Until further notice, the Incline Village/Crystal Bay Community Forum will be conducted every-other Friday at 9am in person and online using the meeting app Zoom. The zoom meeting ID number is 815 3612 1755 and password is 1864.
On Friday morning at 8:55am John Crockett or Amanda McPhaill from the library will start the meeting. Please join before 9am so we start on time.
If you are unable to join the Zoom meeting by computer or cell phone, you may still submit issues to be discussed to Denise Davis (ivcbcommunityforum@gmail.com).
Denise Davis – Moderator, Citizen Advisory Board Member, IVGID Ordinance 7 Member
John Crockett and Amanda McPhaill – Washoe County Library Zoom-masters
Ronda Tycer – Recap Editor [The Chat Box information appears at the end of the recap.
The link to the recording of the meeting is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo024ZaHHsA]
Participants (n = 42)
Bruce Townsend
Corey Solferino
Denise Davis
Helene Larson
Jack Dalton
Jim Lyons
Joe Farrell
Joseph Colacurcio
Judy Miller
Mike McNulty
Ryan Sommers
Sara Schmitz
Shirley Appel
Yolanda Knaak
On Zoom:
18186011996
Chris Disney
Chris Wood
Darlene Velicki
David Simon
Debbie Nichols
Diane Becker
Greg Herrera
Helen Abel
Jeff Church
Jeff Cowen
Jon & Beth Davidson
Judith Simon
Kari Ferguson
Kathie Julian
Kristina Hill
Lars Anderson
Linda Offerdahl
Mike Abel
Miranda Jacobson
Pam Straley
Rob Galloway
Ronda Tycer
Sherry Butler
Steve Dolan
Susan Chandler
Todd Leutheuser
Warren Lockmond
Denise Davis – Moderator
If you are on zoom and have a topic you want to discuss today, please put it into the Chat Box. Also, for those of you here in person, when you speak, it’s helpful if you can come closer to one of the microphones. It’s 9am so we’ll get started.
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to our Community Forum. I’m Denise Davis, Moderator. Helping me today is Amanda McPhaill from the Library; and Ronda Tycer is our secretary who creates the minutes for our meetings and also helps run the Forum.
Today we have a guest speaker so I need to be very conscientious about time. At 9:10 we need to go to our guest speaker. We’ll start with announcements. Chief Sommers, do you have any announcements to make today?
Ryan Sommers — North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District, Chief
All the chipping’s done. We’re winding up for the big snowstorm. We’ve been doing that for a while now. Hopefully that will come soon. Other than that, we’re “status quo” right now. All of our personnel are currently at the Hyatt—Wednesday, Thursday, and today –for our annual paramedic refresher required for our continuing medical education. I’m in my civvies because I’ll be leaving here in about 10 minutes. I’ve got to get down there and get my hours in.
Denise Davis
Any questions for the Chief? Sergeant Colacurcio?
Joseph Colacurcio – Washoe County Sheriff Office, Sergeant
We have no announcements. We are preparing for winter weather, and letting everybody know about parking on red days and green days, and starting that.
Mike McNulty – Incline Resident
Sergeant, I have a question. My name is Mike McNulty, and I’m a licensed alcohol-and-drug counselor. I’m wondering what—if any—opiates—specifically fentanyl—have approached Incline Village.
Joseph Colacurcio
We’ve not run into it, but we’re not going to tell you it’s not here. It’s everywhere. It’s a matter of—they call them “Luhan 30s.” It’s a common pill that’s easily bought and traded among all. And if it’s in Reno, it’s probably in Incline, too.
Mike McNulty
There’s nothing in Incline as far as you know?
Joseph Colacurcio
Nothing in Incline—as far as I know.
Kari Ferguson – Incline Village General Improvement District, Communication Coordinator
Hi everyone. Happy Friday. I just want to let you know we have an Audit Committee meeting December 8th and a Board Meeting at 6pm. They are both virtual meetings. I’ll put the link in the Chat. That’s 3pm on Tuesday December 8th. Also, we’re taking reservations for Santa’s Stop on December 18th. The reservations are on our website. I’ll put the link in the Chat. It’s a drive-by Santa photo event. That’s all I have for today. Thank you.
Sara Schmitz – Incline Village General Improvement Board Trustee
Kari, I’d just like to clarify that our meetings are on Wednesday the 8th. I just want to make that clear.
Kari Ferguson
December 8th correct. I apologize.
Sara Schmitz
I believe the Audit Committee meeting starts at 3pm. Is that correct Kari?
Kari Ferguson
Correct. The Audit Committee is at 3pm and the Board meeting at 6pm—both virtual.
Amanda McPhaill – Washoe County Incline Library, Librarian
As you entered you may have noticed this huge box sitting outside our library front door. We have a kiosk that’s coming—like a snack machine but for books and DVDs. So that’s being put together and should be available by next Friday. You can scan your library card and choose what book you want. It drops out like a Snicker’s candy bar, but a little bit healthier. So that’s pretty cool. So basically access 24/7 to library services in addition to the library app giving access to e-books and audio books as well.
And Santa will be stopping at the library on December 15th, a few days before he stops at IVGID. He’ll be here from 3-5pm on December 15th.
