Boulder Bay seeks approval

County, TRPA: Impacts of project will be scrutinized

When Washoe County and Tahoe Regional Planning Agency planners review the Boulder Bay project proposed for the Tahoe Biltmore and former Tahoe Mariner site in Crystal Bay, they see a bevy of studies and analysis to be undertaken before the plan can become a reality.

“We don’t rubber stamp projects here,” said TRPA Spokesman Dennis Oliver. “The application is at its starting gate.”

Boulder Bay submitted its project March 18 to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s Community Enhancement Program, which is designed to encourage ecologically friendly development in Lake Tahoe.

The application outlines a project with 366 hotel, fractional units or hotel-condominium units, another 21 market-rate condominiums and 34 on-site workforce housing units at Boulder Bay. The 22,400-gross-square-foot casino of the Tahoe Biltmore floor will shrink to 10,000 gross square feet. Parking will move underground instead of covering more than 60,000 square feet with asphalt. Eleven structures will anchor the site, including 28,250 square feet of retail and dining, 12,500 square feet of meeting areas and a 20,000-square-foot spa.

The project has not yet been approved by TRPA or Washoe County, and an extensive review process is ahead of the developers, which includes public meetings and hearings. The first request for an approval is before the Washoe County Planning Commission for a proposed road abandonment and slope variance. At Tuesday’s meeting at 6:30 p.m. at 1001 East Ninth Street in Reno, the planning commission will only be considering the road abandonment and how it affects the current state of the property — not the entire proposed project.

“We are not even reviewing the project,” said Eva Krause, a Washoe County planner who is studying the road abandonment.

Although the project remains in the early stages of development and approval, a group of citizens called the Friends of Crystal Bay/Brockway have e-mailed various officials and the media with their concerns. In response, Boulder Bay offered its own clarifications to the issues, providing a fact sheet to those who are interested. In the end, the TRPA and Washoe County will determine if Boulder Bay’s plan is feasible. That process could consist of a number of public meetings and hearings, said Brenda Hunt, a land use manager for TRPA.

The planning commission is only the first in a series of public meetings necessary for the project to go forward.

“We are in the very early stages and we are hopeful that once we get all the information and more time to review we will be able to answer more clearly if what they are proposing is feasible,” Hunt said. “We don’t know an answer at this stage.”

Abandoning Reservoir Road and Realigning Wassou Road

Wassou and Reservoir Roads cut through Boulder Bay LLC’s property, which surrounds both roads. To avoid splicing its land, Boulder Bay is applying to Washoe County to abandon Reservoir Road and realign Wassou Road so that it would run into Lakeview Avenue, said Brian Helm, project manager.

In addition, Lakeview Avenue would be extended to reach Stateline Avenue, which intersects Highway 28 near the Nevada-California state line. Boulder Bay is also asking for a slope variance because this would create a 12.7 percent proposed slope on Lakeview Avenue. This is above the required 10 percent or less slope for a southward facing street, according to Washoe County Planner Krause.

Washoe County planning staff is recommending an approval for the variance and abandonment, Krause said. Even though the 12.7 percent slope is above code, the current road is graded at 13 percent to 14 percent above code.

Friends of Crystal Bay/Brockway said they think eliminating Reservoir Road and realigning Wassou Road will disturb safe entrances and exits to and from their neighborhoods. They are also concerned about possible congestion in the community, said Ann Nichols, a Brockway resident and Crystal Bay Realtor who is spearheading the group. An online petition organized by Friends of Crystal Bay/Brockway asking government officials to scrutinize the project and the road abandonment has 290 signatures. Of those signatures 28 are listed as “anonymous” and four are duplicates.

“We don’t want our options halved for exiting the neighborhood,” Nichols said.

Neither the Nevada Department of Transportation nor Washoe County has exact traffic numbers for Wassou or Reservoir roads.

“We do look at the traffic impact of the existing uses and they are not increasing traffic by abandoning the roads,” Krause said. “It does not direct any traffic into the subdivisions.”

In previous interviews with the Bonanza, Tom Smith, fire marshal with the North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District said firefighters do not usually use Reservoir Road because of the stopping conditions on its steep slope.

The land from the abandoned roads would return to Boulder Bay at no cost according to Nevada state law. NRS 278.480 states “if the street was acquired by dedication from the abutting property owners or their predecessors in interest, no payment is required for title to the proportionate part of the street reverted to each abutting property owner.”

Washoe County Planner Eva Krause said she has dealt with the value of land in a road abandonments a number of times in different scenarios. In Boulder Bay’s case, Krause said she believes the county is receiving more benefits because Boulder Bay is proposing to construct new roads and then give them back to the county.

“We’re asking for some other things out of this,” Krause said. “It’s not worth anything to the county in a monetary way. We are going to get something back in return, the cost to build a road.”

More information on Boulder Bay For more coverage of the Boulder Bay development check out the Bonanza's other stories: http://www.tahoebonanza.com/article/20080504/NEWS/952980871 http://www.tahoebonanza.com/article/20080504/NEWS/368204757

Tahoe Mariner Site Settlement

Part of the Boulder Bay project is the development of the Tahoe Mariner site, located at the property’s northeast corner. In a 2001 settlement between TRPA and former owners, Crystal Bay Associates, three areas of the property were restricted to open space. In the middle of the open space, an area was reserved for three lots of residential space, according to the legal document.

In its application and plans, Boulder Bay proposes to consolidate the open space land into a 4.16 acre public park at the northeastern portion of the property. The developed land will be shifted to the southern portion and will include 32 condominiums.

However, Nichols said Friends of Crystal Bay/Brockway are concerned with the location of the park and the additional development on the southern portion.

“Most of what the public gets from this location is a steep bank,” Nichols wrote in an e-mail. “The park is not a park but just open space. The developer should dedicate a real open space or park for the residents of the community in the middle of the project.”

Boulder Bay wants to move the developed land so it is contiguous with the rest of the developed area. This will keep a prime scenic area free of structures, said Boulder Bay project manager Brian Helm.

“That area where the homes were supposed to be built is in a prime view from the lake,” Helm said. “If we move them southward we can preserve the view and prevent creating more coverage to connect the developed areas of the project.”

This proposal has not been approved by TRPA and is still being considered legally, according to TRPA assistant legal counsel Nicole Rinke. TRPA is also researching the process of how to deal with the proposed changes to the settlement, Rinke said.

“We’re trying to answer if what they are proposing to do fits within the intent of the settlement and the parameters,” Rinke said. “This site has a complicated history and we need to do our due diligence in terms of reviewing the history so that we’re not permitting anything that is inconsistent with the treatment of the site in the past.”

Traffic Study

Boulder Bay also commissioned a study with LSC Transportation Consultants, Inc., a Tahoe City-based traffic analyst firm, to determine how the project could affect traffic in the surrounding areas.

According to the study, Boulder Bay would increase the total vehicle trips at the site access driveways over the course of a peak day by less than 2 percent. Boulder Bay would reduce vehicle trips during the peak evening hour. According to the study, there would be a net reduction site trip generation of 25 percent over the course of a day and 35 percent over the 5 p.m. key evening peak hour.

The idea of increasing use of a property but decreasing vehicle trips is not unfamiliar when it comes to mixed use projects like Boulder Bay, said Keith Norberg, a senior transportation planner with TRPA. He referenced South Lake Tahoe, which has seen an increase in development in its urban core, but a decrease in traffic.

“There is a partial link to mixed use development,” Norberg said.

He said a combination of increased partial ownerships in the area and mixed use development contributed to a 20 percent reduction of traffic on Highway 50 in South Lake Tahoe.

However, Friends of Brockway/Crystal Bay, say they believe the estimates of traffic reduction are too generous, based on the casino square footage, rate of growth and trip generation calculations, Nichols said.

One of the group’s main areas of contention is that the casino floor is actually only being reduced by 480 square feet, Nichols said.

This is because a 2008 Nevada Gaming Commission document lists the Tahoe Biltmore’s gaming area as 10,480 square feet.

However, Helm said he does not know where that number came from. When he calculated the square footage based on blueprints of the Tahoe Biltmore, the gross gaming measured out at 22,400 square feet. In that case, the casino area would be reduced by almost half in the Boulder Bay project.

The Nevada Gaming Commission does not have a standard for measuring gaming floor area and does not usually audit numbers submitted to them by licensees, said Frank Streshley, a senior financial analyst.

TRPA is in the process of drafting a letter to Boulder Bay requesting more information about different areas of the project and traffic is one area in question, said Dennis Oliver, a TRPA spokesman.

“We’re requesting more information about traffic,” Oliver said.

North Shore Community Plan Amendment

As part of its CEP application, Boulder Bay is requesting an amendment to the North Stateline Community Plan to bring three of its parcels into the plan.

“We are not developing on those parcels of land,” Helm said. “We just want the parcels to be connected and to have a sense of completeness.”

According to Hunt, a planner with TRPA, those parcels need to be included into the community plan for Boulder Bay to use that land area for its density calculations.

Boulder Bay has not put forward a density ordinance amendment to TRPA, even though projects under the CEP can be considered for density ordinance amendments.

Hunt said the TRPA is reviewing the community plan amendment request and is close to a decision.

”We are talking about an involved process,” Hunt said. “There are going to be many opportunities for the public to have input.”

She said because the community plan is a joint document between TRPA and Washoe County and a public hearing might be required for a change.