The link to the recording of the meeting is
John Eppolito – Incline Resident, Children’s Data Mining
I’ll comment on the School District stuff. On Sunday there was an opinion piece in the Reno Gazette Journal from the WCSD Board President Angie Taylor. I’ve got a handout here. If you want a copy I’ll email it to you. My email is john@Jtahoe.com. So one side is Angie’s blah-blah-blah about why they silenced parents. They won’t let us speak at the beginning of Board meetings anymore. The other side is my response, or “the truth” as they say. It’s all about Critical Race Theory. There are too many people showing up at meetings speaking against CRT. It goes back to their survey where they posted their curriculum and asked parents what they thought of it and 84% of the parents were against it. And about 90% of the people speaking were against it. They could only get a few people to speak in support of it and they are educators for the most part. So they decided they don’t want to hear from the parents. So they stopped public comment. I’m not going to go on and on. But I did write a response so if you’d like to read it I’ll be glad to send it. I can send it to Peter and he’ll forward it.
Peter Todoroff – Incline Community Forum, Moderator
Seeing no further questions for John, let’s hear from Tia what’s going on with the Fire Department.
Tia Rancourt – North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District
Good morning. We had a great turnout for the Pancake Breakfast. Thanks to everyone who came out. We served about 900 people on July 3rd. It was fun to see everyone in person. As you can imagine we’ve been busy with an increased number of calls over the holiday weekend and the last 10 days. There have been a lot of auto accidents, pedestrians, and auto-bicycle incidents. So I did a post yesterday asking people to be mindful and pay attention to the road while driving. We’re noting an uptick in those calls.
Regarding fire restrictions, we had the signs up over the holiday weekend, which helped. Folks are reporting when they see an open flame or someone using a charcoal BBQ and we respond to those calls and ask folks to put them out. The hand crew just returned back yesterday from the East Fork fire. We had two hand crews out on that incident.
Bill Wardell – Washoe County, Community Services Department
I’m a capital-project projects manager working on the lower Wood Creek water- quality improvement project. Thanks for your time. I’d like to give a quick update on where we are with that project so everyone is aware of the scope. We will begin excavating. It was originally slated to start this week but will start next week on the 14th. Their office will be located at the south end of the Old Incline Elementary School parking lot, which is where we’ll also have all of their staff parking. We know this is a sensitive time with parking in the area. But we wanted to give them a location for off-street parking. That will be available to the staff members 5 days a week for the course of construction. The duration of the project is through mid-October. The area of impact will be Southwood Boulevard just south of the Tahoe Blvd intersection. There will be no intersection work at Tahoe Blvd and Southwood. We’ll continue south to Mays Blvd and impact that intersection for a time and then proceed down Mays Blvd to Freels Peak down to Jobs Peak. We’ll have full intersection improvements at those three intersections. There will be single-lane road closures and some intermittent full-road closures. We will have message boards and signage to notify residents. And we will be looking to ensure we can clear shoulder areas so we don’t have people impacted by the work during weekly periods. We’ll have more updates as we get traffic control plans and sequencing in place.
Also, at the same time, we’re starting on the Wood Creek culvert crossing Southwood next to Creekside East and Creekside West condominium associations. That will also impact traffic as a single-lane closure as they do that crossing. The duration of that project will be approximately 3 weeks.
I’d like to come back and update everyone at your regular meetings so I can keep everyone up to date as to what we have going on with the project, and answer any questions.
Steve Dolan – Incline Resident, Friends of 3rd Creek
I’m curious about this project in terms of water quality. I haven’t heard about it. And I’m wondering if the State Fisheries Department has signed off on it.
Bill Wardell
Yes, Steve, thanks for the question. We have engaged the State. We do have a third party consultant in the NV Tahoe Conservation District representing us on this project to help with all those compliance issues with the fisheries, and NV NDP and ? have also been involved in this project from the beginning. So, short answer to your question—yes sir we’ve made sure we’ve covered all those challenges.
Steve Dolan
The reason I ask is because the US Forest Service was supposed to be doing a general survey regarding the fish species size etcetera in that stream, and my understanding is they are still trying to get it into their schedule. This would definitely interfere with everything, at least from your construction area, downstream. If you get hold of Travis Hocks with the Fisheries Department you might be able to get up to speed on that. Because I know they’re interfering with each other.
Bill Wardell
Yes, thank you for that information. I’ll make sure our team gets in touch with Travis and coordinates.
Steve Dolan
I’ll also notify him. Thank you.
Shirley Appel – Incline Resident
I am a resident who lives right at Highway 28 and Southwood. Are we going to be able to get out of our driveways?
Bill Wardell
Yes. I assume you live in the area of the condominiums that are just on the Southeast corner?
Shirley Appel
Yes.
Bill Wardell
Yes. So we are actively talking about that area. My in-field representative Keith Macinitch will be located in the field 5 days a week during all construction activity. He’ll try to engage someone in your association.