Jeff Cowen – Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, Public Information Officer
Good morning. The TRPA Governing Board is meeting on the 15th and the TRPA Hearing officer meeting is on the 16th. That’s for the temporary Special Use Permit for the TTD’s East Shore Express transit-intersect parking in Incline. That issue will be returning… I think a bunch of you guys made it to the hearing last month… and that item was continued to December 16th because we didn’t post the Initial Environmental Checklist and some of the documents that were needed had not been posted correctly. So we’re continuing that and will revisit it. I did get as much notice out to the community as we could. Unfortunately as you know some of the notices went out just a couple days before. But we’ll keep trying to improve that noticing beyond what’s basically required.
At the Governing Board meeting on the 15th they’ll be hearing about a new mobility mitigation fee—which is an update to our air quality mitigation fee. That’s the main item on the agenda.
There were code amendments for forest fuel reduction work, which went to committee and will be going to the Governing Board in January.
Denise Davis
Is there a way for people to sign up to be notified of TRPA meetings?
Jeff Cowen
We’ve done that back and forth a few times. But if you just send me your emails, I’ll get them on to Maria Amber’s list for the Governing Board and we’ll figure out who can get on to the Hearings Officer list. We just normally post them to the Internet, and I try to get it out as far as I can on social media. It’s in your hands.
Send your request to jcowen@trpa.org.
Jeff Church – Washoe County School District Trustee
I don’t have any updates from the District. The mobility hub/bus station passed. I voted no and was the only “no” vote, but I have to respect the vote of the Board. So there’s really nothing I can do with WCSD about that. I talked to Jaime Golden and explained some of my personal thoughts on that and the way you could deal with that. But beyond that, it’s passed. It wasn’t my idea but it’s the way it is. Thank you.
Linda Offerdahl – Incline Village Crystal Bay Business Association Executive Director
IVCBA has decorated one more tree at the west end. That end has one more tree in red. If you come from Crystal Bay you’ll see it. There are several community events this weekend. There’s a “Sip and Shop” at Raley’s Center. The Toccata Messiah concert is on Sunday. And next Thursday there’s an artists’ reception and a boutique for Marty Gallory, Karen Colbert, and other local artists at IVCBA in Mountain Work Space.
Denise Davis
All right. Thank you. It’s time to introduce our guest speaker today. He asked if he could come speak at the Forum. Keep in mind, we’re not telling you our opinion by allowing guests to come speak. We’re just presenting information. Dr. Lars Anderson is an Aquatic Ecology Invasive Species Specialist, and former affiliate of the UC Davis Weeds Science Group. So Dr. Anderson, I’ll turn it over to you.
Lars Anderson, PhD—Invasive Species Specialist
I’ll share screens and hopefully you can see this.
Screen 1 – Components of Proposed Tahoe Keys Lagoons Control Methods Test Program
I want to go through in a very brief way the summary of the proposed test program in the Tahoe Keys but I want to preface this by a couple things. One is my first experience in your area was in 1995 when we first identified Eurasian milfoil in the rock cribs outside Incline Village. So I’ve been involved in the Tahoe problem of invasive plants since 1995. What we’d like to talk about today is our proposed test program that will allow us to compare various methods for controlling the aquatic plants in the Keys. I think most of you are aware that we have a serious problem. It’s not just the Keys that is causing that. The Keys go out into the lake because of the past history when they tried to harvest the plants with cutters that produced fragments that exited the Keys. So the importance of this testing is to come up with a better way to mitigate the methods that are out there that we know can be used. I’ll be quick and at the end we’ll have some time for questions.
So just to remind you, one of the threats we have right now is curly-leaf pondweed. We first discovered this in 2003, but it has been exploding exponentially in the last 5-7 years in the Keys and also in South Lake Tahoe along the shore. It produces turions, which are vegetative structures. Each shoot can produce dozens of those. So there are thousands of these being produced in the Keys and in Lake Tahoe. Each one will form a new plant in the fall and spring. So we need to control this plant as well as the other two plants: Eurasian milfoil and tintail (sp?). So that’s our concern.
Screen 2 — Goals of Collaborative Stakeholder “Control Methods Test” (CMT)
So the goals of the test program are to look at all feasible methods and hopefully come out with a combination of methods that will work in the long run to provide a sustainable approach to the problem, reduce the threat to Lake Tahoe, and basically reduce the impact of the aquatic weeds. There are several impacts.
I should mention that during this entire process we’ve had a huge input from stakeholders across the Tahoe area—regulatory agencies, the League to Save Lake Tahoe, and lots of input into this program coming to the point we have a proposed project today.
Screen 3 – Goals of Collaborative Stakeholder “Control Methods Test” (CMT)
The project is composed of a 3-year program. The first year—and only in the first year— are herbicides proposed to be used in addition to some other methods including UV light systems, which you’ve probably heard about, and laminar flow aeration, which is a bubble system mostly driving an approach to control the production of algae that can lead to harmful algae blooms and toxins.
In addition to some of these stand-alone treatments, we have combination treatments with herbicides and the UV light system as well.
If you look to the right-hand side, you’ll see Years 2 and 3 and that there is no herbicide use proposed after the first year. These are all non-herbicide approaches: spot treatments of diver-assisted suction; hand pulling; bottom barriers; and more continued use of the UV-light system. The whole idea is that the first year gets us to a population in these sites low enough to control with the non-herbicide methods subsequently. That’s the intent.
