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Judge says Tahoe housing illegal
Ruling in Placer County case blocks construction of thousands of homes
By Scott Sonner, Associated Press
RENO — A judge has sided with conservationists seeking to block construction of thousands of houses north of Lake Tahoe, saying the county's comprehensive development plan for the Martis Valley violates California environmental law.
The judge ordered Placer County to suspend all activities under the 2003 Martis Valley Community Plan and set aside the environmental reviews used to approve plans for construction of at least
6,000 houses in the valley southeast of Truckee.
The plan "builds in opportunities to create environmental mischief," California Superior Court Judge James Garbolino said Thursday in a ruling from Auburn.
"Of particular concern is the impact which the project will have upon traffic and air quality impacts within the Tahoe Basin," he wrote. "One must not lose sight of the fragile nature of the area under discussion."
Several environmental groups filed a lawsuit in January 2004 to overturn the community plan on the basis it failed to adequately analyze potential impacts on wildlife habitat, water resources, sewer capabilities, traffic congestion and air quality.
"This is a sweeping legal victory for anyone committed to a better future for the Tahoe-Truckee region," said Tom Mooers, executive director of Sierra Watch, one of the plaintiffs in the suit.
"It stops the freight train of irresponsible development," Mooers said Friday in a telephone interview. "Hopefully, what it does is force people to come to the table and come up with a responsible plan."
The town of Truckee, League to Save Lake Tahoe, Sierra Club, National Audubon Society, Sierra Nevada Alliance and Defenders of Wildlife are among others who have argued against the plan.
They say the area can handle only about 3,000 new houses but the Martis Valley blueprint would allow up to 19,000.
The county and developers maintain that zoning ordinances and other restrictions effectively limit construction to 8,600 new houses and that the environmental reviews adequately represent the potential impacts of a development of that size.
But Garbolino said the zoning ordinances can be changed over time and the potential impacts should be analyzed based on maximum development allowed under the plan.
He said the county "left the door open to increases in both residential and commercial development" consistent with the community plan, but "beyond the scope of the development" described in the formal environmental impact review.
Placer County "respectfully disagrees with some of the legal and factual conclusions made by Judge Garbolino," said Rick Crabtree, a lawyer representing the county in the case.
"The county believes that it engaged in an extensive good faith analysis to determine the likely impacts" of the plan, he said.
He said the board will not discuss the possibility of an appeal
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before its next regular meeting, May 24.
"The Board of Supervisors carefully balanced the need to conserve the important natural assets that make the Martis Valley such a wonderful place to live, visit and work, with the interests of private property owners in the area," he said.
The valley northwest of Lake Tahoe covers about 70 square miles — about 40 square miles in Placer County — south of Interstate 80 between two federal wilderness areas.
It is "a critically important area for wildlife, habitat and water resources," Garbolino wrote in his opinion.
"Far more importantly, the area ... runs along the peaks and rim of the mountains which form the crucible which has forged lake Tahoe," he said.
Because the environmental review was based on limits in existing zoning ordinances, the judge agreed it "failed to study the full scope of permissible development and construction."
"The insufficiency of the studies has caused a critical failure to analyze the environmental consequences which impact not only the Martis Valley, but the town of Truckee and the Tahoe Basin as well.
"As a result, the board of supervisors was not provided with the real and potential magnitude of the environmental impacts of the proposed community plan," he ruled.
Mooers said conservationists have reached agreement with developers for construction of about 2,000 units in the area that would not harm the environment, including East-West Partners' plan to build 1,450 condominium and townhouse units at Northstar-at-Tahoe ski resort.
Both Mooers and Roger Lessman, managing partner for East-West Partners Tahoe, said that because of that agreement they were optimistic those plans would move forward.
The conservation groups continue to oppose another 1,000 homes that the county had approved under the community plan, including DMB Highlands' Siller Ranch project, which would include 726 homes and two golf courses.
Another 2,000 or so units are envisioned as part of the community plan but not yet specifically proposed as formal projects, he said. Those will be frozen under the ruling, he said.
Officials for DMB Highlands in Truckee did not immediately return telephone messages seeking comment. Ron Parr of DMB Highlands has said before that his company had met the requirements of state and county law, and plans to leave 80 percent of the 2,177 acres in its natural vegetation.