Shirley Appel
I happen to be the President.
Bill Wardell
You’re the perfect contact so we definitely would like to talk to you. You’ll be impacted later in the project. We’re starting at Job’s Peak and Freel’s Peak and working our way up towards Southwood.
Shirley Appel
Do you want my email address or how do you want to make contact?
Bill Wardell
Is there a phone number?
Shirley Appel
818 266-4402
We’re associated with Integrity Property Management.
Steve Dolan
Mr. Wardell, Is that Megan Kelly you’re working with at the NV Tahoe Conservation District?
Bill Wardell
Megan’s the lead. Dommie Fellers is the Environmental Scientist I’m working directly with.
Shirley Appel
One other question. I notice right now the signal at 28 and Southwood going north and south backs up all the way down to Village. Is this because of the construction or is this just what they’re doing in the summer-time?
Bill Wardell
I would say currently it’s just heavy activity in that area. We’ve noticed that as well. We haven’t started any actual construction activity yet. Once we do, I would also expect somewhat of an impact to that signal going northbound and southbound. We’ll do what we can to divert traffic around that signal point so we don’t have too much of a backup there for safety reasons. I can make our traffic control plan available to everyone. We’ll get that distributed.
Kathie Julian – Incline Resident
Could you give us more information about exactly what the project is—what you’re doing with this creek? And also what was the process. I think this is characteristic of what happens to Incline Village. We hear about things from the County when we’ve had no knowledge of such plans before. It’s then, “Surprise, we’re doing this now.” And I’d like to understand how our community missed this project proposal and its discussion by the County, and perhaps what we can do in the future to make sure that when projects are being done by the County in our community, our community has prior knowledge and perhaps some feedback into that. So can you elaborate on this?
Bill Wardell
Yeah, Kathie. Thanks for the question. I’ll probably have to defer a bit of your question to two other resources as it relates to community communications. Certainly that’s something we know is a work in progress at times, making sure we inform everyone. We started these water-quality projects some years ago as part of an EPA pass-through grant fund that goes through the NV Division of State Lands, the NV Division of Environmental Protection, and TRPA. So our primary funding source has been these three entities related to water-quality projects. I’m kind of a “late attendee” in these projects. They’ve been managed by a couple of other folks with Washoe County. This is my first. Certainly communication is something I want to ensure that we continue, and these meetings are a good opportunity to inform the community of what we’ve got coming for your area. So I think we start there and determine how we can do better as a County to make sure we communicate with the residents of Incline Village as well as the businesses in terms of impacts to the community. The process for this project has taken about 2 ½ years to get to where we are today. NCE is our design engineer firm. We’ve worked with the NV Tahoe Conservation District as well through the planning and design process to get us to where we are now. I came in late in the design phase for the project to carry through the construction portion of the project. The later phases of this project—which will be an ongoing process—are already in the early stages of planning. I anticipate we’re going to continue this on an annual basis to do improvements. The premise for the improvements is—in my very slight understanding of the environmental engineering that goes into this—is to mitigate the surface conveyance of storm-water and get it into an actual storm drain system to get it where it needs to go to shed cleanly into the lower Wood Creek and Lake Tahoe. That includes enhancements to shoulder areas of our roadways where people commonly park so we don’t have open drainage ditches that are a safety hazard. We’ve all seen the cars that park in these areas. And also allow some enhancement so cars can get out of the way for snow removal as well as pedestrian and vehicle safety. We’ve got cars moved away from the roadway as much as possible.
Kathie Julian
I’d like to follow up. With that in mind, is this going to impact parking at the 786 Southwood condos? Quite a few of the working-class people need that parking because they don’t have enough parking in the condo lot itself. Is that going to impact where they’re able to park after construction?
Bill Wardell
No. There will be short-term disruption while we’re working, but the end goal of this project is to not take away any parking locations that are currently being utilized.
Kathie Julian
Okay. Can you send to Peter to circulate to the broader community on his mailing list a map of the improvements near Wood Creek or whatever, just so that we see where the work is going to be ongoing? This is part and parcel of communications with our community. And in my view it’s unfortunate that projects like that – which are very good – kind of appear as a surprise, “This is what we’re doing in your neighborhood.”
Bill Wardell
Yes, I will absolutely make sure that I distribute all the information that we have available. As always, any information anyone would like to see, we’re happy to share. If I can get some contact information, maybe someone can reach out to me, or to John Crockett, who has my contact information. Put me in touch with the right person so I can distribute that information.