Screen 4 – Summary of Testing Methods in Key Main Lagoon
I want to show you the extent of the herbicide applications just so you’ll have an idea of the scale. The table is kind of busy. I want to focus on a couple of things. One is the bottom right hand number of 16.9. That’s the total acreage of herbicide applications in the total of 172 acres of the Keys’ water. So it’s a very small percentage of the total Keys. I highlighted these combination treatment areas here because it could be an optimal approach, but we wanted to use with this one UV light in its most effective way, which is down the middle of these coves. The UV light system has not been proven on an operational scale yet. That’s why we’re including it in this test. But it certainly works better when you don’t have to negotiate around piers, pilings, and docks. That really slows down the entire operations. So with these combination sites, that light system will be only used in the center of the coves. Herbicides will only be applied from the dockside to the shore. So we’re basically looking at two methods here, optimizing the way they control the plants in the first year. And notice on the right side in the green box —because of that—the actual levels or amounts of treatments in those sites is half of what is used in the total herbicide application. What I’m showing basically is that with these combination UV light and herbicide sites, we’re able to use less than half of the total herbicides in the full component site.
What we’ve learned in 3 years of experimentation with the UV system is that there are two issues. One is the obstruction of materials and objects—like docks and posts; and the other is turbidity. That’s the difference between some of the prior sites lakeside where the water has been less turbid than in the Keys. So that’s an issue we’re going to be looking at with the CMT as well.
Screen 5 – Control Methods Test (CMT): Monitoring Actions
We’re going to be doing a lot of monitoring. (I hope you can see this one.) One of the most important features of our project is an extensive pre and post monitoring approach to the effects of the treatments. That means all the treatments. So for every site that’s being included in this CMT, we’re doing extensive monitoring on the effect on the target and non-target plants, water quality parameters—the DO, PH and those things. And most importantly, perhaps, for the herbicide applications, herbicide levels and the degradants in those sites. So those will be analyzed as well as part of the project. If you happened to see the xxx on PBS at Lahontan, that’s well spelled out in there. We’ll also be looking at cyanobacteria bacteria. And the Tahoe Keys has been monitoring these populations for the last 4 or 5 years. That will be continued as well. We’ll also look at the benthic macro-invertebrates. That tells us if these treatments—whether it’s UV light or the LFA, or the herbicides have any impact on the invertebrates.
The RWT dye is a really interesting approach. We’re used this in 2009 and 2011 alone with no herbicides of course. This tells us where the herbicides might be moving and how fast they’re diluted in the system. Because that dye is extremely simple to measure with thermometry, we can tell in real time—it’s sort of a surrogate of the herbicides—so that will be applied with those herbicides so we know where they might be moving, and what the concentrations are in addition to the actual samples. Lastly, all of our programs have Quality Assurance and Quality Controls. The data is well integrated and has everything stored, so at the end of the day we have a good program with good data.
Screen 6 – Proposed Control Methods Test Project: Monitoring Stations and Containment Curtains
I want to show you the map to emphasize how this is being proposed. First all the white arrows show the introduction of double curtains. Those will be in place before any herbicides are applied to any of the sites that are indicated in green on this map. You can see we’re isolating those herbicide sites from the main lagoon and from the Tahoe Keys main body of water. So we’re isolating all those treatment sites in here from the main body of the Keys and of course from Lake Tahoe proper. I’ll also mention we have sampling points—all the red dots in here—where we’ll be sampling for water quality including herbicide levels. These are also continuous sampling spots that will be sampled before the curtains are released and after.
Screen 7 – Additional Contingency Monitoring Stations
And finally, if we do detect anything in here—which is highly unlikely—the half-life of these products is 3-10 days. So with a 21-day curtain installation here, we shouldn’t see anything out there at all. But if we do, we’re going to continue this with further sampling out in Lake Tahoe proper. So we have a very thorough approach to our monitoring as well.
Screen 8 – Summary of Proposed Control Methods Test Features:
I want to summarize this very quickly and then we can have some questions.
1. First of all only 16.9 acres are proposed to be treated out of 172 acres, and for the first year only. There are no herbicide applications made after the first year of the 3-year project.
2. We have the 6 double-sided curtains in place before the applications are made. Those will remain in place for 21 days contingent on the level of herbicides located in those treatment zones.
3. We are proposing two herbicides: Endothall (which typically you can apply up to 5 parts per million and we’re only applying at 2 parts per million because that’s all we need under the conditions we have). And Triclopyr will be applied at 1 part per million (ppm). It can be applied at 2.5 parts per million. So we’re using less than half of the labeled amounts for both of these products. Endothall is an interesting product. It’s a contact herbicide that affects all of our targeted plants: Eurasian milfoil, curly pondweed, and tintail. Triclopyr on the other hand is specific for Eurasian water milfoil. The reason I’m including that is because it is a systemic herbicide and gets into the roots and rhizome of that plant and can potentially provide a much longer control than just in the fall. I think there was a question about ProcellaCOR, which is a new herbicide registered with EPA 3 years ago, but it’s still under review with CAL EPA, so we have not included it in this project. It has some very god attributes for control of Eurasian water milfoil and curly leaf pondweed. But until CAL EPA clears it, it would not be approved for use by the Water Board and can’t be used in California at all. So that’s not going to be included at the present time.
So I’ve mentioned extensive monitoring. We’ll be looking at the efficacy of all methods. We’ll be looking at herbicide levels and their degradants, and the effects on water quality and non-target organisms.
