Lawsuit seeks to block Cal-Neva's tower balconies

A San Francisco couple has filed a lawsuit to block the Cal-Neva hotel from putting balconies on its hotel tower.

The balconies are part of a complete renovation of the 80-year-old Crystal Bay property and were approved by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. The owner, NAMCAL, is seeking final approval from the agency to convert the eight-story hotel tower to condominiums.

Robert and Carole McNeil live in the San Francisco Bay Area but own a vacation home on the land on the California side of Cal-Neva's property. They want a Carson City District Court judge to reverse the TRPA approval.

Their petition for judicial review says the balconies would violate the Tahoe Regional Compact. They argue the compact prohibits expansion of any unlimited gaming property in the Tahoe Basin. The balconies, they say, would increase "the floor space and cubic volume" of the hotel/casino in violation of the compact.

The 11-page petition also opposes converting the hotel to condominiums that, it says, would "alter the status of the rooms and halls in the tower from private areas for use of guests to areas open to public use."

The balconies, the petition says, would "result in owners and guests gathering on the balconies and will likely result in excessive, disturbing and vexatious levels of noise."

The petition asks the district court to stop the construction and overturn the TRPA approval.

The Cal-Neva was built in 1926 on 13 acres and straddles the state line. In fact, the state line is drawn on the floor through the hotel lobby with the hotel in California and the casino in Nevada.

In the early 1960s it was owned by singer Frank Sinatra and was the scene of numerous celebrity parties until Sinatra lost his gaming license for hosting Chicago Mafia don Sam Giancana.

Remodeling plans include a new green roof and brown paint for the outside, construction of 10 employee-housing units and extensive work on the inside of the resort.