Peter Todoroff
My name is Peter Todoroff. Now the County has taken away the Citizen Advisory Board. The community had a voice in the CAB. Now that’s taken away so we have no voice at all. I find this unacceptable. I was Chair of the CAB for 8-9 years. This project is the “cart before the horse.” The community knows nothing about this project. The apartment complex on Southwood Blvd is using Southwood for an extended parking lot. What has the County done about that—about taking care of the traffic that is a problem especially in the winter when the snowplow makes a berm along the cars and Southwood becomes a 1-lane road? How are people coming from the Mt Rose Hwy and from Country Club supposed to deal with that until the County steps in and cleans up that extended parking lot for Tahoe Incline Apartments? Why is this project proceeding without the community’s knowledge or input? And what kind of environmental impact will it cause? Nobody knew about this. Without the CAB, how are we getting this information out? And how is the community giving input on this project or any other project? I’d like to know.
Bill Wardell
Thank you for the question. I apologize that this is a little bit out of my wheelhouse. I know the Assistant County Manager Dave Solaro was going to attend this meeting, and this would be more a question for him. But I’d say we have discussed at length the impact of the work we’re doing and the improvements we’re doing specifically in the areas of those apartment complexes, with block shoulder treatments that will enhance that parking area to help get those vehicles as much as possible out of the roadway traffic patterns. Snow removal was also discussed with our road crew that is stationed to do snow removal. There has been a significant amount of discussion. I’d say we should get a forum with our county management and our road supervisor for that area—Rich Thomson—to have a further enhanced conversation about how that snow removal could be improved to impact the citizens who park along Southwood in that area.
Peter Todoroff
Oriole’s the other street. What has to happen is this community has to be informed about what’s going on. I’ve mentioned in several of these meetings, if you want to put money into the Old Elementary School, which you’re using right across the street, they have vehicles parking along there and it’s a safety issue. A fire-truck could not get into that place if there was a fire. This is why we have this meeting and why we used to have a CAB to enlighten us about what we’ll be having done up here. So there has to be some sort of communication. There’s always excuses why the County can’t communicate because they have something else going on… whatever. TRPA is the same. Our Commissioner—the same. Given you’ve taken away the CAB, we need to be informed. I send out information about when these meetings are going to occur and all the information about what goes on in them. So at the very least everyone in the County has my email address. I just need a little cooperation from the County so the community can find out exactly what’s going on and put in our input. Every project that’s going on up here… no doubt yours is a good project… but we need communication that we’re not receiving.
John Eppolito
I agree with Peter. If it wasn’t for the CAB—and I guess I missed some time here because I didn’t realize the CAB was gone—but if it wasn’t for the CAB we’d have a big cell phone tower at the High School right now and that was a very unpopular project. So I agree with Pete. We need to know what’s going on. Why’d they get rid of the CAB?
[Resident]
It’s a long story.
Steve Dolan
Peter, can we stay on the subject with Mr. Woodell? Past projects—in particular Megan Kelly—whom I know well—had to stop their work on Rosewood Creek with the water-quality installation runoff holding tanks that had essentially stopped the fish run up the creeks. I’d appreciate it if you could double check—and I trust Megan implicitly because she’s great at what she does—but putting in these holding tanks for water runoff tends to interfere with the natural spawning habits of the rainbow trout that go up Wood Creek. Not many people even know where Wood Creek is. But Mr. Eppolito and I just hiked up to a source spring of Wood Creek so I know it well. And right now I’ll put a picture of the flowers at the source spring on my screen that you’re looking at. So please double check with Megan to make sure that those fish pathways are maintained. I’d really appreciate it. Thank you.
Bill Wardell
Yes, Steve. I’ll be sure to take care of that. Just to comment on Pete’s comments, I’m certainly trying to find a better pathway for communication not only on this project, but on future projects. It’s understood I’ll talk directly with Mr. Solaro and have that conversation about how we can improve our communication with your community and get input into these projects as they are forming instead of as they’re getting ready to start work. I understand the frustration. I want to be the steward for both the County as well as the residents and my contractors to ensure everyone is working cooperatively. If there’s anything else I can do, please feel free to let me know.
Peter Todoroff
Mr. Solaro has my email address as does everyone at the County. I can get all information passed out to everybody. But we need to know what’s going on. I know that your project is a great project but we have to be informed so they’re not arbitrarily doing stuff.
Indra Winquest – Incline Village General Improvement District, General Manager
So I’m meeting with Jay Slaughter around 11am and plan to spend 3 hours with him today. I appreciate Bill Wardell being on here but he’s been put into a precarious position because he’s a contractor. It really is the responsibility of the County to keep updating our community. That… along with what I consider the extremely ridiculous… yesterday— the way the roads were set up with all the roadwork around town—so that is on my list of the things I’ll be talking to Mr. Brown and Mr. Slaughter about along with … Federal plumbing construction that’s coming up and some other topics we’re working on. [inaudible] I think the County should be sending me a list of all their projects that are going to impact not only Incline Village and Crystal Bay, but all other areas up to Douglas County. I don’t know if communication is better over there than it is here. It seems to me because I’ve lived in South Shore for a long time and they have very similar issues there—citizens just don’t know what’s really going on. Even if there are little things that they don’t need to communicate, not everyone knows about that. IVGID should be a collaborator in making sure these agencies are communicating with us. So I as General Manager want to know so we can work together. I know Alexis is not on this call, but I was talking in an email a few days ago about this project. It was the first I’d heard of it. [inaudible] I know our Commissioner did chime in and ask for information to be put out. I’m not sure why that didn’t happen. …As our Commissioner she should make sure County staff aren’t forgetting to do that. She should be on top of it.