Screen 9 – Remaining Steps for CMT Implementation
So, where are we with this? We’re now at the beginning of December. This graph is a timeline of the project. And clearly the next important point is when the Water Board makes a decision to permit the project or not. If the permit is issued, then that triggers the rest of these responses, and the first treatments would happen in early May. That includes the combination treatments, the UV light treatments, and the rest of the monitoring will start then as well. If that doesn’t get approved, we’re back to status quo harvesting with cutters and things haven’t changed. So that’s a summary. I know it’s been pretty fast but I wanted to give you time to ask questions. So I’ll stop here and stop sharing my screen.
Denise Davis
I just want to remind people if you ask a question, please introduce yourself to Dr. Anderson and please be civil and respectful.
Steve Dolan – Incline Resident, Friends of Third Creek Director
I have two questions. One, I noticed on your timeline, you’ve picked May and June to do the work. That’s typically the highest runoff period for the Basin. I’m wondering if a date would be a better time when there wouldn’t be so much water running through the keys like August and September just to manage that. And the second question is I know there probably aren’t a lot of fish in those Keys but I’m wondering what effect the chemicals will have on those fish.
Lars Anderson
Two really good questions. Thank you very much. There are two reasons for the May-June date. One is the plants are beginning to grow and what we don’t want to do is wait until the plants grow large biomass because when you try to treat those, it’s difficult to control the plants that have become that large when you’re into July and August.
The other reason is because we want to have the treatment when water is flowing into the Keys I mentioned before we did some dye studies in 2009 and 2011. What we discovered is—look what happens to the dye when it’s placed in the Keys in the May and June period—it stays in there. It doesn’t go out towards the west channel. So you really have a good residence time of anywhere from 3 to 5 weeks at least in those Keys when the water is coming in. Keys are kind of like an appendix. The water comes in and doesn’t really go anywhere. It sort of fills them up. So those are the two reasons for that timing. The plant growth… and we know that will help keep anything in the Keys where we put it.
As to the other question having to do with fish, these two herbicides… Endothall have been used since the late 1960s in irrigation canals and fishery systems. And so has Triclopyr. Neither has any effect on fish or invertebrates. They’re very safe to use. The only problem we have with fish… we do have some warm-water fish that have been removed occasionally over the years that were left for fishing, but these herbicides are really designed to control the target plants and not affect the fish or invertebrates.
Steve Dolan
I have a hard time accepting that water doesn’t flow out when its going in…
Lars Anderson
The other thing I was going to mention with monitoring is we’re putting an instrument in the left channel, which actually tells you on every hour which direction the water is flowing and how fast at different levels. That’s part of the requirements from Lahontan Interim and PD Est (?). So let’s put it this way. If we have a very bad year this yea—we have no snowpack—and we don’t have flow going into the Keys; we would probably have to put this off. That’s one of those contingencies.
Steve Dolan
Isn’t this milfoil many years old that you’re removing – not just new growth… So August and September… I still don’t understand.
Lars Anderson
Well, what happens with both these plants—especially with the milfoil and curly pondweed—they both senesce or die back in the late summer and through late fall and winter, so you don’t have the large biomass. Part of the problem in the Keys—and not just discovered in the Keys but many lakes—these plants cycle nutrients. So if you let them grow to biomass, they senesce in the fall, they dump all those nutrients right back into the system for the next year.
Steve Dolan
Thank you very much. That’s great to know.
Denise Davis
Unfortunately, Dr. Anderson has to be at another meeting at 9:30. So could you give everyone your email to contact you if they have more questions? I’ll put it in the Chat.
Diane Becker
I have two quick questions. First, we’d love you to join our CAB meeting on Monday evening. We’re going to have two other speakers with whom you’re familiar who will be discussing this topic. And their questions would be greatly appreciated. My question for you is where has the procedure been used before in drinking water?
Lars Anderson
These herbicides and others have been used in the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta, which is not only drinking water but irrigation water, fish and endangered fish habitat, and so on. It’s been used in Lake Washington and the State of Washington; and in lakes all over California. Most of the large lakes in California are multiuse lakes—which is water for industry, irrigation, and drinking. It’s been used wherever—the EPA calls it—they both have tolerances for drinking water. So they’re safe to use in drinking water. They’ve been used all over the US for the last 15-20 years.
Diane Becker
Do the manufacturers give any kind of indemnities or promises that they will be safe in drinking water?
Lars Anderson
The key on that is if you look at an herbicide label—like you’re using it with your water or something—there are a lot of directions. And the way they deal with that is they have very strict requirements for how they’re used, and that’s all approved by EPA as well. I can’t tell you what the actual liability or indemnity is with these companies. I don’t know that off the top of my head. But there is an assurance with EPA and also California EPA that the data that has been used to register them is good; and also that there’s compliance with that. I forgot to mention at the beginning that these herbicides are applied only by certified applicators. Not just anyone can do this. These are folks who’ve had extensive training in the equipment safe use and the entire process of putting in the [inaudible] herbicides.
Yolanda Knaak
So say that the herbicide does get in our drinking water. So we’re just stuck with drinking it? You’re not going to provide water for the systems in the Reno basin and Tahoe Basin?
Lars Anderson
First of all I think that the likelihood of that is extremely low—very, very low because of what we’re doing to protect the movement of the herbicides outside of the Keys themselves. Some of the water systems already have carbon filter treatments to take these out. If you start looking at the dilution factor—if something did get out of the Keys—the dilution factor from the West Channel all the way to the first drinking take-out valves about 3 miles or so away…. it’s huge. You just would not see it.
Denise Davis
Thank you Dr. Anderson for joining us.
