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Panel to look at streamlining tree removal permits in basin

Gregory Crofton

Planners are scheduled to meet Wednesday at Stateline to review a proposal related to the 1,000 or so tree removal permits annually issued in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

The Advisory Planning Commission of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency will review a proposal that would eliminate an extra level of review that is called for by the agency’s code of ordinances but rarely required.

As it stands, the code requires property owners with a tree removal permit to check back with the TRPA to make sure the tree work is deemed to be “qualified exempt.”



“It’s rare that you’d have to submit a qualified exempt form,” said Jesse Jones, a forester at the TRPA. “Usually you get the tree removal permit, call the tree service and they remove the trees.”

The proposed change will be reviewed by the Advisory Planning Commission before it’s voted on by the TRPA Governing Board at the end of the month. If it is approved, it is expected to make it easier for TRPA Executive Director John Singlaub to establish agreements that allow all fire districts in the basin to issue tree removal permits, Jones said.



Right now, the fire protection district at Incline Village is the only district that has an agreement with the TRPA that allows it to issue a tree removal permit, in large part because it has a firefighter on staff who is also a certified forester, Jones said.

The Advisory Planning Commission is scheduled to meet Wednesday starting at 9:30 a.m. at the TRPA office on 128 Market St. off Kingsbury Grade.


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