SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board denied an appeal at Wednesday’s meeting that would have legally designated the Lakeside Marina’s jetty and floating dock as a pier and cleared the way for future pier development rights. 

In January, a TRPA land use verification report determined that there was no pier associated with Lakeside Marina’s parcels of land. The Lakeside Park Association appealed only that finding, arguing the breakwater structure is designated as a pier. 

Lakeside Marina’s current operations will not be affected by this decision.

TRPA staff recommended the governing board deny the appeal, warning that other marinas could claim similar breakwater or jetty structures as piers and redevelop their properties without needing a new permit for a pier from TRPA.

“A legally existing pier is a significant shoreline development right, not merely a descriptive label,” TRPA staff wrote in its recommendation.

Douglas County Commissioners’ representative Nathan Tolbert moved to grant the appeal, but all other members of the governing board voted against it. It failed 13-1. The appeal required eight affirmative votes, according to TRPA Communications Director Sarah Underhill.

What each side argued

In its report, TRPA staff warned the board that the decision was not about whether LPA’s breakwater and floating dock showed “pier-like characteristics” or was able to continue operation as is, but it was to determine what the current legal designation is for TRPA’s land use verification.

LPA argued that the jetty is by definition also classified as a breakwater and a pier. It said that boats can land there for loading, unloading and access to the shoreline, therefore meeting the TRPA definition of a pier. 

TRPA staff countered that the capability to be used as a pier doesn’t necessitate legal designation, which requires the “intended” use to be for docking boats.

On the TRPA’s permitting mapping software, the jetty is designated under the “Pier Layer” on the map, which LPA said means that TRPA itself formally recognizes it as a pier. Staff said this map is for planning purposes and doesn’t carry legal weight.

In 2018, TRPA included jetty in its baseline count of all the piers on Lake Tahoe in its Shoreline Plan & Environmental Impact Statement. The same report said the marina’s land parcels are not eligible for a new pier due to it having an already existing pier, identified as the jetty. 

Staff explained that the 2018 report provided a high-level overview rather than parcel-specific rights, unlike the January verification under appeal.

LPA also argued that TRPA has to treat all sheetpile breakwaters equally, since Tahoe City Marina’s very similar structure is designated as a pier in an expansion permit. Staff said it has never conducted a land use verification of the Tahoe City Marina and that each land use verification must be conducted independently. 

The floating dock attached to the jetty was authorized as a “catwalk” under the TRPA permit, which is defined as “an accessory structure to a pier,” implying the existence of a pier. Staff said it was only authorized as a “temporary floating loading dock,” not a catwalk, and doesn’t retroactively create a legally recognized pier.

Plus, LPA pulled historical records to show that a steamer pier was originally built on the property in 1901, then maintained and modified since. Because of that pier’s precedent, the LPA said their current operation should have the right to claim a pier. 

The steamer pier was demolished long before the enclosed marina was built and before the TRPA established its authority in 1972, staff said, and the permit for the marina’s construction did not include a pier at that time. The historical presence is obsolete, it said.

For everyday visitors and boaters, the board’s decision changes little. TRPA’s underlying verification fully protects Lakeside Marina’s existing operations, including its 63 boat slips, 10 mooring buoys, boat ramp and water taxi transit dock.

Carly Heltzel is a reporter for Tahoe Daily Tribune. She is part of the 2026–28 cohort of California Local News Fellows through UC Berkeley. Learn more at https://fellowships.journalism.berkeley.edu/cafellows/.