Lars Anderson
And let me know about the Monday meeting. I didn’t get a time. Maybe you can just email me, and I’ll see if I can make that.
Kathie Julian – Incline Resident, Citizen Advisory Board Co-chair
I’ve just put that into the Chat.
Denise Davis
And I will email it to you Dr. Anderson. Thank you for joining us. If anyone has any questions, his email is lwanderson@ucdavis.edu
Lars Anderson
Thank you very much for your time.
Denise Davis
So before we get into updates, I would like to quickly go around the folks in the library and ask each to introduce his or her self. [See participant list above]. Thank you. Now we will proceed to updates.
Diane Becker
At 5:30 Monday evening will be our CAB meeting. We’ll also have a presentation on the Tahoe Keys weed treatment. Two other issues of interest are a presentation by Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) to talk to us about the work that they’re doing. I think that’s going to be an opportunity for everyone to ask them about how they’re going to protect us in future years from the rock walls along 431 that look like they’re about to fall down. For the last 2 years, I’ve been calling NDOT to fix them. They could be a huge traffic hazard. I’m hoping others will raise that point.
Also, I don’t know for sure because I understand Commissioner Hill has delivered her baby, but she was going to make a presentation on Track 1 and Track 2 and how we are going to be handling development projects, and whether we can have some expansion of that. And also how people can apply if they want to be on the Tahoe Transportation District (TTD) group that is going to be looking at alternative bus hub sites. I hope you’ll join the meeting; it should be of interest.
Denise Davis
Since we were just talking about the Washoe County (SC) Board of County Commissioners, I’ll give a brief update. They met Monday to finalize the County reapportionment, which is required because of the 2020 census. They went with Plan 6, which now includes Verdi and Mogul in our District 1. The next WC Commissioners meeting will be December 14, which is Tuesday; and that will be the only WC Commissioners meeting for December. Do we have any other updates from other organizations? Anyone else with an update?
Kathie Julian
I think it bears repeating that the TRPA Public Hearing will be held on December 16th to consider approval for the Special Use Permit for TTD’s East Shore Express. Perhaps we can put a link to that meeting in the Chat. I’ll see if I can dig that up.
Jeff Cowen
Yes, the meeting is on December 16th, however I looked on line this morning and there is no link for the meeting yet. The meeting materials get created about 7 days before.
Kathie Julian
Do we know what time it will be Jeff?
Jeff Cowen
No, not until it’s posted. But they usually start at 9am. It will be only virtual again.
Kathie Julian
Okay, and just for people’s information, does that hearing get noticed to property owners or is that already done under the previous meeting?
Jeff Cowen
That’s a good question. I’ll ask. My intention is to improve and redo the noticing I wanted to do for the last meeting. That’s what I plan to do. But I don’t know if they will re-mail the notification.
Kathie Julian
Okay. And I’ve been in touch with one of the staffers. It would be helpful if we could get a meeting notice in English and Spanish to put in public places near the OES.
Jeff Cowen
Thanks for asking. I totally agree.
Diane Becker
Denise, I just wanted to mention that those of us who attended the last hearing on the Special Use Permit and I found it interesting that the Hearing Officer seemed to really listen to people’s comments, and particularly people who lived adjacent to the site—but to all the people who made comments. So when the notice goes out to all of you, if you have time, please do make comments. I think it would be useful. Many of us feel that too often we make comments and they are not listened to. But the Hearing Officer who was expected to rule on this did not, so it’s worth making comments.
Steve Dolan
I have a question for Jeff. I noticed the email addresses have all changed to “.gov.” Is the “.org” still accessing the TRPA Board and everyone?
Jeff Cowen
Yes, the “.org” goes to our “.gov” automatically. And no one has had any issue getting through. We don’t have a timeline yet for when that might stop. The new “.gov” is over a year old but I don’t think there’s anything stopping us from just continuing that.
Steve Dolan
Thank you. And the other question is on the report that’s being revised, is that going to be published before the hearing?
Jeff Cowen
Are you talking about the Special Use Permit? [Yes]. No revisions, everything will stand as it was. My understanding is that some documents didn’t get posted. So the Hearing Officer wasn’t comfortable until that was rerun. Does that answer your question?
Steve Dolan
Sort of, although several items on the document submission were incorrect, so I thought maybe those were being changed.
Jeff Cowen
Okay, I’ll find out.
Denise Davis
We’re going to move on to topics people would like to discuss today. Here at the library we have three on the board: dog park, STR ordinance in regard to parking, and a 40-unit condo project by the skate park. Amanda, is there anything else in the Chat? [no]
So just a reminder you can disagree with each other without being disagreeable. So please be polite and respectful. Thank you.
Judy Miller – Incline Resident, Citizen Advisory Board Past Chair
What prompted me to get interested in this topic in this time frame is that I received an email asking people to support the project and email the US Forest Service. I have attended most IVGID board meetings, so I knew that we had submitted an initial proposal to the Forest Service. IVGID told us they were preparing a formal application, but I didn’t receive any details. So that’s when I started exploring. I don’t support a project without knowing the details. I know Kari Ferguson at IVGID is now working on that. Hopefully she’ll have an update for us. And if she wants to chime in about what has been done, that will be great…. Or let us know when she’ll have something.
I did a Public Records Request (PRR) and now have the initial proposal. It was for only a small portion of the 13 acres. I believe that’s because otherwise there would be environmental studies required. This would give them some sort of categorical exemption.
