In case you missed it, Alexis Hill spoke at the Conversation Café on Thursday and answered community questions. She is the Washoe County Commissioner, plus serves on Boards for TRPA, Tahoe Transportation District and others. Here are some highlights of the conversation:
Transportation HUB:
- Alexis is a proponent of improving public transportation around the lake and connecting it to Reno and Carson City – to reduce traffic in the Tahoe Basin, improve workforce accessibility to jobs here, and reduce the environmental damage to the Lake.
- The Transportation District is looking for sites other than the old elementary school. UNR Lake Tahoe has reached out saying they might be interested in hosting it. Other sites are also being considered.
- Based on the community survey, the HUB will probably be limited to a place to park vans/buses, restrooms, and parking spaces.
- Some community members encouraged parking to be offered outside the Basin, with little or no parking at the HUB. They also want the Board to focus on workforce transportation (vans between Reno/Carson and the Lake), rather than connecting communities within the Basin.
- The local Transportation HUB committee may be dismantled by the District Board as it is no longer useful to the project.
- Regarding the use of the elementary school – they are looking at possibly using it for workforce housing. Alexis stands by her vote (several years ago) for the Transportation District to purchase the property and keep it in public hands. One person asked about an earthquake fault going through the property – but no studies will be done until the potential property use is determined. The Sheriff’s department is also lobbying to create a new center there for their department and the courts.
- A big challenge with the current transportation network is finding bus drivers – since they can work for UPS and other places at much higher pay and don’t have to deal with the public (so be nice to the bus drivers!)
Short-term Rentals (STRs):
- Alexis voted for a recent bill that would have restricted STRs in the county, but she was out-voted, so there are still no restrictions. She said that in Nevada, it is difficult to balance the strong property rights stance of most Nevadans with the concerns created by STRs.
- STRs are being significantly regulated by the county and there is discussion in raising their fees. Currently their fees pay for CleanTahoe activities in Washoe County.
- There is also a program with incentives to help convert STRs to long-term rentals, which she hopes will increase housing availability.
- The higher building heights and other housing changes that were recently approved are for workforce housing only.
- One community member said there were condos off Incline Way that were originally developed for workforce housing, but now are selling for over $1 million each. (How that happened was not discussed)
Workforce housing:
This is a major concern to the County, and they are looking at ways that the county can help developers create viable workforce housing projects.
- When the 947 Tahoe Blvd. project was recently approved, some regulations were in place, so they must have four units of workforce housing and some commercial.
- The County and TRPA are now working on setting square footage and other requirements that would create more workforce housing.
- Alexis is hoping that a new project with 30 units will be submitted for approval.
- There were discussions of purchasing the Reindeer Lodge area (on Highway 431) for workforce housing. Currently, the price is too high to make workforce housing feasible there.
Library concerns:
Some community members are concerned with books available at the local library. Alexis asked people to file their concerns/complaints on the Library website. There is a process in place to evaluate these concerns. Beyond that, there is a Library Board with Board meetings that you can attend.
Incline Beaches/City of Incline questions:
Alexis confirmed that Washoe County has never discussed and has no interest in taking over the Incline Beaches.
She also said that she was supportive of whatever the community decides on whether to become a city. She did say that if it does move forward with a city, there would have to be many discussions between the county, the state, and the people forming the city to determine all the details – i.e. it’s not a simple task. However, if Incline Village believes it can get better services by being a city, she is supportive.
TRPA’s role:
Some people expressed concern that TRPA was not doing enough to protect the Lake, and that the County might reduce some environmental requirements to get more projects approved.
Cooperative vs antagonistic committees:
One person suggested that the County set up local advisory committees that were committed to helping solve key problems, rather than having adversarial relationships.