Boulder Bay public comment ...the 12-inch

"They're only reducing the number of units by 10 percent," said Crystal Bay Realtor Ann Nichols, a founder of the North Tahoe Preservation Alliance. "It's still over twice the number of units that are allowed now. It's almost twice the height allowed now. And they want to develop land that's deed-restricted (currently) for three single-family homes. Other than that, everything's good."

While opposition says questions still remain as to the overall fiscal viability of such a project and whether, predictably, the local ownership would attempt to push plans through the permit process and then attempt to sell to an outside multi-national development corporation, the TRPA is rounding the final turn of its permit OK for Boulder Bay by extending public comment till Feb. 4 and pushing for approval in the spring.

Trustees of the TRPA governing board will hear public comment about the project and the developer's recently released draft environmental impact report 11 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18 at the Chateau in Incline. The agency will also host an open house for candid discussion on the project 5 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 1 (Boulder Bay Ground Zero).

Boulder Bay controversy goes beyond the proposal itself.

The project's success has become a rally cry of sorts for the embattled TRPA whose long overdue regional plan includes implementation of  a developer-friendly Community Enhancement Program, which would purportedly reward responsible/eco-friendly development.

Agency officials claim the only way to make the program viable is allowing developers (in this era of trending toward building smaller/communal spaces) to build bigger.

How to do this when property is built-out or deed-restricted?

Tourist Accommodation Units.

Tourist Accommodation Units (or TAUs if you speak TRPAese) is a cryptic system (even TRPA officials say they don't fully grasp how it works) means a developer can take a public entitlement of a motel-type unit (usually 1-bedroom) and transfer that square footage to another unit — so, in theory, the end result is the Basin stays the same/at build-out.

Developers, however, found a loophole: There is no codicil that prevents the TAU's original square footage from multiplying from its original size.

Therefore, TRPA opponents contend, a 280-square-foot room from a torn-down South Shore motel, suddenly becomes a 3,000-square-foot villa in Tahoe Vista.

Though Boulder Bay officials trimmed back the TAU size considerably, expansion out and up is still necessary to complete the project.

"Part of this dissolution stems from an homogenization of the Lake Tahoe basin by the TRPA," wrote North Shore resident Carolyn Johnson, who is against using TAUs to accommodate developers' needs. "I and many others like myself do not want TAU's transferred from South Shore to North Shore. It is completely out of line and adverse to what the residents of the North Shore want for their communities. We live here because of the difference.

"In a recent post, I was reminded that TRPA has kept high-rises from occurring, no now (sic) they're going for sprawl. It all adds up the same thing. And may I remind you, all developers want to build the largest development they can. Financially it's in their best interest, but that certainly doesn't mean it's in the best interest of Lake Tahoe. And TRPA should stop and think about that instead of buying into it."

Crystal Bay resident and former TRPA trustee Stu Yount, takes a slightly different tack with TAUs:

"TAUs are another frequently upsetting situation in our permitting maze,"Yount wrote. "Yes, there may well be a better way to incentivize the type of redevelopment we want. However, agreeing on what that would be AND how to fairly and constitutionally transition to such a new system is fraught with lengthy and upsetting deliberations.

"Another fact of life here in recent years, is that our basin has become far more litigious. Very little gets through TRPA without a legal challenge. Naturally, that severely diminishes TRPA’s use of their limited funds for the real goals. It also, again, adds to the cost & risk for investors & developers.
 
"Although there are some with ulterior motives getting in the way, I strongly believe we all have the same common goal of improving Lake Tahoe’s clarity, maximizing fire safety and making this basin as a whole a better place.  When you get right down to it, I don’t think there is 5 percent difference between our goals, just different roads & methods to get to those goals. 

"To achieve this, I believe it is vital to acknowledge that commonality and respectfully work together in our own various ways towards that goal."

Boulder Bay proposes the following: 

Total units: 359* (*300 hotel, 59 condos, 14 affordable-housing units – Boulder Bay does not currently include the affordable-housing units in the plan's total number.)

Fractional-ownership units: 0

Dining/retail space: 20k sq. ft.

Overall square footage at build-out: 475k sq. ft. Condo square footage: 1.556 sq. ft. (avg.)

Units-per-acre: 22.1

Tourist Accommodation Unit square footage: 556 (originally proposed as 866)