MAP Challenges TRPA’s Violation of the Bi-State Compact

and Approval of Phase 2 Housing Amendments

Mountain Area Preservation (MAP) is legally challenging the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s (TRPA) violation of the bi-state compact, TRPA regulations, and the approval of the Phase 2 Housing Code Amendments, which could negatively impact Tahoe’s natural environment and public safety for present and future generations. These untested land use codes set a negative precedent for future workforce housing development and undermine the laws that are intended to protect the environment and further true affordable housing under the Bi-State Compact. 

The TRPA’s new regulations allow for 65 ft building heights, 100% lot coverage, unlimited density, and zero parking in Tahoe’s Town Centers, with additional incentives for Multi-Family Residential Zones outside of town centers. These flexible codes are offered for 100% affordable, moderate, or “Achievable Housing,” which is a TRPA term that includes any household, no matter their income, so long as one person works in the Tahoe basin at least 30 hours per week. As advocates with a track record of bringing workforce development to Truckee Tahoe, we must prioritize the most critical type of workforce housing while upholding social and environmental justice through land use planning codes and policies. 

These new housing codes rely on old data, as the most recent environmental analysis was completed for the 2012 Regional Plan Update (RPU). Since then, Tahoe’s environment has declined, threats such as wildfires have worsened, and conditions have changed. The RPU did not anticipate this intensification of density and use for the workforce or tourism. The RPU focused on building out Town Centers, but unlimited density, 100% coverage, and 65-foot tall buildings were not part of the vision nor analysis. Unfortunately, Tahoe’s environmental watchdog needs watching. Our legal challenge mandates that the TRPA do its due diligence, conduct a new environmental analysis, disclose impacts, and create mitigation to offset those impacts.

Read MAP’s FAQs for the legal, and to learn more about TRPA’s new codes and regulations and our advocacy during the public process, go to our TRPA resources page.

Lawsuit declares federally funded agency violated Lake Tahoe Compact, seeks pause in new development and environmental impact statement to protect public and Tahoe Basin from harm

Tahoe Regional Planning Compact requires regulatory agency to protect Tahoe Basin from excessive development, reduce impacts from new growth and ensure environmental thresholds are achieved

Sacramento, CA, February 9, 2024 – Mountain Area Preservation (MAP), a 36-year-old grassroots environmental nonprofit organization, today filed a lawsuit against the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) in the Eastern District of California, declaring the federal agency is in violation of the 55-year-old Tahoe Regional Planning Bi-State Compact (“Compact”), the Regional Plan, and TRPA regulations. The lawsuit is necessary to ensure TRPA fulfills its duties set forth in the Compact, a congressionally approved agreement between California and Nevada. Under the Compact, TRPA must ensure that new development will not exceed or impede environmental threshold carrying capacities adopted to protect water quality, air quality, scenic views and other extraordinary Tahoe resources.

A unique regulatory agency, TRPA was created by the Compact, which sets goals to protect and preserve Lake Tahoe and conserve the 501 square mile Tahoe Basin. It requires that regional plans must attain and maintain Federal, State, or local air and water quality standards, whichever are strictest. Under the Compact, TRPA must prepare and consider a detailed environmental impact statement (EIS) before deciding to approve or carry out any project that may have a “significant effect on the environment.” An EIS from TRPA is required to use “a systematic, interdisciplinary approach,” and TRPA must consult with relevant public agencies and provide a minimum 60-day public comment period on an EIS.

Since TRPA’s last EIS for its Regional Plan Update in 2012, the lake’s health has deteriorated from, among other things, record amounts of microplastics and new invasive species. Lake Tahoe also has special status under the Clean Water Act. Designated an Outstanding National Resource Water, Lake Tahoe is now “listed under Clean Water Act Section 303(d) as impaired by inputs of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment.” In addition, local conditions have been negatively impacted by substantial increases in visitation, proliferation of short-term vacation rentals, and escalating populations in adjacent cities. Changes to Tahoe’s current environmental and public safety conditions, together with other planned regional development, will increase vehicle miles traveled (VMTs) in the Lake Tahoe Basin, contributing to potentially hazardous air and water pollution for one of our nation’s most treasured watersheds.