Ongoing dispute over Lake Tahoe beach parking heats up again

Thursday, Sept. 23, 1999 | 9:42 a.m.

But officials for the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency insist they have no intention of banning parking along the shoulders of Nevada State Route 28 until some replacement parking is in place.

Tahoe Area Naturists, an organized group of people who frequent the clothing-optional beaches, are worried because a new parking lot proposed by the Forest Service has been scaled back to only about one-third of the originally planned 150 spaces.

The TRPA on Wednesday endorsed a parking project with only 45 spaces new spaces after the Forest Service concluded the more ambitious proposal would degrade Lake Tahoe's environment.

"All these promises we heard sound like lies to us," said North Swanson, a representative of TAN.

"Our goal is to try to preserve our access to these beaches we love so much," he said.

The 45 spaces that would be created by the expansion of two existing lots are "totally inadequate and unacceptable to beach-users," Swanson said.

TRPA officials said other parking plan are in the work as well.

The agreement approved Wednesday calls for development of an "East Shore Beach Access Plan" to help identify new options to guarantee continued beach access.

"Elimination of shoulder parking will not proceed until the access plan is completed," said Richard Wiggins, a TRPA transportation planner.

The Nevada Department of Transportation currently is expanding public parking at the intersection of Highway 28 and U.S. Highway 50.

Negotiations also are continuing over the possibility of securing parking at the Ponderosa Ranch in Incline Village.

Both locations could be used by beach-goers if a shuttle system is established, said Kay Bennett, Carson City's appointee to TRPA.

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