John Eppolito
If Steve Dolan asks you to take a short 3 hour hike up Wood Creek—[inaudible]—first of all, just tell him “no.” That 3-hour hike turned into a 5-hour hike… the grades were like this… it was crazy. Next day was all recuperation. It’s beautiful where we ended up, but just say “no” to Steve Dolan.
Kari Ferguson – Incline Village General Improvement District, Information Coordinator
[Inaudible.] I am on the call every other week with all other Public Information Officers in the entire basin and we talk about what’s happening in the entire basin, all the different counties and cities talk, so we are all on the same page with messaging and what’s happening. So somebody mentioned this project yesterday. I gave [inaudible] a link, which is why they’re here today. I said we need to know right now what’s happening. [inaudible] I’m always trying to get information to you guys for very local stuff. So I can help.
Denise Davis – Incline Resident, IVGID Ordinance 7 Committee Member
To follow on Kari’s and Indra’s comments to Mr. Wardell, yesterday was a mess in Incline. Part of it was because they had the construction signs about 2 feet from where they were doing construction. So when you start this project you’re here to talk about could you make sure they put the construction signs at intersections so we can choose to go another route. Like Kari, it took me almost 25 minutes to get across town—a drive that usually takes 5-10 minutes. So if you could have notice at an intersection so we could go a different direction that would be great. And another thing to keep in mind is that Mays Boulevard is the only road that allows access to the Post Office. We have very little home delivery in Incline. The vast majority of us have to go to the PO to get our mail. Please keep that in mind with this construction. That’s a problem for us.
Steve Wood? – Incline Resident
So Indra I heard you say you recently learned of this project. My question is, is there a formal arrangement for the County to notify IVGID of these projects? Is there some institutionalized setup?
Indra Winquest
Good question. So I believe there is not. That’s not to say we don’t communicate with the County on a lot of issues because we do. But this is one that’s popped up and been on my list since I’ve known a couple of weeks ago that I’d be meeting with the County Manager and Assistant County Manager. What I’d like to do is to initiate that process. They know well in advance what their capital project plans are. So it’s easy for them to give us that. It’s just one of those things that has been up and down over the years. [inaudible] But I think what’s simple is just having more communication. No we don’t have anything formal but yes it’s something we should strive for.
Steve Wood
If I may just follow up briefly, doesn’t this kind of project overlap with IVGID’s work on water and sewer projects?
Indra Winquest
Sometimes they do. There is involvement with IVGID but I don’t know what the complete scope of this project is so I don’t know what will involve us. But that’s a good point. That’s part of the communication circle. If our Public Works director knows there’s something, that’s just an added layer to make sure the word gets out there.
Peter Todoroff
That’s the point of the CAB. When I was Chairman I absolutely wanted someone representing IVGID to be present so we knew about these projects ahead of time and the community members could voice their opinions. We have to have communication with the County. Not getting informed about what’s happening up here doesn’t work.
[Speaker?]
Indra, is it possible through Sara Schmitz’s Community 1st website that some of this information can be broadcast?
Indra Winquest
I think Community 1st is one forum. And IVGID can piggyback on that to send out flyers. There are multiple ways to get out the information. IVGID puts out a lot of information on social media and our website. It’s amazing how many people don’t pay attention to any of that kind of stuff.
[Speaker?]
Unless you know about it you’re not going to pay attention to it.
Indra Winquest
Right. But a lot of them aren’t the kind to browse on Facebook. Let’s face it. A lot of our community members don’t have a reason to go to the IVGID website, because much of our community already knows. So I think we’re always striving to get better. Kari sends out stuff to all the different family groups and mom-groups. We try to infiltrate all the way down as much as we can.
Jack Dalton, MD – Incline Resident
These kinds of discussion have been going on for ever about the fact the County doesn’t inform us of anything. I do not like Facebook. I refuse to go on Facebook. IVGID’s stuff I like. I have a question. A few weeks ago there was a list of questions generated here that were going to receive responses from persons asked such as our Commissioner. She and others were supposed to give a response. Has that happened? Was there a reason why not?
[Speaker]
They’re not here.
