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Register of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Collection,
1969-1976
Mss200
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Title: Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1969-1976
Collection number: Mss200
Creator:
Richard Hanna
Extent: 3 linear ft.
Repository:
University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Department of
Special Collections
Stockton, CA 95211
Shelf location: For current information on the location of
these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Language: English.
Collection is open for research.
[Identification of item], Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Collection,
Mss200, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of the
Pacific Library
The Lake Tahoe Basin is one of the world's most uniquely beautiful
environments. High alpine mountains surround a deep (1,645 feet) blue lake that
is both quite large and clear. This environment is so attractive that for fifty
years it has been under intense pressure to meet the demands of a mobile,
recreation-seeking public. Different portions of the lake lie in various
political jurisdictions (five counties, two states, and several special
districts) and the need to balance development with environmental protection
was addressed for the first time as recently as 1969, when an act of Congress
created the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.
The TRPA was mandated to "maintain an equilibrium between the region's
natural endowment and its manmade environment, (and) to adopt and enforce a
regional plan of resource conservation and orderly development..." It has three
main branches: the Staff, the Advisory Planning Commission, and the Governing
Body.
The Staff is headed by an executive officer and is divided into
administration, legal, transportation, and planning units. This branch develops
plans and ordinances for the orderly development and use of the Tahoe Basin.
The Staff present plans in draft form to the Governing Body, which advises and
directs Staff as to how these ought to be revised.
The Advisory Planning Commission includes the heads of all local
planning and health departments and about four lay citizens. At its monthly
meetings, the APC reviews staff recommendations, and makes its own
recommendations to the Governing Body.
Only the Governing Body can adopt the plans and ordinances of the TRPA.
Its membership includes one representative from each of the five California and
Nevada counties with jurisdiction in the Basin (usually a county supervisor),
one governor-appointed representative from each state, the director of each
state's natural resources agency, a councilman from the city of South Lake
Tahoe, and a non-voting representative appointed by the President of the United
States. No ordinance can be passed unless it is supported by a majority of the
five person delegation of each state.
The TRPA is financed by appropriations from local, state and federal
sources. Each of the five counties in the Tahoe Basin is required to
appropriate $150,000 per year for the uses of the Agency. The TRPA depends on
local governments to enforce its ordinances since the Agency lacks monies for
its own inspection and enforcement system. According to the TRPA's own
assessment, local government has generally been willing to enforce TRPA
ordinances if it has the same form of regulation (for instance, low density
zoning), but less willing to enforce if it does not have the same kind of
regulation (for instance, a ban on signs attached to trees). In the past, the
TRPA has brought suit against counties that have approved development projects
which violated its zoning ordinances.
The TRPA has aroused considerable controversy. At one time or another,
landowners, developers, local governments, conservationists, and even the State
of California, have all brought suit against the Agency. Some very basic
questions about the Agency and its role have never been fully answered: Shall
the TRPA plan for the economic and social--as well as the physical--environment
of the Tahoe Basin; how can the Agency ensure that its statutes are enforced;
and, how can the TRPA adequately finance its activities?
Most of this collection consists of printed matter generated by, or
relating to, the activities of the TRPA. It is arranged topically and includes:
materials that treat the history and structure of the Agency, copies of TRPA
ordinances, drafts of a Tahoe Basin General Plan, studies and reports on
specific environmental topics, and background materials on other locales used
as planning models by the TRPA.