But the problem is there’s missing information. I hope Kari will be able to address that. The other thing is that the project was in our budget for this current fiscal year, and it was described that we would do some sort of site selection. As far as I know that hasn’t occurred.
There was one other site next to the Visitors Bureau, but the recent PRR stated it was too small. However when I looked back at the Master Plan, those fenced areas are actually larger than what were on the initial proposal. So I think we need to have some community conversations before any more work or money is expended on the US Forest Service plan. Let’s make sure it’s the right site and provides what the community needs and has ample parking—just a whole conversation we haven’t had. Thank you.
Denise Davis
Ronda, do you want to discuss the conversation you had with the US Forest Service?
Ronda Tycer – Community Forum Recap Editor
My conversation with the US Forest Service was simply about how to get notifications out to everyone. I think that I have sent out to our group—that is anyone on our Forum distribution email list—the information about that. I did want to mention that Indra Winquest wanted to answer one of the questions someone posed. The question was, “Would IVGID be buying the property for the dog park?” And the answer was “no,” that would not happen. I think the rest of the information has now been sent out in two documents—one from the US Forest Service and the other one from IVGID—the Community Master Plan. If you are not already on our mailing list and you would like to receive these public notices that we send out, you can put your name and email in the Chat or send it into our new address which is ivcbcommunityforum@gmail.com. We’ll be sure to get those notifications out to you as well.
I want to mention one other thing while we’re on this topic and that is that I neglected to point out on a couple of notices I’ve already distributed that Denise and I are not taking a position on the things that we forward from the community forum. So if you receive something from ivcbcommunityforum@gmail.com, it is not because either one of us is promoting it. It is simply a community service we are providing. Thank you.
Denise Davis
Thank you Ronda. General Manager Indra Winquest was aware that the dog park was a subject people wanted to know about. He is traveling today, and said he would try to call in but he’s in areas without great cell service. So I do have a brief update from Indra.
He says:
“The dog park project has been deemed a high-level priority-project by the IVGID Board of Trustees and has been for several years. The hold-up is primarily in not being able to solidify a location. He’s been keeping the Board of Trustees informed in the General Managers report. The Community Services Master Plan approved by the Board of Trustees in 2018 lists the dog park as a top-tier priority and shows high-level concepts and narratives. This is in no way reflective of what the actual design will be. Nor does the high-level estimate of cost in the plan mean this is what it will cost. We’re simply in the process of procuring a site.
“I will be creating a committee to help advise the staff and Board of Trustees early in the next calendar year. I fully expect we will be able to leverage fund-raising for this project. The US Forest Service parcel is a 13 acre parcel. IVGID would be responsible for maintaining the whole 13 acre property that we would be permitted to use and operate as a District. As it stands now the District would be responsible for maintaining the entire parcel which overall is good given it is currently not being managed effectively for trash and environmental protection, inappropriate use, and, of course, fire suppression.”
So that is his update on the dog park. Anyone else have any comments on the dog park?
Sara Schmitz – IVGID Trustee, IVCB Community 1st Executive Director
I am a sitting Trustee but my comments are being shared as my own comments from my own perspective. I think that as a Board member, we’re elected to serve this community. As one Board member, I would encourage people to have dialogue with the Board Members about your concerns and concerns. I feel as though going to other agencies is not holding our Trustees accountable for serving our community. I’m not speaking as the Board, but as one Board member when I say, “You need to reach out to us with your questions and concerns. Get involved, write the Trustees, and share your thoughts and concerns. We’re elected to serve this community. I for one would like the opportunity to do that.”
Denise Davis
Thank you Sara. Kari did you have any further comments?
Kari Ferguson
Thank you Sara and thank you Denise. Thank you all. I’d like to say the last couple of years have thrown our entire world into the “spin cycle”—if you will—and so this Community Master Plan approved in 2018 is something we may actually have to redo at this point because our community is different than what it was in 2018. That’s something Indra has said, and—as a member of the community having lived here my entire life—I too feel.
The dog park has been “on the stove”—not on the “back burner”—but on the stove for a long, long time. Over 70% of residents deemed it a Tier-1 Project that our community wanted to do. This is a project we really want to get done in the next few years—short term. I feel right now we don’t have all the information yet. We have just the application, and that’s it.
When I get information I’ll put it on our website. I’m happy to create a special mailing list. if you want to be involved with this project and be in the know of everything that’s happening, I’m happy to do that. And instead of it going out to our regular mailing list—although maybe we do a little bit of that as well. I’d love your input on if you want a special mailing list for the dog park, or if you just want little snippets and you know where to get it, or we can update you here. Really I have had zero information up until I received the application. I would give you updates if I have them. What Denise read is exactly what I received as well about the project. I do think that the selection of the committee—nothing’s been finished or done… The impression I’m getting from the community is that they think it’s a done deal wrapped up with a bow. But that’s not the case. We’re hoping to get a committee together to get this process started. I’m hoping I’ve helped ease people’s minds. And I’m happy to update you as soon as I have information. I hope that helps.
Denise Davis.
Thanks Kari. And if they want to contact you they should mail you at kmf@IVGID.org.
Kari Ferguson
That is right. And I’m happy to create a special mailchimp—which is our mailing service—for this specific project to create a select mailing group. I’ll email you specifically to let you know that you are on it and also that it’s not spam. A lot of our emails are going to spam which is a problem because we think we’re sending the info and you’re not getting it because it’s in your junk folder. So I’m happy to work with each and every one of you to make sure you get information as it becomes available.