Jack Dalton, MD
Well, these were questions that didn’t require them to be here to answer. But they were here. They got asked the question. Then they were going to respond, as I understood. Am I right? If they haven’t responded, why don’t we say they haven’t responded? I’ve heard Commissioner Hill say, “I’ll look into this and get back.” If that didn’t happen, then…
Peter Todoroff
Well the Commissioner is not on today…
Jack Dalton, MD
I’m not talking about her being here…
Peter Todoroff
There was no response from the Commissioner on the stuff that I got.
Jack Dalton, MD
Why can’t we enforce that? It’s one thing to ask questions that are appropriate to people who are here and involved like to Sara and people like that … But there were other questions… For example, Kristina Hill had—I don’t know if she’s still here—but she had a great number of perfect questions. There were so many I didn’t write them down… But our elected officials, aka the County, should respond when we ask questions. If they don’t, we need to publicize that.
The other thing was about the bus depot, which was crammed down our throats by our Commissioner and a few other people. Some of the Commissioners voted against it so it was a vote of 3 to 2, something like that. I bring this up because I hadn’t visited the bus depot in Tahoe City. So I drove over there to look at that. I don’t see how Incline can handle what’s in Tahoe City. And there’s no people riding on the bus although they have a public beach there and a lot of businesses. Here it’s not convenient for anybody. And Sand Harbor has a sign up for the walkers saying Sand Harbor is closed—there are too many people. So if you have people coming in by bus, where are they going to go? They can’t go to our beach. They can’t go to Sand Harbor. What are they going to do?
John Crockett
I think they would transfer to Sand Harbor. I think that’s the plan for that mobility hub.
Jack Dalton, MD
I’ve heard Sand Harbor is going to restrict walk-in admissions. That’s why about halfway along the path there’s a sign you can’t see from the road. You’re not going to be able to pull up there with a 50-passenger bus and drop off 50 people. It’s nothing like what’s in Tahoe City. In Tahoe City you have restaurants … You have stores… and you have a big public beach.
Peter said TTD has not done their due diligence. So maybe it still hasn’t happened. But looking at that, it not only doesn’t address any of the [inaudible] like Tahoe City, it doesn’t work here. Plus it destroys the quality of life of the people who live nearby. [Speaker – You bet it does.] And nobody is addressing the effect of all those cars on those children’s health… [inaudible]
Peter Todoroff
Like you said, they crammed it down our throats. That’s it.
Jack Dalton, MD
But they didn’t even look at Tahoe City. [inaudible]
Peter Todoroff
I understand. Tahoe City is a great place. But the bus lot is vacant.
Jack Dalton, MD
No it wasn’t. Cars were parked there. [inaudible] But they weren’t taking the bus. They’re just parking there, using it as a parking lot while they walk over to Tahoe City downtown. Tahoe City is much different than Incline.
John Crockett
Lieutenant Meceli, do you have any announcements?
Lieutenant Meceli – Washoe County Sheriff Office
Just to keep you updated on the WCSO implementation back into the Incline substation, July 19 is the official start date for myself and soon-to-be-Captain Solforino. We’ll be bringing up with us 2 sergeants and throughout the next few months we’ll be rounding out our team with 3 more sergeants and 5 more deputies. We also have a Field Support Specialist who will be starting up there next week as well. We’re very excited to get fully integrated back into the Incline community. Like I said before, I started my patrol career as an officer there in Incline. I love it up there and personally am excited to get back up there and get involved and get some things accomplished.
Bruce Townsend – Incline Resident, IVGID Ordinance 7 Member
I have a question. What does a Field Support Specialist do?
Lieutenant Meceli
Leslie Barnes retired, so we filled her position. Field Support Specialists go out to help the community with all sorts of things the WCSO can address: parking issues, VIN inspections, and taking reports at the substation’s front desk. They can also come out in the field to help us with reports and CSI and different things the WCSO does. It’s a huge help to the community as well as WCSO. They help out the deputies so deputies can focus on more urgent and pressing issues that come up. They are there to take some of the burden off.
Bruce Townsend
Why can’t Marine 9 have a buoy down at the Hyatt like they used to?
Lieutenant Meceli
It’s not that they can’t. With water levels and our access and public access, it’s working out to be the best for us and for the staff to keep Marine 9 where it is now.
Bruce Townsend
Just doesn’t seem like it would be as good a response if they have to drive all the way over to the Thunderbird, get on the boat, and come all the way back to Incline.
Lieutenant Meceli
I know it may seem like that. It could be a little longer response. Our goal with the WCSO is to have everybody who works in the Incline station capable of operating the boat or being on the boat so that in case of emergency if Marine 9 is not actively on the water, anybody can respond and get to the boat, and get to where they need to go.
Peter Todoroff
Do you have any updates on the drowning?
Lieutenant Meceli
The only update is that there were some issues that needed to be worked out with Carson City because of jurisdictions. We always work through all that stuff to provide the service to the communities. So WCSO ended up taking the report and the information we have is what we’ve already released. It’s still being investigated through the agency. I have no further updates at this point.
