In a much anticipated decision, on December 11, 2014, the board of directors of the North Tahoe Public Utility District approved an agreement to transfer ownership of the Firestone Property to Placer County. The property is 85 acres at the top of Dollar Hill between the Old County and Highlands neighborhoods.
The Firestone property has been owned by the NTPUD since 1990. It was purchased with grant funds obtained from the California Tahoe Conservancy for the purpose of recreation, specifically, the proposed Dollar Creek Shared-Use Trail. In August—24 years later—Placer County asked the NTPUD to transfer ownership due to a perceived lack of interest in the trail project.
There has been some discussion of the possibility of Placer County relocating the justice center to the Firestone property. Peter Kraatz, deputy director of Placer County Public Works, has assured the PUD that “there is no firm plan to build anything on it other than the bike trail.” However, he also said that the property is under consideration as a new site for the justice center and corporate yard, but the outcome is unknown.
Simultaneously the California Tahoe Conservancy is attempting recovery of the property for the reason that the grant was made with the understanding that NTPUD would carry out the trail project, but seems to be no longer committed to it. In its own defense the PUD states that it has maintained the property, done planning studies and begun the environmental documentation. An obstacle arose in 2009 when the Forest Service requested documentation that was not contained in the environmental consultant’s scope of service. Meeting that requirement called for $65,000 in additional cost. At the time, neither the PUD nor the Conservancy had the funds to cover that additional expense.
In May 2010 the board of the NTPUD turned back to the Conservancy the task of meeting the additional environmental requirements and returned $587,000 of the remaining funds. At the same time, it indicated its desire to supervise construction and operation of the bike trail once the funding problems were resolved. Patrick Wright, executive director of the Conservancy, indicated in a letter to the NTPUD that the lack of progress on the project suggests that the PUD is no longer interested in the trail project or in meeting the conditions of the grant.
Subsequently, Placer County took over the task of acquiring the appropriate environmental documentation, and final documents were completed in August 2012. Mr. Kraatz indicated that the county could lose $3.4 million in federal grant funds obtained for the project if it is delayed any further. The federal grant requires that it goes out to bid by May 2015. The county would like to start construction in 2015, but the county will not take on the obligations of the grants including planning, development, operations and maintenance without owning the property.
Negotiations between Placer County and the NTPUD resulted in the agreement adopted by the board of the PUD and that will go before the Placer County Board of Supervisors on January 6, 2015. After that, the California Tahoe Conservancy board would finalize the agreement.
As for the concerns pertaining to the potential relocation of the justice center to the property, the agreement contains, in part, a provision that the “County agrees to conduct a good faith public process for the property intended to solicit public input and disseminate information regarding any anticipated change in land use beyond construction and operation of the multi-use trail.” Any change in the land use would require the County to purchase the land at fair market value subject to the California Environmental Quality Act, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and Placer County.
A series of articles have been published by the Sierra Sun and Moonshine Ink on this topic. Click on the links below to read all the details:
• Sierra Sun, October 14, 2014, “Agencies wrangling over North Tahoe’s Firestone property”
• Moonshine Ink, November 14, 2014, “Saga of the 26-year Bike Trail”
• Sierra Sun, November 20, 2014, “Draft agreement proposes Placer Co. ownership of Firestone property”
• Sierra Sun, December 15, 2014, “North Tahoe PUD OKs trade of 85-acre property to Placer County”
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