TRPA Presentation of Shorezone

Andrew Pridgen -- Bonanza News Editor

Governing board member Norma Santiago, an El Dorado County supervisor, questioned staff about the validity of passing a plan without enforcement in place.

... The seasonal good cheer may have found its way through the center's partition as a sparse number of members from the general public had mostly conciliatory things to say about the agency's latest version of its Shorezone plan to regulate boats, piers and buoys, which staff hopes will be approved on Jan. 31.

Environmentalist regulars Michael Donahoe of the Sierra Club and John Friedrich of the League to Save Lake Tahoe beat the drum of wanting specific mitigation measures to be included for the purported increase in boat traffic and number of piers and buoys over the next two decades.

Absent, however, was the threat of litigation against the agency from members of the public.

Governing board members, too, were concerned about what Donahoe coined "a (plan) without the meat." Governing board member Norma Santiago, an El Dorado County supervisor, questioned staff about the validity of passing a plan without enforcement in place.

"There needs to be a clarification for (the public) about mitigation standards," Santiago said. "First there's the physical aspect, like if I were to build a pier, then there's fees," Santiago said. "We need (to) specify and we need to be more respectful of the public if we adopt this document ... it's rather complex - and I don't think there's time enough to do (it) without delaying the process."

...

Jan Brisco, executive director of the Tahoe Lakefront Owners' Association, noted the three-volume document is rife with draconian regulations for pier repair that did not exist in the absence of a Shorezone plan.

"You have been able to replace your pier," Brisco said. "The ordinance package itself is inconsistent. This is unlikely to be adopted Jan. 31."

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