Gary Stewart – Incline Resident
Do they have any plans for the overnight parking along Ski Way? We have an area on Ski Way just before the curve with a more or less permanent collection of vehicles along there, including some that seem to have dubious registrations. I just wondered if that area was also to be part of the “No Overnight Parking.”
Lieutenant Meceli
I don’t have any information if they are planning to post signs making that “No Overnight Parking.” It’s something I can look into. If there are immediate concerns with vehicles parked in certain areas, definitely let us know and we’ll send somebody out. I get multiple requests daily on parking issues. We’re doing our best to send our folks out to address issues we can address. I can take note of this and evaluate that area and see if any plans are out there.
Shirley Appel – Incline Resident
I have two parking issues I’d like to discuss. I noticed on Incline Way where it says “No Overnight Parking” there are several vehicles I’ve seen there for the past 3 or 4 days. They don’t move. Also, on Oriole, in the easement area of the apartments, there are 6-7 cars a night parked along there next to “No Parking” signs.
Lieutenant Meceli
I believe I have information on these sent to me already. We have looked into it. Of course vehicles move. It’s typically the 72-hour parking rule, if it is not prohibited by another sign. If there are vehicles parked in an area that is prohibited by a sign we can cite the vehicle. Our problem with removing the car is towing. We lack storage space for towed vehicles. That’s one of the issues we’ll have to tackle.
Shirley Appel
Can’t you give them a ticket?
Lieutenant Meceli
Yes, absolutely we can ticket vehicles. The biggest concern is moving the vehicles so they aren’t impeding traffic or in violation of the sign. We will continue to issue tickets. We would ultimately like to get the vehicles moved and prevent them from parking there.
Jackie Chandler – Incline Resident, Sustainable Tahoe
I had one more comment to make about the Ski Way parking. There is one car that is a new thing. I think most of the parking on Ski Way is because there is not enough parking in the Mountain Shadows parking lots. I think it is Mountain Shadows residents that are parking there and on Tomahawk. That wasn’t too big of a problem from a driving standpoint until this new car starting parking right at the corner and creating a blind spot, which is a hazard. It’s just that one spot that shouldn’t be parked in. I guess I could put a cone there. The rest of them are a problem just because the County has one rule for everybody.
Lieutenant Meceli
Just a minute. I’m writing this stuff down. Where was it?
Jackie Chandler
It’s on Ski Way but it’s blocking your view as you come out of Tomahawk. I was shocked that someone would park there.
Lieutenant Meceli
I’ll have somebody go out and take a look at that because there are laws regarding parking within a certain distance of a stop sign, so that’s definitely something we can look into. So when you see that, send it over to us and if the vehicle is there we can get somebody out to address it.
Jackie Chandler
So my question is about the boating thing. I saw some comments lately that people swimming have been cited or asked to move away because they’re patrolling now. I’m hoping the WCSO isn’t citing people because they’re swimming on private property. As far as I know, legally the lake is a national treasure and you can be in 1” of water; and now that the water is so low you can probably even be on the sand in front of somebody’s private property and there’s nothing legally they can do. So if we’re using additional police resources because some people have extensive beaches that are nice to swim in front of and they’re in the water… I just want to confirm that is still legal and the lake is still a national treasure protected by Federal law for anybody even in 1” of water.
Lieutenant Meceli
To the best of my knowledge, that is still true. Nothing has come to our attention that we’ve had to enforce. If people come ashore on private beaches, then that’s a different issue. But nothing has come to my attention about that.
Jackie Chandler
I agree. If they come ashore… try to use your bathroom… that’s different.
John Crockett
Commissioner Hill just joined the meeting (at 57 minutes).
Kathie Julian
One thing I’d request is for TRPA to attend these meetings. It would be great to have some sort of session where we could hear from TRPA to understand a bit more about how their organization impacts our community. I think that will help build stronger connections between this community and the TRPA.
