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Town Council approves bike, parking option for West River Park

During Tuesday’s Truckee Town Council meeting, staff received approval to begin the design process for biking and parking at the planned West River Park, while also being directed to work with the Planning Commission on amendments to the Joerger Ranch Specific Plan.

West River Park

The planned West River Park project, a 1.43-acre parcel at 10257 West River St., was formerly a Nevada County maintenance yard and was acquired by the town in 2004. The project also includes plans for two commercial components designed to “embrace and activate the park and downtown riverfront,” according to the staff report.

The first commercial component is the planned expansion of the Old Trestle Distillery, which will include a building expansion and outdoor dining deck. The other component, to the east of the park, is the planned Truckee River Market food hall, which will include approximately eight to 10 food or beverage small business vendors with shared indoor and outdoor seating.



During Tuesday’s meeting, Town Council was presented options on parking and bike lanes along West River Street. The first option included angled parking and a Class 3 bicycle route (cyclists and cars share lane). The other option was for parallel parking along the street and a Class 2 bicycle lane (dedicated bike lane between parallel parked cars and car lanes).

Ultimately, the council unanimously approved of the option to incorporate parallel parking and a dedicated bike lane into the project.



Specific Plan amendments

Town staff was provided direction on working with the Planning Commission on making amendments to the Joerger Ranch Specific Plan.

The Joerger Ranch plan was adopted in March 2015 and consists of approximately 67 acres at the southern entrance to Truckee along Highway 267. Part of the Joerger Ranch plan also includes the Soaring Ranch project, where the new Raley’s and Mountain Hardware & Sports are located.

As part of the review for those two stores, a number of questions were raised about the Joerger Ranch Specific Plan implementation versus community buildout expectations, including questions about whether the vision of the 2015 plan is still relevant today. Other issues like the amount of commercial spaces needed and how much priority should be placed on housing have also been raised.

Council Member David Polivy suggested a phased approach to working with the Planning Commission that was ultimately approved of by council.

Housing-related issues like multi-family development standards and payment of in-lieu fees would be addressed in the next four to six months as part of the first phase. The second phase would focus on items like cannabis delivery services, zoning changes, industrial zoning, and the Truckee Tahoe Airport District’s involvement, which could ultimately be lumped in with general plan discussions.

Aerial Imagery Project

Tuesday’s meeting also included a presentation on the town’s aerial image project, which is slated to get underway this year.

The project, which is done every five years, offers higher resolution images than Google Earth, and digital elevation models that are beneficial to developers and engineers. The images provide insight into the town’s building and pavement footprint, and are also useful in vegetation removal projects like the one completed along several roadways last summer.

The project is a collaboration between the Truckee Donner Public Utility District, Truckee Tahoe Airport, Truckee Sanitary District, North Tahoe Public Utility District, Tahoe City Public Utility District, town of Truckee, and the Nortstar Community Services District. It has an estimated cost of $170,000.

Consent Calendar

Town Council also approved its consent calendar, which allows for the purchase of an all-wheel drive Tesla Model 3 to replace a 2012 Chevy Tahoe.

In 2018 the town received a $39,542 grant from the Northern Sierra Air Quality Management District to purchase an electric vehicle for the town fleet and install three electric vehicle charging stations at Town Hall.

On Jan. 12, the council approved a contract with Charge Point to install and operate the charging stations with anticipation that they would be running by summer.

The price of the Tesla, a 2017 model, is $49,242.93. The grant will fund $4,950 of that amount. Additionally, the project includes $60,563.45 for installation and operating of vehicle stations, of which $34,592 will be funded by the grant.

Additionally, $2,500 that’s not part of the grant will be used for signage.

Justin Scacco is a reporter for the Sierra Sun. Contact him at jscacco@sierrasun.com or 530-550-2643.


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