Public Comment Sought on Plan For Meeting East Shore Recreation Demands

Tuesday, Dec. 3, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Comments from people who speak at the 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency workshops will be used to help draft a management plan for the area, which includes isolated beaches favored by nude sunbathers.

The area includes State Route 28 from Incline Village south to the intersection of U.S. 50, known as Spooner Junction, and the lands from the lake shore to the ridge east of the highway.

The TRPA said the area takes in some of Tahoe's most pristine recreational areas which are under increasing pressure because of heavy public use. Thousands of people hike from the highway to beaches every summer.

The plan will focus on parking, beach access, limiting capacity of recreation sites, construction of bicycle paths, hiking trails and development within the area.

Improving conditions along the highway is one of the TRPA's priorities. Lack of adequate drainage, roadside parking and visitors eroding soil by hiking downhill to the lake all contribute to Tahoe's clarity problems, the agency has said.

The TRPA has been considering a plan that would ban all roadside parking and funnel traffic to new developed parking areas served by shuttle buses.

Aside from parking areas, the only other developments along the several miles of road between Incline and the U.S. 50 intersection are Nevada's Sand Harbor state park and the old Whittell estate, now owned by mutual fund tycoon and philanthropist Jack Dreyfus Jr.