Secondly, I’m on the TRPA email list for the housing issue. There have been recommendations for housing from the Tahoe Living-Working Group, which is focused on workforce housing. The amendments they’ve proposed are being considered first by the TRPA Advisory Planning Commission—Judy Simon is a member of that Commission appointed recently by Commissioner Hill—and the Regional Plan Implementation Committee. And then it goes to the TRPA Governing Board. One of the code changes will allow flexibility for accessory dwelling units (ADUs) to be built in some cases on parcels that are 1 acre or less. All of this coming from TRPA is to encourage more inventory for workforce housing, which ADUs can contribute to. My concern is that if this is approved—and it looks like it will be by the TRPA people—and I would be supportive of this because ADUs are a good way to provide workforce housing. However, in California they have a rule that says ADUs cannot be used as STRs. You can’t rent out an ADU for less than 30 days. When this comes to Nevada, Washoe County would need to change its code in the Tahoe Area Plan to allow for this to happen to make the Tahoe Area Plan consistent with the TRPA. They recently did that with STRs. They changed the code to make it consistent with TRPA’s. So I would expect Washoe County might do the same thing to make consistency. But I’m concerned that when they do that, they might not put in place the restriction on not using an ADU as a STR. This could simply backfire, and we could end up with more inventory for STRs and not for long-term workforce housing. So we need to keep our eyes on this and work with the County Commissioner to make sure that if the County does move to make their code consistent with TRPAs that the exclusion language regarding STRs is put in place as well. This will be discussed before the Advisory Planning Commission Wednesday July 14 at 9:30. Then again on July 29 it will be before the Regional Plan Implementation Committee and TRPA’s Governing Board. It’s not up to them to discuss what Washoe County might do vis-à-vis their implementation or anything Washoe County does to make their rules consistent with TRPA, but it’s in our interest to keep an eye on this because we would not want this to be put through in Washoe County without the language that restricts ADUs from being used as STRs—so that it’s able to fulfill the purpose TRPA is aiming at which is to create opportunities for workforce housing. This is in my view a good objective.
Alexis Hill – Washoe County Commissioner
I want to address two of Kathie’s points. For Incline Village and Crystal Bay, we’re working with the IVCB Business Association to do a Q&A in September on how TRPA and Washoe County work together. You’ll be seeing an invitation coming out soon.
On ADUs I’m not prepared to make any changes to the Tahoe Area Plan on ADUs until we have finalized our Prosperity Center Housing Study, which is wrapping up soon. Hopefully everyone filled out the survey. Also I’ll wait until Washoe has gone through our first season of permitting STRs. We have a lot of data to collect to see what would be right. I’m with Kathie. I don’t want to allow for the proliferation of ADUs if it just creates additional STRs in the community. That’s something we’re not looking forward to on the local level, but I think it could be a good thing for the whole Lake. It will be going before the TRPA Governing Board later this July.
Peter Todoroff
I have a question. Since you’re on the TRPA Board, how does the community get involved in some of these meetings when we don’t have any information about the upcoming meetings.
Alexis Hill
I do a newsletter that you can sign up for. We are looking to start a District 1 newsletter once we have our new liaison starting at the County. Hopefully when we’ll be having one of those meetings we’ll be sending out information on them. But I can tell you right now that this will be going to the TRPA Governing Board July 28. You can also go to the Advisory Planning Commission meeting next week.
Kathie Julian
Peter I sent you the notice about this and you can send that out to the community, and there are links to these meetings.
Peter Todoroff
I have a question for Alexis. Seeing as we have no CAB, there are projects going on up here about which we do not know. We need better communication than we’re getting. We were just talking about the Wood Creek construction project. Nobody knows about it. I was CAB chair for 8 years and that’s where that kind of information came out. We need to know about these projects. We need to have community input and we’re not getting it.
Alexis Hill
I hear you. The Community Development Department is looking to revise how they manage CABs for development projects. So that will be going to the Board of County Commissioners on July 20. I still as an individual Commissioner will be holding monthly meetings. They cannot start until we get the liaison in place so we have staff support for those monthly meetings. But I’ve already received an invitation from the Parasol Foundation as well as the Library to hold those monthly meetings. I will keep the CAB board, but may rename it to something else. We will have opportunities to discuss community projects and concerns and what’s coming up. So that will continue. It’s been put on hold but it’s certainly not dismantled.
Peter Todoroff
Will this happen in my lifetime?
Alexis Hill
I’m hoping it happens in August, but I don’t want to make a promise. I’m hoping we’ll hire the liaison and can get that going. Worst case will be September. I don’t want to make promises I can’t keep. I’ll keep everyone posted.
Peter Todoroff
What I would like is for you to send to me a list of all the projects that are coming in July, August, and September so the community has forewarning of what’s going to be happening, because nobody knows about things. We need better communication with you. You are our only representative. We have to have communication with you. The only way to get that is if you send me the information. I send out all the information to my mailing list, which includes over 200 people. It’s easy to say, “We have projects going on—this, this, and this.” You can do this until the County decides to inform us. We need to be informed beforehand.
John Crockett
What is contained in the District 1 newsletter? Would something like this project be announced? Does it contain projects or news? What’s in the newsletter?
Alexis Hill
Yes it will, once it gets going. I have a newsletter myself which you can sign up for. But through the County we will have a newsletter that will mention these projects. I am waiting on this Old Elementary School staging project they’re doing. For the press release I was going to forward that to Peter but I’m here today and we also had someone speak about that project at this Forum earlier. We are working to keep you informed and will continue doing that.
Peter Todoroff
We need to be informed of projects that are coming this month, next month, and September. I don’t want to wait until the County decides to do something. It’s a little late. This Wood Creek water quality project has issues. I don’t remember it coming before the CAB. So send me a list of the projects for the next 3 months so we can give some input on them. Otherwise we have none whatsoever.
