washoe County Website.
09:21:13 From Candee Ramos : Roster: https://www.washoecounty.gov/CABS/IVCB_CAB/2021/Files/IVCB-CAB-Roster-21-22.pdf
09:21:18 From Judith Simon : Diane is the new chair, Kathie is vice-chair
09:21:44 From Debbie Nicholas : Thanks!
09:21:44 From Candee Ramos : Meetings occur via ZOOM the first Monday of the month at 5:30 p.m.
09:22:28 From kathie julian : Current CAB members are: Diane Heirshberg, Kathie Julian, Kevin Lyons, Denise Davis, and one empty seat. Two alternates are Judith Simon and Chris Wood.
09:23:09 From Candee Ramos : Judith Simon is an at-large position; there is one alternate position available.
09:23:29 From kathie julian : Ok! Thanks for the clarification!!!
09:26:09 From Washoe County Libraries to iPad(Direct Message) : We will let Pete know you are next in line for a question. Sorry for the delay.
09:28:09 From kathie julian to Washoe County Libraries(Direct Message) : Amanda, helpful to try to stay on topic as opposed to jumping around topics. I have input re: CAB to supplement what Diane offered.
09:28:47 From Jon & Beth Davidson : Re: NV Energy: Last week at 10am one day our voltage increased to 130 volts and stayed there for 2+ hours. They reported that the “power outage (was not an outage‚”but a dangerous power spike) had been restored. They are saying they have no other information, and this is not acceptable.
09:29:47 From Judith Simon : How about the Biltmore sale?
09:37:36 From kathie julian : Washoe County invites you to participate in a Zoom meeting (link below), October 19, 2021, 5 p.m. – 6:30 p.m., to solicit input on the recently adopted Short-Term Rental (STR) Ordinance permit process and regulations.
A presentation to the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) is scheduled for early 2022 to receive a general update on the implementation of the STR Program and to provide an update on the STR Program and propose minor clarifications for the Commissioners’ consideration and direction.
Your input will be used to assist staff in their recommendation(s) to the BCC. Learn more here.
When: Oct 19, 2021, 5 p.m. Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Topic: Washoe County STR Code Input and Permit Status Update
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87948351992
Webinar ID: 879 4835 1992
09:43:52 From Jacquie Chandler : Sustainable Tahoe proposed to run a LOCAL Incline office with a Stewardship HOSTING Standard
09:44:00 From Jacquie Chandler : https://www.sustaintahoe.org/uploads/1/2/7/7/127782591/the_tahoe_standard_for_str.pdf
09:44:32 From Jacquie Chandler : Maybe the IVCB Visitor Center would be willing to direct a % of TOT funds to support it?
09:45:50 From Jacquie Chandler : Our STR problems would be solved with Stewardship HOSTING protocols, that Sustain Tahoe has already created, developed and proven work over a 10yr period.
09:47:49 From kathie julian : Jacquie, this is not simply about noise or parking. It is about the commodification of IV, and its impact on workforce/affordable housing. It is destroying our community. So we need limits on numbers and density.
09:48:21 From kathie julian : And to design those limits, we need good data.
09:54:45 From kathie julian : Judith, can you put into the chat the information about where to write on this matter?
09:55:08 From Jacquie Chandler : EXCELLENT IDEA Ann!!!
09:56:14 From Jacquie Chandler : Love this dredging the Keys idea! How do they not know about this?-
09:56:37 From Jacquie Chandler : TRPA and Coast Guard
09:56:49 From Jacquie Chandler : Nature Conservancy?
09:57:00 From Jacquie Chandler : UC Davis?
09:57:48 From Judith Simon : You all have to wander around the site a bit unless someone can find the link to do public comment
09:57:53 From iPad : This is what happens when a Homeowner Association is in charge.
09:58:04 From Judith Simon : yes!
09:58:25 From Jacquie Chandler : 15 years ago this pesticide idea surfaced with Lahonton Water Board
09:59:45 From Jacquie Chandler : Yes, the Lake is our National Treasure, ‘property of the earth’ and ideally stewarded by all Americans.
09:59:59 From Jacquie Chandler : Thank you for a positive solution we can focus on
10:01:46 From Judith Simon : https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/lahontan/board_info/agenda/2021_schedule.html
10:02:24 From Judith Simon : Also there will be an opportunity to comment AT the meeting in January
10:04:44 From Judith Simon : by the way (re the Tahoe Keys) These other methods do work but they are more expensive than herbicides
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