TRPA staff eases up on affordable housing issue

Brendan Riley

Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2000 | 4:33 a.m.

CARSON CITY, Nev. - Odds of a subdivision moratorium on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe decreased Wednesday as Tahoe Regional Planning Agency staffers softened their stance in an affordable housing dispute.

The bistate agency's staff proposed that its parent board find that Washoe and Douglas counties have "demonstrated a commitment to assume their fair-share responsibility" to provide low-income housing within their Tahoe Basin areas.

The recommendation, a shift from an earlier staff position that the counties hadn't done enough, is more in line with the TRPA's Advisory Planning Commission stance on the issue.

However, staffers say the "fair share" finding should be reviewed at an April 26 TRPA meeting -a point at which the moratorium threat could come up again. The advisory commission has said no follow-up review should be conducted until next December.

"We're talking timing, not black-and-white differences between the staff and the APC," said Gabby Barrett, TRPA chief of long-range planning.

Barrett added the staff position wouldn't impede subdivision projects, and at the same time would ensure work continues on new criteria to accurately measure affordable housing efforts.

The APC and staff suggestions will be considered by the full TRPA governing board at a Jan. 26 meeting in Kings Beach, Calif.

The earlier differences stemmed from the fact that the TRPA hasn't clearly defined the pass-fail line on such housing.

"We're being challenged to succeed and being judged when we don't know what the rules are," APC board member Bob Sellman had said.

Sellman, also community development director of Washoe County, argued that Washoe County hasn't been as successful as possible with affordable housing because of impediments created by the TRPA's rules. That's a claim Douglas County leaders have often made.

Barrett has disagreed, saying affordable housing projects were approved by the TRPA but didn't move forward because of apparent Washoe County inaction.

There was no dispute this year between the APC and the staff regarding low-income housing efforts by California entities at the lake, including Placer and El Dorado counties and the city of South Lake Tahoe.