Alexis Hill
I hear you.
Peter Todoroff
Any announcements?
Denise Davis – Incline Resident, IVGID Ordinance 7 Committee Member
Bruce, Kari, and I want to urge everyone who has not yet completed the IVGID Ordinance 7 Beach Survey to please do so.
Kari Ferguson
The survey closes on the 21st. It’s on our website to be completed online. (inaudible)
https://www.yourtahoeplace.com/events/ordinance-7-community-input-survey
Short link:
Jack Dalton, MD
Who should complete the survey? Are these people who are voting in Incline or property owners?
Kari Ferguson
It’s for parcel owners and residents.
Jack Dalton
So it’s for parcel owners who may be second homeowners with condos or whatever? So it’s not just for voters.
Kari Ferguson
Right. Parcel owners.
Jack Dalton, MD
We can see how with all the discussions about STRs, the owners are going to make a big push to fill it out. It’s unfortunate that it’s not limited to citizens who live here.
John Eppolito
I have a question. My two nephews are here. We have 6 in my family so we’re already over our allotted Picture Pass IDs. Is there a way to get my 2 visiting nephews onto the beach? Because when I’m on the beach I meet a lot of people who are vacation renters. They seem to have 40 people down there and I can’t even bring my 2 nephews. Is there a way to bring them without paying a whole bunch of money?
Kari Ferguson
Right now you can bring a guest in if you accompany them to the gate and with your Picture Pass you can use a credit card to get them on the beach. You have to be physically there at the gate with them. That’s how you can get somebody into the beach with your Picture Pass. You can also use a Punch Card if you are physically with them at the gate. You have to have enough value on the card. Kids 16 and under are $6, and $15 for adults. You have to use that value off the card.
John Eppolito
So how do these big groups of vacation renters get on the beach?
Kari Ferguson
When there are no Picture Passes…
John Eppolito
You mean the property owner buys Punch Cards for them?
Kari Ferguson
Yeah.
John Eppolito
I met two big parties.
[Speakers speaking over one another – inaudible]
Denise Davis
It may be Picture Pass holders standing at the gate and paying for all of them.
Kari Ferguson
Right.
Jack Dalton, MD
Kari, if I show up there with my Picture Pass, can I purchase access for 25 people?
Kari Ferguson
Yes.
Jack Dalton, MD
If they are my “guests.” As opposed to the Punch Cards. I support the concept of the Punch Cards. I thought Punch Cards was the only way you could buy bach access. You could then give your Punch Cards to your friends. But now I understand there’s another avenue whereby I can come down there and pay. We don’t even know who’s designated on our family tree. There were friends of my daughter—a bunch of little kids and two couples—at the beach and they couldn’t get in—which I support because they were from an STR. They weren’t our guests. The STR renters assumed they could go to the beach, but they couldn’t.
Denise Davis
As a Picture Pass holder, you have always been able to buy access.
Jack Dalton, MD
What’s that?
[Speaker?]
What’s gone are the paper passes. There are no Day Passes. They are not valid currently. So there are only two ways you can get into the beach now. [inaudible]
Kari Ferguson
[inaudible] … Staff worked extra hard over the last weeks. We have lots of programs happening this summer.
Jack Dalton, MD
Lisa Krasner could have supported us on AB363 but she didn’t. That was the NV State STR bill that specifically applied only to Clark County but no Counties with less than 700,000 population, which excluded Washoe County. She didn’t support the regulations for Washoe County. She did not help us out.
[Inaudible. Please see you-tube recording]
[Speaker?]
Well I volunteered at that event and it was a great event…. It was fun.
[Conversation about music at the beaches – Inaudible. Please see you-tube recording.]
Peter Todoroff
If there are no other questions, let’s adjourn.
[Apologies for being unable to follow the conversations when speakers did not identify themselves, speakers were too distant from the microphone, or speakers talked over one another. —Recap Editor Ronda Tycer]
CHAT BOX:
09:29:58 From Incliners Zoom : does anyone know who to call to complain about dead bark beetle infected trees next to our property. We’ve never seen the owner of the house
09:33:31 From Tia Rancourt : You can call Ryan Dominguez, Fuels Prevention Specialist 775-841-0351, ext 8130
09:47:11 From Tia Rancourt : Have to sign off, thank you everyone!
09:47:38 From Washoe County Libraries : Thank you Tia!
09:48:08 From Bill Wardell : I am going to sign off. Please feel free to email with directly with any additional questions. Wwardell@washoecounty.us Thank you
09:48:27 From Washoe County Libraries : Thank you Bill
09:53:56 From Washoe County Libraries : Kathie and Jacquie we see your hands raised
10:12:16 From kathie julian : This has also been a budget issue for the County Commissioner, and I think they have funds kicking in this FY for better communication.
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