TRPA approves Stateline stormwater project, lawsuit settlement

Thursday, April 29, 1999 | 12:12 p.m.

The project, approved unanimously on Wednesday, ties together all the runoff treatment facilities in the casino core area at Tahoe's south shore, providing additional filtration and sand and oil separation.

Construction is scheduled to begin June 2 and conclude by the end of June 2000.

As a part of the project, more individual systems will be built, and the runoff from those properties will be routed to a common treatment facility behind the Horizon Casino Resort.

The common facility will treat the water to remove fine particles and hydrocarbons. From there, the water will discharge to wetlands on Edgewood Golf Course before going into Lake Tahoe.

Untreated runoff is believed to be a significant factor in Lake Tahoe's declining clarity.

The agency also voted unanimously - and without comment - to spend $600,000 to resolve an 8-year-old lawsuit just before it was set to go to trial.

It's the first time the bi-state panel had settled litigation by paying a property owner, the Tahoe Daily Tribune reported on Thursday.

Attorneys for Bernadine Suitum, 84, of Sacramento call the settlement a major victory for property owners.

Bernadine and John Suitum bought a lot on Lake Tahoe's northeast shore for $5,000 in 1971, intending to build a retirement home.

For years, lots around them were developed until tough building restrictions were implemented.

John Suitum died in 1982. Bernadine Suitum submitted plans to build on the lot in 1989 but was told it was in a stream zone and couldn't be built upon.

She sued in 1991, claiming that denial constituted a taking of her property and she was entitled to reimbursement.

The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that the case should be tried in a federal court in Reno. That trial was scheduled for this month.