TAHOE CITY, Calif. – As part of their on-going “listening tour” soliciting input, organizers of the effort to explore the potential for establishing a locally based government for the North Tahoe area of eastern Placer County have announced the launch of a community survey.   

Eastern Placer Future is a nonprofit public benefit corporation formed by a group of community volunteers to analyze the feasibility of creating a municipal government for the study area. This area comprises all the communities within eastern Placer County from the west and north shores of Lake Tahoe, as well as those along the State Route 89 corridor, including Alpine Meadows and Olympic Valley, and the State Route 267 corridor, including Northstar and the neighborhoods of Martis Valley and Sierra Meadows, up to the boundary of the Town of Truckee.  

The survey seeks input on important local issues like quality of life, land use, roads, development, transit, and community services. An invitation to participate will come via a phone call or text message to residents within the boundary of the potential new town. It will be conducted by True North Research and Dynata, both independent professional research firms. Responses will be completely confidential. At no time will Eastern Placer Future see individual survey responses. 

“There are two primary reasons why Eastern Placer Future is exploring the feasibility of establishing a municipal government for the North Tahoe area,” said Kevin Drake, a member of the group’s executive committee. “Both are about our ability to make more decisions locally and have a greater voice in shaping our future.” 

Eastern Placer Future points out that the population of the North Tahoe area continues to decline as a percentage of the total population of Supervisorial District 5. As of 2020, eastern Placer’s population was 15% of the total District 5 population of approximately 80,000. As significant growth continues in the western part of the County, future census counts are expected to push the boundary of District 5 further west. This will continue to increase the focus of Placer County resources and decision-making on the western part of the County and further diminish the influence of voters who live in Eastern Placer County. 

“Counties are typically not set up to provide the community-level services that are more frequently provided by municipal governments,” added Steve Teshara, another Eastern Placer Future committee member. “The Truckee community of eastern Nevada County successfully created a town some 30 years ago. The Town of Truckee continues to collaborate on many fronts with Nevada County, but local decision-making has been a key to Truckee’s ability to strengthen its voice and influence with the County as well as with State government and other agencies at the local, state, regional and federal level. For several reasons, we feel the time is right to explore setting up our own municipal government. Ultimately, the decision will be up to registered voters within the proposed town boundary, but various feasibility studies and steps are required before the question can be on a ballot for voters to decide.” 

For more information about the purpose and efforts of Eastern Placer Future, and responses to Frequently Asked Questions, please visit easternplacerfuture.org.