Tahoe Valley Area Plan

Overview

Welcome to the City of South Lake Tahoe’s Tahoe Valley Area Plan/Specific Plan website (Tahoe Valley Plan). The Tahoe Valley Plan guides land use, transportation, infrastructure, community design, and other planning decisions within the boundaries of the area plan.

What is the Tahoe Valley Area Plan/Specific Plan?

TRPA adopted the Regional Plan Update in December 2012 which called for local agencies to prepare area plans to replace Plan Area Statements and Community Plan and provide a local approach to directing and regulating land use in the Tahoe Basin. The City adopted its first area plan, the Tourist Core Area Plan, in October 2013

The City started working on the Tahoe Valley Plan in January 2014. The process included extensive community outreach, including a series of community Workshops held on January 27, 2014, June 19, 2014 and July 21, 2014, to solicit input on the Tahoe Valley Area. The City used the Tahoe Valley Community Plan as a starting point, worked with TRPA staff, and reached out to local property and business owners to get their input on the plan. The City also approached the planning process creatively and holistically, noting ways that environmental improvements like stormwater systems could serve multiple purposes, like enhancing the area’s transportation system. The City also used the Tourist Core Area Plan design standards as a starting point, looked at other cities that successfully require mountain or alpine architecture, and created design standards that would apply to the Tahoe Valley area. The draft plans integrates land use and transportation to create a sustainable land use patter that support complete streets, walkable centers, and connected neighborhoods.

The Tahoe Valley Plan provides a future vision for the Tahoe Valley area and policy and project guidance to implement that vision. The Tahoe Valley Plan includes improvements to public infrastructure and circulation to better serve the businesses and residents of the area, incentives for private property investment to revitalize the area, and standards to ensure that future development is consistent with the vision and environmental goals of the City. The Tahoe Valley Plan focuses on creating a commercial, mixed-use, and multi-family development that are pedestrian friendly and transit oriented while harmonizing with the overall natural environment of the Lake Tahoe Basin.