Steve Dolan
Regarding Judy Miller’s request to not pursue this without more discussion I’d like to remind everybody that petitions with hundreds and hundreds of signatures 7 or 8 years ago were circulated for this. Brad Johnson, when he was the head engineer started discussing this with the US Forest Service (USFS). With regard to the priority of issues for Incline, at one point it was determined that this was the #1 issue for Incline Village, and as such directed our Washington lobbyist to make it his #1 goal—4 years ago. In doing so, he got representatives Amodei, Rosen, and Cortez-Masto—Republicans and Democrats—to agree to try to get this USFS property for Incline Village. That’s happened. Then we’ve had two Washoe County Commissioners—both Marsha Berkbigler and Alexis Hill—who have been trying to help us get this property from the USFS the last 4 years. We’ve had a two-pronged approach to getting this property from the USFS—both governmentally and permit-wise—which is the one we’re discussing now. So I feel there has been a lot of discussion. I’m not saying there shouldn’t be more. But I think regarding the USFS we really need to keep approaching this in a positive way and try to get it from them. Because convoluting the issue with people who are just getting on board… This has been an issue for 20 years sort of and at least 8 years I personally know of. And I can give a detailed description of all of these things—but I won’t now. I just want to say I don’t think we should stop the effort we have going with the USFS. We need to pursue that full on. It’s taken a fulltime effort for 3 years just to get to this point with the USFS. And it’s been under discussion that entire time within the community, by myself as a community member, and within IVGID among upper staff from Pinkerton to Winquest. So I just want to say that I think we need to go forward with the USFS application post haste. Thank you.
Sara Schmitz
Steve, thank you for clarifying this has been a priority before IVGID Board for an extended time. It has been identified as a community priority. I think our community suffers from anxiety over how some agencies make decision and make plans that we know nothing about until suddenly it’s almost a done deal– like the transit hub as an example. I’d like to say that in the past that may have been true even for how IVGID handled things. But I’ve seen with our new General Manager a concerted effort to engage the community. Never with Mr. Pinkerton were there community members on projects. Now we’ve had an Ordinance 7 committee, we have a golf committee, and a committee that worked on the Burnt Cedar pool. So my expectation is that our General Manager will continue the same approach and will organize community members probably with a board member liaison to formulate recommendations they’d like to bring before the board. That will happen, I’m confident, because that’s how Indra has been handling things. So instead of being worried about—once again we’re going to have something designed and done we don’t know anything about until the end – I don’t think that’s how the new management at IVGID has been handling things and intends to handle this situation. I look forward to understanding more specific details about what the community wants. But this is just the beginning of the process and it should be very collaborative with community involvement before the Board makes any decision to go forward. I think there’s just a lot of angst about how things are being done by Washoe County and by TTD, and maybe even IVGID in the past. But there’s been a concerted effort, and I think in the past 2 years we’ve seen demonstration of the changes. I’d like to continue to let this process move forward on this project in that same collaborative fashion.
Steve Dolan
I agree, however…
Denise Davis
Hold on Steve, first we have Judy Miller.
Judy Miller
Yes, we did have an effort to get title to the USFS property for 3 years, and that didn’t seem to be working out. So then we went to the idea of a Use Permit. A Use Permit is going to restrict what we can do with the property. It isn’t like we own it. We won’t be able to fence in the entire 13 acres. Once we’re told what we’re allowed to do, we’re restricted and can’t do anything outside of that. Also, our Master Plan and our budget that was just approved said there were options. And yet I agree with Kari we have had a lot of distractions in the past 2 years. But there’s never been the conversation—especially now that we know we can’t use the entire 13 acres—there’s never been a comparison with the two remaining sites—one next to the Visitors Bureau and this one. So I think that has to happen first. It wouldn’t take long and it needs to happen. So I would like that done before the formal application.
Denise Davis
Okay, Steve you get 60 seconds.
Steve Dolan
Thank you. That’s all I need I hope. Judith, for many years we’ve been discussing this at this meeting, at IVGID meetings. We’ve had discussions of a dog park at the Old Elementary School—a lot of work was put toward that. We’ve had the area across the street from the library. And we’ve discussed the parcel next to the Visitor Center. For a long time they’ve all been discussed quite a bit. I don’t say we shouldn’t continue to discuss them. I just say let’s continue with the USFS parcel. And yes the USFS is going to require that this property is never developed upon—no substantial buildings—maybe, I guess, bathrooms. But I think that’s the extent to which they would allow any development of this property.
Mike Abel – Incline Resident
One thing that’s been left out of this discussion is that these lands were sold to the USFS and were to be held in their natural state in perpetuity under the Santini-Burton Act. It would be a very bad precedent for the USFS to have this property developed as stated in this Riner proposal that Ronda sent out. It would defy the entire purpose of the Santini-Burton bill. Plus, I want to point out that I’ve been talking to IVGID and made public statements 3 or 4 times at IVGID meetings that they’ve done an abominable job of maintaining the Village Green, which is part of the Recreation program. I’m looking at the Village Green and its horrible state of disrepair, and wondering what kind of job is IVGID capable of doing if they develop this new site. This is very upsetting to me. IVGID seems to have an inability to take care of what they have much less anything new. I want to endorse Judith Miller’s comments. I think we need a lot more research on this , and I don’t think this physical site should be used in any way. It was sold specifically to be held-in-perpetuity in a natural state and that’s the way it should stay. Thank you.
