TTD Board Chair Commissioner Alexis Hill commented after the vote, “We do tough things around here.” The board had much discussion regarding the public input process and the committee meetings. The comments from TTD staff and members of the board who voted to approve the dissolution included, “we need a different audience”, the committee has “stymied” the evaluation process, “we hear from the same 10 people”, it won’t matter what we do so since the community won’t have any solution, we need to break through to the public TTD intends to serve – the low income and seniors, the committee and the process has “monopolized” TTD staff time, this has not been a good use of TTD staff time, the committee needed to have clear goals and objectives, the public comments at meetings are too contentious making it difficult to focus, etc.
Two board members, Cody Bass and Brooke Laine, voted ‘no’. Their comments were focused on public trust, the potential negative impact on perception of TTD, and the long-term relationship with the community of Incline Village. Ms. Laine spoke about how another TTD project that had similar challenging community characteristics and how that community felt TTD wasn’t listening to their input. She expressed concerns about TTD’s reputation, should this happen again.
All members agreed having additional workshops and transparent information is important for the public and the process. TTD’s Mr. Hasty stated they now have a PIO, so communication to the public is expected to improve.
They clarified the grant for the planning process has a June 2024 deadline with the objective of identifying 3-4 potential sites. At present, the 4 sites include the Old Elementary School (OES), Ponderosa Ranch (this has been ruled out by the property owner), UNR (formerly Sierra Nevada University) and the Washoe County Sheriffs Office substation land. The OES location MUST be included in the evaluation of alternative sites, until and unless is doesn’t possess the requirements of a potential hub. They intend the “multi-modal” hub to be used by TART buses, RTC (Reno Transportation Commission) and for seasonal service to SR28 along the East Shore. The TART bus routes are anticipated to be altered to no longer travel through Incline Village, but instead end at the hub with microtransit services to operate out of the hub for local transportation. Funding will be shifted from TART to the microtransit operation of 3-5 vans. Commissioner Hill pointed out at present there is nowhere for the microtransit vans to park and this is part of the requirements of a hub.
The next step, beyond June 2024, will be to attain grant funding for the environmental and other studies along with a 30% design for a potential hub. This process is expected reduce the alternatives down to one location for a potential hub.
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