Tahoe regulators continue land-rating despite lawsuit

Thursday, Jan. 13, 2000 | 11:27 a.m.

On Wednesday, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency's advisory planning commission was updated on proposed changes to the Individual Parcel Evaluation System, or IPES, used to rate sensitivity of vacant lots in the Tahoe Basin since 1987.

Last Friday, a property rights group and 252 landowners from around the Tahoe Basin filed suit against TRPA in U.S. District Court in Reno and Sacramento. They allege IPES has illegally robbed them of any ability to build on their land, particularly on the California side of the lake.

The system was supposed to free some less sensitive lots for construction as more sensitive ones were acquired by the states or federal government. But that hasn't happened quickly enough, resulting in both the lawsuit and ongoing efforts by the agency to change the system.

TRPA counsel John Marshall briefed agency planning commissioners on progress, saying the latest recommended changes would assign "mitigation credits" to some lots currently deemed unbuildable under IPES.

If enough credits are compiled, the owner of a sensitive lot would be allowed to build a home regardless of current status under IPES.

The Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, the group that sued TRPA over its system last week, isn't participating in discussions on how to change IPES.

The environmentalist League to Save Lake Tahoe and the California attorney general's office are involved - and both would likely sue TRPA if proposed changes to IPES were deemed a threat to the environment.