Denise Davis
And thank you, Mike. Okay we’ll move on to our next topic—the Short-term Rental Ordinance in regard to parking.
.
Sara Schmitz
Again I’m speaking not as a trustee but only as a citizen. I wanted to share something really positive about the STR Ordinance. I have learned there was a situation where someone had a permit for a STR with an allowed occupancy of 17 people—something large. But this property had only 2 parking spaces, It is located in Tyrolean Village which assigns two spaces per unit, and that’s all. WC Code Enforcement came out to the premise and did a walk-through. They looked at the situation. And they modified the permit to reduce the occupancy level to only 8 people because there were only parking spaces for 2 cars. Ii think that is a positive step in that Washoe County is actually being engaged and involved and willing to come out and make exceptions in their occupancy levels based on parking availability. I think that is something to be commended. And I think we need to continue to reiterate when they talk about revising the STR Ordinance, to have parking as a limitation to occupancy, because we have many places with only 1 parking space. I just wanted to share that as something that had a positive outcome, and as something we should be working with Washoe County on when updating the STR Ordinance.
Denise Davis
We are running short of time. Our last topic is the 40-unit condo project across the street from the skate park. Does anyone want to say something?
Kathie Julian
Yes, I put into the Chat some information and an update I got from Courtney Weiche who is with the Washoe County Planning Department. I just want to put the development on people’s radar screen. There may be a “neighborhood meeting” announced by the developer and presumably also by the County on their web page. If people are interested in that development and its potential impact on traffic management at the intersection of Tahoe Boulevard and Northwood and Southwood, this is the time to get more information.
Helene Larson – Incline Resident
I’m interested in the potential traffic light that would need to be there because of the school and the increased occupancy. I live on Northwood and we get a lot of traffic.
Denise Davis
Any other questions?
Sara Schmitz
I’ve learned that the 40-unit condo application will come before IVGID trustees because it is two parcels being joined together.
Denise Davis
Just a brief reminder that we have a new email address, which is: invcbcommunityforum@gmail.com.
It was mentioned earlier that Commissioner Alexis Hill did have her baby girl. She’s urging everyone if you have questions or problems to please call Washoe 311, or send her an email or a voicemail and she will respond as she’s able.
Thank you all for coming. We’ll see you in 2 weeks.
CHAT BOX
09:01:06 From kathie julian : Denise, let’s briefly mention where to find info about the request for a special use permit regarding a 40 unit condo complex at 947 Tahoe Blvd. I will put into the chat the link to the county website where it is mentioned.
09:07:39 From Jeff Cowen : jcowen@trpa.gov
09:07:42 From IVGID Communications : Jeff: I’m happy to help spread the word on upcoming meetings
09:08:11 From IVGID Communications : IVGID Board meeting info: https://www.yourtahoeplace.com/ivgid/board-of-trustees/meetings-and-agendas
09:09:04 From IVGID Communications : https://www.yourtahoeplace.com/events/santa-stop
09:09:11 From IVGID Communications : Santa stop
09:12:12 From stevedolan : To Jeff cowen: 1 will revised statement be published.
09:12:52 From kathie julian : For Information about the proposed 40 unit condo project at 947 Tahoe Blvd at corner of Southwood and Northwood, go to Washoe County website at District 1 permit applications: Case Number: WSUP21-0029 947 Tahoe Condominium
Planner: Courtney Weiche, cweiche@washoecounty.gov
Tentative Hearing Date: December 2, 2021
Reviewing Body: Board of Adjustment
Outcome:
09:13:46 From stevedolan : 2. New dot gov; was dot org. Will .org still reach TRPA personnel?
09:26:47 From Lars Anderson : lwanderson@ucdavis.edu
09:29:39 From kathie julian : Citizen’s Advisory Board Meeting via ZOOM on Monday, 6 Dec at 5:30 pm . Agenda online
at:https://www.washoecounty.gov/CABS/IVCB_CAB/2021/Files/Incline-Village—Crystal-Bay-Agenda-12-6-20212.pdf The zoom link is embedded in the agenda.
09:40:27 From kathie julian : Here is Washoe County website link to the site where applications for use permits in District 1 are located: https://www.washoecounty.gov/csd/planning_and_development/applications/apps_commish_district_one.php
09:42:34 From Debbie Nicholas : I would agree with Judith that there is more research needed on this matter, as I believe there are better sites, that are not bordered on three sides by residential properties. The current dog park is not bordered by any residential development all commercial or open space.
09:43:25 From IVGID Communications : Please email me kmf@ivgid.org if you would like to be added to a mailing list regarding the dog park project.
10:02:05 From Chris Wood : Sorry this meeting is going past 10:00. Got other commitments (like a job). Thanks for stimulating meeting. Chris Wood
10:02:50 From Kathie Julian : Update from County Planning staff on 947 Tahoe Blvd 40 Unit Condo Development Permit Request: The application is on hold as the applicant is planning to package the request for a Special Use Permit with a Tentative Map (yet to be submitted). The County will also post the Neighborhood Meeting date and time to the webpage. At this time, there is no tentative date for a public hearing or neighborhood meeting until they submit the Tentative Map.
10:04:34 From Helen Abel : Dog Park proposal… These are lands that are to be held in their natural state for perpetuity. It would be a very bad precedent (for the forest service) to have this property developed as stated in the Riner proposal. It would defy the entire purpose of the Santini-Burton Bill of 1980.
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