TRUCKEE, Calif. — Truckee Town Council took action Tuesday night to certify the 2040 General Plan and Downtown Truckee Plan.

The plan, which sets forth the town’s vision for the future, outlines plans for land use, community character, mobility, housing, economic development, conservation, safety, and noise.

Town Council delayed the adoption of the 2040 General Plan following its April meeting in order to gather further input from staff and the community.

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“The five-year process leading up to the general plan adoption on May 9, was really just the start,” said Truckee Town Manager Jen Callaway. “Now we get to start work on implementing the many policies and action items.”

The 2040 plan includes more than 150 new policies, 175 new action items and includes Truckee’s first climate action element, new policies specific to fire prevention, evacuation and fuels reduction, as well as a comprehensive mobility element.

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Some of the first items that staff will be working on include:

• Aligning the Truckee’s development code with the updates. The code is the governing document that includes all land use, zoning and subdivision regulations for development within Truckee.
• Convening the West River Street Revitalization Advisory Committee to begin discussions and visioning for a reimagined West River Street corridor, which will celebrate our Truckee River.
• Work with Tahoe Forest Hospital District to complete their campus Master Plan so that a community process can take place that will offer an opportunity for the Truckee community to weigh in on the hospital’s expansion plans. This is potentially the largest public agency expansion project that Truckee has seen and it is important to provide the community with a process to review this plan in the context of community character, potential traffic impacts, congestion, housing, etc.  

“We want to acknowledge the hospital’s frustrations and once again reiterate that we share a commitment to do what is in the best interest of our community,” said Callaway, in a release. “We do not want to deny or prevent access to healthcare for our community members. What’s important is that the community be permitted to exercise their right to review and provide feedback on any development plan in the region, particularly one as large as the hospital’s current proposal.” 

Tahoe Forest Hospital and its master plan were a point of contention during the process. Hospital representatives said they are being excluded from the 2040 General Plan.

“If the Town is making plans for meeting the healthcare needs of its residents over the next several decades, it just makes sense that the healthcare and medical needs of our growing and aging community be considered at the same time,” said Tahoe Forest Hospital District Board President Alyce Wong, RN, in a news release. “We strongly urge the Town to consider our patient needs and this community’s input.”

Town officials contend there wasn’t enough information available regarding plans to expand Tahoe Forest Hospital at the time the 2040 General Plan was being discussed.

“There has never been a closed door, decision-making meeting related to the hospital,” said Callaway in a statement. “All discussions were held at public meetings. The hospital is indeed referenced a number of times in the 2040 General Plan, just as they were in the 2025 plan. What is not included is the specific details of the hospital’s own master plan because, at the time the General Plan was being considered and discussed, there was not enough information and materials available to fully consider the hospital expansion and master plan.”

Ultimately, Truckee Town Council unanimously voted to pass the 2040 General Plan after roughly six hours of discussion, which “allows us to move forward,” said councilmember Jan Zabrisikie. “It allows us to address the hospital’s master plan and get going on the policies and action items that we don’t have in the current plan but we do have in this update”