TRUCKEE, Calif. – On Tuesday evening, the town of Truckee’s council met to discuss the housing equity framework, short-term rental tokens for electrification, zoning amendments and support for Measure G, as well as recognizing their employee incentive awards and two community members who recently died.

Public comment, presentations and employee incentive awards

A public comment submitted had to do with an incorporation issue that impacted community members who lived on a stretch of road that was not maintained, though it should have been incorporated according to the comment.

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Eastern Placer Future presented about potentially incorporating a town in Eastern Placer and had a brief presentation about the benefits of incorporation, including local governance, improved transparency and reporting on tax dollars and more tailored representation at the state level. Town manager Jen Callaway indicated interest in keeping up with developments of a potential township.

Callaway also read out the employee incentive awards and recognized the contributions they’d made to the town of Truckee.

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Measure G

The town council was in full support of Measure G, the tax bond that would go to building a new public library for Truckee.

April Cole of the Friends of Truckee Library spoke to council, emphasizing the unified support she’s seen and the unique funding model that Measure G uses. 43% of the funding would come through the bond measure, while the rest would come from other sources, allowing them to leverage the public funding while alleviating the burden on taxpayers.

The motion of support was unanimous.

Marks Zoning Map Amendment

A request to rezone a lot from Glenshire Mutual Water Company was submitted, as it was also necessary for later lot line redrawing. The lot previously had a well on it, which was decommissioned by the Tahoe Donner Public Utilities District in the 2000s after they acquired Glenshire Mutual Water Company.

The lot is currently zoned as a public facility and would be rezoned to a low density residential lot. The motion to rezone the lot passed unanimously.

Housing Equity Framework

Laurel Burlingame presented on the Housing Equity Framework and made suggestions for what priorities within that framework would be added to the council’s 2025-2027 Strategic Priorities Bike Rack.

An equity framework is a structured approach that identifies areas of success and areas of opportunity for improvement. 91% of Truckee residents surveyed were in support of a housing equity framework, according to True North Research’s Community Opinion Survey conducted earlier this year.

The ten themes in the framework were:

• Enhance housing assistance for communities of focus by ensuring equitable access to resources.
• Create a centralized source of information about all housing assistance programs in the region.
• Advocate for state policies that allow tailored solutions to meet the region’s unique workforce housing needs since State-mandated housing laws impose one-size-fits-all solutions that fail to address challenges unique to mountain communities.
• Work to expand senior housing options.
•  Improve the way we engage with the community and share information about housing programs.
• Preserve Existing Affordable and Workforce Housing Stock to prevent people from living in substandard housing. Preserving the existing housing stock is a more cost-effective and sustainable way to house members of Truckee’s workforce than building new.
• Create more transparency in the waitlist process at affordable housing developments.
• Increase housing stock.
• Encourage large employers of seasonal staff, specifically international workers like those with J-1 visas, to create employee housing.
• Invest in supportive services for unhoused residents in line with the Truckee Tahoe Homeless Action Plan (2025).

Five priorities were highlighted within those themes for the Bike Rack, which were to establish a local housing authority, find solutions for supporting the purchase of mobile homes, expand existing solutions for housing to seniors, increase waitlist transparency, and focus on J-1 employee housing for large employers.

Mayor Jan Zabriskie also requested they include education and outreach on civil rights discrimination that can happen in housing, in response to seeing that the LGBTQ+ community is a community of focus.

Vice Mayor Anna Klovstad asked about a housing authority and how it would differ from the efforts of the Tahoe Truckee Workforce Housing Association (TTWHA). A local housing authority could be more direct in helping with low-income housing developments and would be more primed towards local issues than regional housing authorities.

Councilmember Dave Polivy expressed interest in potentially establishing a housing trust later down the line.

The item passed unanimously.

Short-term rental electrification token

Climate change and decarbonization efforts have been a real focus for Truckee, and the proposed program would incentivize residents to switch to electric in exchange for a token for short-term rental (STR) registration. It operates similarly to the existing workforce housing token, which has had mixed results after its release.

23% of residents surveyed said they were interested in electrification, and qualified conversions to electric in single-family homes, condominiums and townhouses would net those who electrified their homes a token for the STR program. Through the program, interested parties could choose what upgrades to make in order to reach a minimum point score. The points would vary based on the building vintage.

Because condos are not allowed to be STRs, the tokens are also transferable by sale and would need to be used within a 36-month period after it was awarded. The applicant eligibility would be aligned with the previous workforce housing toke program and aims to preserve long-term rental by disqualifying those in the Lease to Locals or Rooted Renters program. It would also require rental history disclosure and a cooling-off period for new homes.

The program is expected to launch in early 2026.

Both councilmembers Lindsay Romack and Polivy had concerns about the implementation of the program and its timing. Polivy said, “Local government does not belong in the process of creating private markets for anything.” He worried about the value of the token as well as the waitlist process, which he called the major “thorn in the short-term rental program’s side.”

Klovstad, who has been advocating for this program, said that the program would not add any STRs and would not take away from workforce housing. She said that initiatives like this impact affordability, the ability to stay in homes in Truckee, and addresses climate and greenhouse gas emissions in a meaningful way while reducing lift for staff.

“Converting 15 homes a year would be a significant greenhouse gas reduction,” said Klovstad. She also pointed out that incentivizing it was more feasible than the town funding millions of dollars to convert homes.

Romack and Polivy voted no, but were outvoted 3-2.

Council reports

Zabriskie acknowledged the passing of Bob Drake, who served on Truckee’s council and was an active community member until his death in June. Romack also recognized Dave Mencarelli’s death—he took over for her position when she left the radio show and she commended his humor and community participation.

Romack attended the Tahoe Summit along with other meetings around the basin, and was interested in further collaboration around the lake, especially with regards to housing.

Councilmember Courtney Henderson attended the Climate and Energy Conference with Klovstad and highlighted that the Environmental Protection Agency would be hearing public testimony about the hearing for repealing the 2009 Endangerment Finding and Greenhouse Gas Vehicle Standards. She registered to testify and said, “This will be so detrimental to communities around the nation (if they repeal.)”

Polivy attended the ribbon cutting at Cultural Threads and has been meeting with recreation groups.

Klovstad highlighted more environmental and climate meetings she attended and mentioned the concept of utilizing public lands as carbon sequestration. She also met with the new CEO and president of the Tahoe Forest Health District, Anna Roth.

Zabriskie closed by mentioning some mayoral meetings he attended, along with the Tahoe Truckee Homeless Action Coalition meeting.

The next town council meeting will take place on August 26.

Eli Ramos is a reporter for Tahoe Daily Tribune. They are part of the 2024–26 cohort of California Local News Fellows through UC Berkeley.