News

4/28/11, 8:16 am, By Jeff Cowen

TRPA says A-OK to Boulder Bay

By Jeff Cowen -

Editor's Note: Almost a half decade after Incline resident Roger Wittenberg purchased the Tahoe Biltmore (and, it should be said, cancelled $2 Bilty Breakfast) his plans to redevelop the Biltmore and adjacent vacant lot into a new casino, condo-tel, shop- and conference space have been approved. Now it's just a matter of raising a quarter-billion dollars to break ground.

In a board room still crowded following a 12-hour hearing, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board voted to approve the Boulder Bay Community Enhancement Project. Four years in the planning, the project will replace the aging Tahoe Biltmore Casino in Crystal Bay with a mixed-use resort that (purportedly) will significantly reduce stormwater pollution and vehicle emissions associated with the site.

"With science showing us that we can reverse the decline of Lake Tahoe’s clarity by encouraging environmental redevelopment of our town centers, the cost of doing nothing is just too high for the Lake,” said TRPA director Joanne Marchetta. :Redevelopment projects like Boulder Bay are an important part of the public-private effort to restore Lake Tahoe.”

Once complete, the Boulder Bay site will include a mix of whole ownership condos, hotel units, affordable housing, a small casino, a health and wellness spa, retail and dining space, pedestrian and transit improvements, and a 4-acre community park.

In addition, the project plans to pursue LEED certification, a global standard for green building techniques.

About 80 members of the public provided testimony throughout the afternoon.

Analysis and testimony regarding the benefits of the project were weighed by the TRPA Board against concerns over the project’s size.

At the center of the discussion was a code amendment to allow the height of the proposed four story buildings and the TRPA traffic analyses showing the project would reduce traffic and vehicle emissions.

The height amendment allows Boulder Bay to maintain roughly the same grandfathered height of the current Tahoe Biltmore building — 75 feet.

Two separate traffic analyses, meanwhile, showed that vehicle use would be reduced in the North Stateline area because of the mix of commercial and accommodation uses on site and proposed pedestrian-transit improvements.

Boulder Bay representatives committed to compare traffic estimates with actual data in five years to ensure the analysis holds. Air quality gains, such as those projected with the new Boulder Bay project, are indicative of mixed-use development, which TRPA would like to see lead the way to environmental redevelopment of more of Lake Tahoe’s commercial centers.

“The board’s decision today comes at a critical juncture in the path to restore Lake Tahoe,” TRPA trustee Norma Santiago said. “Our communities need better direction from TRPA on how to keep good projects coming forward and today’s approval shows that the agency is ready to move forward in partnership with private property owners to support environmental as well as economic revitalization.”

Boulder Bay improvements to the property's footprint include:
• Designs for stormwater runoff infiltration to handle a 100-year storm event
• 90 percent reduction in sediment runoff, up to 30,000 lbs/yr reduced.
• Reduction of energy and water use by 38 percent
• Total land coverage/impervious surfaces reduced by 1.6 acres or 68,000 square feet
• Improvements to scenic quality including undergrounding of utility lines
• More than 6,000 linear feet of pedestrian amenities
• A 4-acre public park with lake views
• Annual reduction of nearly 10,000 vehicle miles traveled within the basin from the current 33,000 VMT related to the site today.
• Corresponding reduction of greenhouse gas emissions
• Comprehensive alternative transportation program

• Restoration of 2.5 acres of sensitive stream environment area

• Creation of 38 units of deed-restricted, affordable housing
The Boulder Bay project is expected to be built over three years in phases. Following tonight’s approval, the project could break ground in the spring of 2012.

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