Bonanza Park DesignOverview: On June 7th, 2011, the South Lake Tahoe City Council unanimously decided to conditionally authorize the transfer of development rights associated with the 50 Tourist Accommodation Units (TAU’s) from the C & M Lodge site to Edgewood Tahoe Lodge Project site. The transfer authorization is a critical step for the Edgewood Lodge Project to move forward. The authorization allows a transfer of development rights from a run-down property Edgewood Companies recently acquired in South Lake Tahoe called the C & M Lodge, located on the 1200 block of Bonanza Drive, near the 'Y' in South Lake Tahoe. The TAU's now conditionally approved for transfer produce no Transient Occupancy Tax. As a condition for the transfer authorization, Edgewood has agreed to construct and dedicate a park for the City in place of the former C&M Lodge site. The planned neighborhood pocket park is being called the Bonanza Park.
Article - June 4, 2011 - Shuttered South Tahoe Hotel may be turned into a parkArticle - April 30, 2012 - Bonanza Park Groundbreaking
A: The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) Code of Ordinances defines a TAU as follows: a public entitlement of a motel-type unit of one bedroom in size that can be transferred to another unit.
A: The TAU ordinance was adopted by TRPA to protect the Lake Tahoe Basin from becoming overbuilt. TRPA restricts TAUs more severely than any other commodity, essentially limiting the Tahoe basin to the stock of 12,000 tourist units which existed at the time of the Regional Plan's adoption in 1987.
A: Conversions of existing TAUs to residential uses are permitted on site at a ratio of one unit to one unit provided they are for deed-restricted affordable housing and meet other stringent TRPA development standards. Conversion of TAUs to CFA (Commercial Floor Area) is also an allowable conversion use of TAUs.
A: The City of South Lake Tahoe has no cap on these inter-jurisdictional TAU transfers, nor any associated fee.
A: The C&M Lodge is a defunct hotel, turned temporary housing, located in the South ìYî area in the City of South Lake Tahoe. The address is 1209 Bonanza Avenue. The structures were built in 1959 as temporary housing for highway construction workers and were never intended to serve as long-term residential units. The property has been vacant since acquired by Edgewood Companies in November of 2010. