News
KINGS BEACH, Calif. — A proposed affordable housing project in Kings Beach can develop more of its land after a unanimous from the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board Wednesday.
The bi-state federal board unanimously approved an increase to the size of the Kings Beach Commercial Community Plan to include two additional parcels of land near Trout Avenue. This expansion will allow Domus Development to build on the site with up to 50 percent coverage instead of the current 25 percent.
Coverage is the percentage of a piece of land that can be developed.
“In approving these amendments you're really standing up for working families who are the backbone of the community,” said Emilio Vaca, executive director at the North Tahoe Family Resource Center, during Wednesday's meeting at the North Tahoe Community Center in Kings Beach. “This is our community and this is our backyard.”
While the vote did not approve the project, it did allow development plans to continue.
The Trout Avenue spot is one of five locations where Domus Development and Placer County Redevelopment are proposing an affordable housing project called “Kings Beach Housing Now.”
Kings Beach Housing Now is a joint project between Domus and Placer County, which owns the lands.
The board voted to do three things:
• To change the boundary line of the commercial plan to add the two additional parcels for the affordable housing.
• To amend the community plan's urban design and development policy to allow the development of mixed used projects in the commercial core.
• To add two new polices to the urban design and development rules to deed restrict the parcels to be used for affordable housing in perpetuity.
Because the two parcels near Trout Avenue were located in an area of Kings Beach designated for residential use the land coverage limits were significantly lower than those allowed in commercial areas.
According to project plans, the increased coverage on the Trout Avenue location would be offset by decreased coverage in the project's other four Kings Beach locations.
Although the affordable housing project was originally a TRPA Community Enhancement Program project, it is now going through the TRPA approval process as a non-CEP project. This will allow Domus Development to pursue a quicker path to approval with the TRPA by working in the agency's traditional approval process.
In addition to providing affordable housing, all five sites will be brought up to standard to meet Best Management Practices, said Meea Kang, founding partner of Domus Development.
“Kings Beach has very little BMPs on most of the sites we've chosen,” Kang said. “The storm water runoff ends up in the lake. We have a problem of polluting the lake and a horrible housing situation. We have an opportunity. This is our nexus. This is our tipping point.”
The League to Save Lake Tahoe expressed concerns at the meeting and in writing that this kind of community plan change could set a precedent for community plan boundaries being pushed further into urban lands.
TRPA staff contended that because TRPA code considers affordable housing when making boundary line adjustments.
The bi-state federal board unanimously approved an increase to the size of the Kings Beach Commercial Community Plan to include two additional parcels of land near Trout Avenue. This expansion will allow Domus Development to build on the site with up to 50 percent coverage instead of the current 25 percent.
Coverage is the percentage of a piece of land that can be developed.
“In approving these amendments you're really standing up for working families who are the backbone of the community,” said Emilio Vaca, executive director at the North Tahoe Family Resource Center, during Wednesday's meeting at the North Tahoe Community Center in Kings Beach. “This is our community and this is our backyard.”
While the vote did not approve the project, it did allow development plans to continue.
The Trout Avenue spot is one of five locations where Domus Development and Placer County Redevelopment are proposing an affordable housing project called “Kings Beach Housing Now.”
Kings Beach Housing Now is a joint project between Domus and Placer County, which owns the lands.
The board voted to do three things:
• To change the boundary line of the commercial plan to add the two additional parcels for the affordable housing.
• To amend the community plan's urban design and development policy to allow the development of mixed used projects in the commercial core.
• To add two new polices to the urban design and development rules to deed restrict the parcels to be used for affordable housing in perpetuity.
Because the two parcels near Trout Avenue were located in an area of Kings Beach designated for residential use the land coverage limits were significantly lower than those allowed in commercial areas.
According to project plans, the increased coverage on the Trout Avenue location would be offset by decreased coverage in the project's other four Kings Beach locations.
Although the affordable housing project was originally a TRPA Community Enhancement Program project, it is now going through the TRPA approval process as a non-CEP project. This will allow Domus Development to pursue a quicker path to approval with the TRPA by working in the agency's traditional approval process.
In addition to providing affordable housing, all five sites will be brought up to standard to meet Best Management Practices, said Meea Kang, founding partner of Domus Development.
“Kings Beach has very little BMPs on most of the sites we've chosen,” Kang said. “The storm water runoff ends up in the lake. We have a problem of polluting the lake and a horrible housing situation. We have an opportunity. This is our nexus. This is our tipping point.”
The League to Save Lake Tahoe expressed concerns at the meeting and in writing that this kind of community plan change could set a precedent for community plan boundaries being pushed further into urban lands.
TRPA staff contended that because TRPA code considers affordable housing when making boundary line adjustments.
