It is no wonder everyone wants to live, boat, and recreate there. Private piers and such are the result of opening the lake to development years ago, and it is kind of hard to say to newcomers, the lake is now closed.
We have the same problem with development along our Parkway, and unless the new Parkway Plan mandates no new development that visually intrudes upon anyone of average height walking or biking along the Parkway bike trail (save for nature or heritage centers and ranger stations), we’ll be going down the same path.
And, to continue that plan into the long term, we need to begin developing an endowment to purchase current Parkway bordering property still in private hands for purchase when it becomes available.
This would be a cornerstone of our plan for a nonprofit organization to manage the Parkway, creating such an endowment fund for the Parkway; or the strengthening part of our mission: “Preserve, Protect, and Strengthen the American River Parkway, Our Community’s Natural Heart.”
Threat to Lake Tahoe's clarity seen
A compromise development plan that would allow many more piers, buoys and slips has critics concerned.
By Julie Cart
Times Staff Writer
February 21, 2007
Twenty years ago, scores of state and regional agencies, landowners and conservationists hammered out a comprehensive agreement that dictated virtually every aspect of future development at Lake Tahoe, save one: how many piers, slips and buoys would be allowed along the lake's 72 miles of shoreline.
Today, the planning process is drawing to a rancorous conclusion with a proposal by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency to allow the construction of up to 230 piers, 1,862 buoys and 235 boat slips to be built around the lake over the next 22 years. If development reaches the limits allowed by the plan, the high alpine lake eventually could hold nearly 1,000 piers, 6,300 buoys and 3,000 boat slips.
All development at the lake is subject to guidelines intended to safeguard the lake's most cherished and vulnerable asset: the deep blue color that has been fading steadily. The states of Nevada and California as well as a nonprofit conservancy spend millions of dollars annually to preserve the clarity and quality of the lake water.
Critics of the plan say adding so many structures would stir up muck and make the lake more opaque, especially close to shore. Tahoe's water clarity has declined to about 74 feet from the historic high of 100. Lake Tahoe is the nation's second-deepest lake at 1,625 feet.
The state Environmental Protection Agency says the proposal does not provide sufficient scientific analysis of proposed air and water quality monitoring.
In addition, the California State Lands Commission contends that the plan would restrict public access to Tahoe's beaches.
