SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – City Council for the City of South Lake Tahoe opened their Sept. 24 meeting by voting in and welcoming former Councilmember and Mayor Devin Middlebrook to a recently vacated council seat.

The seat was left by Former Mayor Pro Tem John Friedrich, who resigned early September. Middlebrook will finish out the seat’s term, set to expire in November.

A vision for zero traffic deaths by 2035

Council passed a resolution establishing a Vision Zero Policy aimed at reducing traffic deaths and severe injuries by 2035.

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Between 2014 and 2023, 17 people have died, 52 have suffered severe life-changing injuries and an additional 158 have suffered visible injuries on city streets and state routes.

During that time, 47 bicycle-related injury crashes occurred with 13 of those fatal or causing severe injury. There were 45 pedestrian-related injury crashes, out of which 16 were fatal or caused severe injury.

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Emily Dougherty, city engineering technician, reported these numbers to council from the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System and the Crossroads Software Traffic Collision Database in her presentation on the Vision Zero Policy.

Through these resources, Dougherty found driving under the influence the most common primary collision factor for crashes killing or severely injuring people, followed by automobile right-of-way violations on city streets. However, for state routes, pedestrian violation is the topmost factor, followed by driving under the influence.

“One death or serious injury on our streets is one too many,” Dougherty said. “So city and departmental leadership are dedicated to strategies that aim to reduce and eliminate these types of crashes in the City of South Lake Tahoe.”

The policy’s establishment will lead to the development of a Vision Zero Action Plan that incorporates reactive engineering solutions with data driven strategies to identify, analyze, and prioritize road safety improvements.

This policy also improves the city’s position to apply for and receive future state and federal funding to implement the measures the city will outline in the Vision Zero Action Plan.

Councilmember Robbins made the motion for the policy, but requested a few amendments. The first amends section 3d., updating it so design criteria revisions are reflective of the current and anticipated future states of practice. This addresses concerns regarding alternative modes of transportation like scooters and e-bikes.

He also requested the addition of section 3i. that states, “advocate and support public transit capacity as a means to reduce vehicle traffic.”

Another amendment provided an advocacy element to partnerships goals.

A community meeting on the action plan is scheduled for virtual participation on October 16th at 6 p.m. Those wishing to attend can find the link posted to the city’s website and social media platforms. The city highly encourages members of the community to join and participate in the development of the Vision Zero Action Plan.

Community members can provide feedback on road and traffic safety concerns on the City of South Lake Tahoe’s Vision Zero webpage.

Once the plan is complete, staff will bring it back to council for approval.

Citizen Appointments to Boards and Commissions

Ayana Morali is now on the Arts, Culture, and Tourism Commission after council approved her appointment due to a vacancy at the end of August. Morali’s application was the only application for the position that City Clerk Susan Blankenship received. Morali currently sits on the Police Advisory Commission.

At the meeting Morali informed council that her seat on the Police Advisory Commission expires in December, and that is the reason for applying to the Arts, Culture, and Tourism Commission.

The city is still soliciting applications for existing vacancies on the Building Board of Appeals.

Grant application to support two new housing programs

Additional housing services may be in the works in the City of South Lake Tahoe. Council approved submission of a Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing grant application for potentially $3 million to establish two new programs staff have otherwise been unable to find funding for.

The first program is a Rehabilitation Loan Program to assist low and moderate-income residents with housing condition improvements, home hardening against wildfire threats, and energy efficiency upgrades. This program meets the city’s Climate Action Plan as well as Housing Element goals.

The other program is a Tenant Legal Services program providing on-call legal services to tenants with civil issues. Right now, the city is receiving an increased amount of these types of calls through its housing hotline which only addresses substandard housing issues and refers this type of caller to the Legal Services of Northern California. However, this non-profit only provides services to individuals and families meeting the federal poverty guidelines, which has a max income of $15,060 for an individual.

The city’s hope is the program reduces the number of individuals and families facing
displacement with fair housing concerns.

The public is able to review and provide comment on the grant application available on the city’s housing division webpage until Friday, Oct. 11. A printed version is available at the Development Services Office.

More skatepark renovations and additions

After renovating the existing skatepark at Bijou Park in 2023, the city is now entering phase two of their skatepark endeavors. This next phase encompasses renovating the park’s current basketball courts into an expanded skatepark that connects to the existing one. The city felt the need for the expansion due to skater’s currently using homemade features in the basketball court area.

City staff engaged with the skate community on desired features there. A follow up meeting provided opportunity for the community to vote on a design. The city used a prequalification bid process to ensure they found a contractor with the specialized experience required to build a skatepark.

Staff recommended the lowest bidder, California Skateparks, whose total project estimate came in at $469,485. There is currently $181,171 left over from phase one that will go towards phase two. Remaining funds are being pulled through reallocation of the 2023-2024 general fund from budgetary savings from the city attorney litigation settlement budget savings and the Transient Occupancy Tax Revenue Fund.

Parks and Recreation Director John Stark addressed a comment concerning the removal of the basketball court there and said 12 basketball backboards are going into the new recreation center.

The community could see the new skatepark complete by July 15 next year with construction aimed at the start of the next building season.

Pioneer Trail Pedestrian Upgrade Project agreement amendment

City Council approved an amendment to project designer, CDM Smith, Inc.’s, Professional Services Agreement for added scope of work on the Pioneer Trial Pedestrian Improvement Phase II.

Phase II extends pedestrian upgrades continuing from the phase I end at Larch Avenue all the way to Ski Run Blvd. However, South Tahoe Public Utility District plans to abandon a waterline within phase II’s vicinity. In order to avoid excavation after completion of the project, the city’s Public Works and STPUD have agreed to coordinate the waterline abandonment project with the pedestrian improvement project and add both scopes of work into the same package.

The amendment allows for this consolidation. In order to meet this added scope, Public Works requested $46,000 of Air Quality Interest Mitigation Funds from the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency to pay for the addendum.

Public Works Director Anush Nejad said they anticipate design work completion around December and construction to begin May 2025 with completion within that construction season.

Raises for councilmembers and treasurer

Council approved raises for councilmembers starting Jan. 23, 2025, with all voting in favor except for members Creegan and Wallace.

The raise increases councilmember monthly salary from $1,264.86 to $1,394.49.

According to the staff report, council is eligible for an increase up to 5% for each calendar year from the operative date of the last adjustment, which was Jan. 23, 2023.

Wallace said she’s always voted against councilmember raises, despite making what she facetiously called negative 27 cents an hour with commission meetings, emails and other duties. “People aren’t doing it for the money.”

Councilmember Robbins agreed, people don’t do it for the money, but pointed out it limits the people who can do the job. “It’s limiting it to the people who have enough money and enough flexibility to have a halftime job for basically no pay.”

All the public comments were opposed to the raise. “If you don’t want to raise the minimum wage or set a minimum wage here for the town,” Ed Moser stated, “then I think we should keep you at the bare minimum.”

This was the first reading for the salary adjustments. The second reading and adoption is scheduled for Oct. 22.

Council also approved a raise for the city treasurer, a part time position. City Clerk Susan Blankenship explained the raise for the city treasurer has been consistent with the increase for city council at 5% each calendar year from the year operative date of the last salary adjustment. This adjustment increases the monthly salary from $1,264.86 to $1,394.49.

Within the consent agenda, council accepted funds from the TRPA and South Lake Tahoe Recreation Facilities Joint Powers Authority for Bijou Park Connector Multi-Use Trail Project.

Acting as the South Tahoe Joint Powers Parking Financing Authority, council authorized a contract with Ample Electric, Inc., for $319,040.27, plus a 10% contingency of $31,904.00 for the Bellamy Parking Garage Upgrade Project and amended fiscal year 2024-2025 Parking Garage Budget, including appropriating $210,000 from the Parking Garage Fund balance.

Council also received a presentation from South Tahoe Refuse on the three-cart system and navigation of issues. The Tribune discusses the presentation in an article titled, South Tahoe Refuse addresses 3-cart system issues: ‘all in all, pretty smooth.’

Council also approved a Memorandum of Understanding between the city and California Tahoe Conservancy on Motel 6. Details are outlined in the Tribune article, Motel 6 Memorandum of Understanding between city and conservancy.

The entire City Council meeting and agenda is available on the City of South Lake Tahoe’s City Council webpage.