Environmental Issues

From Wetlands to Beach Club- TRPA and Douglas County Approvals for Tahoe Beach Club

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Excerpt Taken From - Lake Tahoe remains murky after 25 years and a $2.9 billion investment 
“The TRPA is not about providing affordable housing. They are about approving luxury real estate ventures,” says Lake Tahoe resident Dr. Staci Baker.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Authority approved a luxury condominium complex on a flood plain, adjacent to the habitat for a rare plant that grows only on the shores of Lake Tahoe. (Photo: Dr. Staci Baker)
The Tahoe Beach Club (TBC), a sprawling complex of more than a dozen buildings built on a swamp, promises luxury lakeside living at a lofty price. A three-bedroom, three bath condo runs about $4 million, according to TBC’s website. In 2009, the TRPA approved the project, which included bulldozing a trailer park and displacing renters who paid $500 a month, according to news reports. The TRPA mandated the developer compensate for the loss of housing with affordable units, which today rent for $1,600 a month.

“TRPA approved this luxury condo complex on a riparian area beside the Tahoe Yellow Cress plant.” Baker says. The plant, a member of the mustard family, is found only along the shores of Lake Tahoe. “What will save the lake are these riparian marsh areas.”

In 2000, the Tahoe Restoration Act noted “destruction of wetlands, wet meadows, and stream zone habitat has compromised the Lake’s ability to cleanse itself of pollutants.”

A project planned by the U.S. Forest Service to restore the wetlands adjacent to TBC is being scrutinized by developers of the condo complex, who are frustrated by flooding risks.

Tyler says the Burke Creek/Rabe Meadow Restoration Project was approved with minimal environmental review.

“The Tahoe Beach Club is located on private property which was previously out of water quality compliance. When the property owner proposed the redevelopment project, TRPA required a full Environmental Impact Statement and public review prior to approval of the permit,” says Cowen. “The permit also required Tahoe Beach Club to implement large scale stormwater treatment infrastructure, protected areas for Tahoe Yellow Cress, and paid mitigation fees to public entities to acquire adjacent wetlands for restoration and public access.”

“That meadow is working. This is not a restoration project. It’s a flood control project. They’re moving 6,000 cubic yards of material right next to the lake. They are filling in a pond – a habitat for ducks and beavers,” says Tyler.

At a meeting last month of the Douglas County Lake Tahoe Sewer Authority, Andrew Strain of TBC noted the development “has 25 residential units, with each having a value of more than $2.5 million,” according to the minutes. “Damage to the residential units as the result of increased groundwater from this project, Mr. Strain indicated, could result in significant liability for all involved.”

“It’s in a floodplain, of course it’s going to get flooded,” says Tyler, an engineer and former employee of the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board. “The TRPA approved the Tahoe Beach Club and underground parking on a flood plain. And the Beach Club is intimating the Forest Service could be liable.”

The situation is an “example of developers trashing the environment for these luxury homes. The right thing to do when they removed the trailer park would have been to restore the riparian area and keep Tahoe blue,” says Baker.

The Lake Tahoe Restoration Act’s initial funding was non-binding. Critics of the TRPA are hoping Pres. Joe Biden’s administration will ask Congress to attach strings to any additional funding, should the reauthorization be approved. Biden is making campaign stops Tuesday in Reno and Las Vegas.