Redevelopment

After more than a year in the making, the official opening of Bonanza Park in South Lake Tahoe on Saturday brought community members and families together in celebration of a cooperative public and private agreement made possible by city leaders and Edgewood Companies.
South Lake Tahoe Mayor Claire Fortier and Edgewood's CEO and president Chuck Scharer gladly cut the ribbon after months of negotiations allowing for future property and building rights in exchange for the public park.

The Carson City Board of Supervisors will be discussing on Thursday an amendment to the previous redevelopment incentive loan package offered to Micheal Hohl Motors to keep the company's three dealerships in the county.

The company has already received $2.4 million in redevelopment funds that was used to help build the new Honda and Subaru dealerships on South Carson Street, and is preparing to take out the remaining $2.4 million for remodeling of the GM dealership.

One of the biggest, once-in-a-lifetime thrills this writer experienced was first-time voting eligibility in local, state and national elections. What a privilege to have my official opinion added in to the larger community, with an impact on public decisions going forward. Much can be learned from the morning-after election results, which chronicle where we are as a community at a given moment. . .a snapshot of what's on people's collective minds, or at least those who choose to exercise their voting rights.

The Carson City Board of Supervisors yesterday approved wording for ballot question seeking a sales tax increase to fund the Carson City Center Project, aka Nugget Project.

See the live Tweets of the meeting here.

Supervisors agreed to two important changes to the original wording released last week.

Jed Block will present a slideshow/talk on Thursday, May 17, 2012, at 6:00 p.m. at the Carson City Library. The title of the talk is "Now and Then: a Pictorial Analysis of Carson City Changes." Mr. Block has collected numerous pictures of Carson City's Carson Street and downtown area from earlier periods, such as the 1950s and 1960s, and compares them to recent photos of the same locations. These comparisons reveal a lot about the history of Carson City and the colorful people who shaped its future. The event is free and open to the public.

There are enough nuggets buried inside the Nevada Appeal's follow-up story today on the Carson City Center Project — aka Nugget Project — to keep heads in this town spinning for a week.

The existing 2 percent Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT), which is up for renewal on the June 5, 2012 ballot, has funded a number of North Lake Tahoe public improvement projects and services since voters first authorized it in 1996.

The renewal, called Measure F, is not a tax increase and, if passed, would continue to be paid by lodging guests only via the TOT bed tax when they spend the night in North Lake Tahoe. North Lake Tahoe residents would not be taxed under Measure F.

Proponents and city officials fear the electorate's decision about City Center because when the record is examined, no impartial analysis can be produced justifying its necessity. Fact-based concerns have been raised by many, but intentionally ignored by city officials and proponents without careful analysis.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency announced the schedule of public meetings and workshops for public input on the Regional Plan Update draft and environmental documents for Lake Tahoe being released later this month.

The Carson City Board of Supervisors will discuss this week what groups will receive money this year out of the $100,000 Redevelopment fund for special events.

There are requests for $118,275, so the supervisors will have to pick which groups will not get what they asked for at the board's next meeting on April 5 at 8:30 a.m. in the Sierra Room at the Carson City Community Center.

Yesterday the Carson City Board of Supervisors heard the person in charge of the city's open space program outline new goals for the future.

After the city's buying spree of hundreds of acres of open space lands in recent years, Open Space Manager Juan Guzman said they are now shifting to better managing those lands.

Recognized for stewardship and care taken in the building and construction of developments around Lake Tahoe, the 22nd annual Best in the Basin awards were announced Tuesday by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.
The TRPA, which sets policy for development around Lake Tahoe, will recognize the winners, listed below, during the 2011 Best in the Basin awards presentation during the meeting of its Governing Board on Wednesday, Feb. 22 in Stateline. Go here for the agenda.

A vocal minority’s intermittent cheerleading promotes the massive City Center project. Their objective: replace the city library with a +$75 million, three-times-the-size library complex just east of the Nugget Casino. (The ‘official’ $49 million cost curiously excludes 30 years of interest payments.)

Absent from this well-intentioned, but ill-conceived project are viability, necessity and prudence.

The Carson City Board of Supervisors is seeking applications from persons interested in serving on the Redevelopment Authority Citizens Committee. There is one (1) opening for “Business Operator” or “Property Owner” from Redevelopment Area 2. The term shall expire in January 2014. (Refer to the attached map for Redevelopment Area 2.)

Over the weekend, the Paradise Cove Cafe in Carson Mall closed its doors, the end to a labor of love for owners Doug and Jamesa Cramer.

"Relieved" was the first word Doug said when I asked him how he was doing. The efforts to keep the restaurant in business over the last year and 10 months had clearly taken a toll.

The Carson City Board of Supervisors will appoint new officers for the city's Redevelopment Authority at it meeting next Thursday.

Also on the agenda will be possible action to start fundraising and planning for a new animal shelter.

The full agenda is below:

The Carson City Board of Supervisors will be appointing new members of various committees and boards at it next meeting on Thursday, Jan. 19.

Those appointments include the city's Redevelopment Citizens' committee and the Parks and Recreation Commission.

Also on tap will be a performance review of City Manger Larry Werner, and approval of a $1,456,110 contract to install a solar power system at the city's wastewater treatment plant.

See the full agenda below:

Lake Tahoe, CA/NV – The Regional Plan Update Committee of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board made broad strides this month including endorsement of updated policies that would improve how aspects of land coverage and planning procedures are managed in the Tahoe Region.

To a packed house of observers, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board voted to approve Phase 1 of the Homewood Mountain Resort Ski Area Master Plan at their monthly meeting on Wednesday, December 14.

The Carson City Board of Supervisors is seeking applications from persons interested in serving on the Redevelopment Authority Citizens Committee. There are six (6) openings in the following categories, two (2) in each category:

• “Business Operator” or “Property Owner” from Redevelopment Area 1
• “Business Operator” or “Property Owner” from Redevelopment Area 2

A committee of the Lake Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board took a major step forward this week in moving toward a different permitting system at Tahoe where many parcel-by-parcel regulations would shift to local county or city governments.

HOMEWOOD - Nearly seven months after government officials approved the Boulder Bay project, eyes are now shifting to an iconic locals-favorite ski resort and a proposed multi-million-dollar face...

Did you remember to turn back your clocks this morning? If not, go back to sleep!

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A WNC student is alleging the course requirements issued by the instructor of a human sexuality class constitute sexual harassment.

One assignment given by instructor Tom Kubistant that 60-year-old student Karen Royce took exception to was to masturbate at twice her usual rate and write about the experience.

The Carson City Redevelopment Authority Citizens Committee is scheduled this week to nominate and select a person or business for the 2011 Main Street Miracle Worker Award for efforts that improved...

NEWS RELEASE — With recent success guiding the approval process for major projects at Lake Tahoe, the accomplishments of law firm Feldman McLaughlin Thiel reflect a rising correlation in the spectacular mountain community between a healthy environment and a healthy economy.

Nevada Business Connections is pleased and proud to announce two new members on our Advisory Board.  Amy Ginder, Director of Institutional Research at Western Nevada College, and Dr. Fred Steinmann, Managing Principal at EDSolutions LLC.

The Carson City Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 tonight to move forward with the $49 million Carson City Center/Nugget Project.

You can see the live blog coverage here.

The motion to proceed to the next step of this controversial development included a commitment by the city of $11.3 million in redevelopment funds, $12 million to come from recently increased landfill fees, and a one-time expenditure of $500,000 from the city's utility fund.

It's been almost two years since I first heard about the Nugget Project.

Back then, the plan was very vague, a public-private partnership that could add up to $90 million. The city's part of this project would be a 1/8th cent sales tax increase and money from the redevelopment fund equaling approximately $25 million.

The Carson City Board of Supervisors will vote Thursday evening on whether to move forward with the revamped City Center/Nugget Project.

An evening session of their regular bi-monthly meeting is planned to discuss the $50 million project, of which $23.7 million would come from the city.

The agenda (attached below) makes reference to "a public commitment to the project of a 1/8th-cent sales tax

The Board of Supervisors will consider spending $12,000 from the Redevelopment Agency to support the Ghost Walk this year.On June 6, the Redevelopment Authority Citizens Committee recommended fundi...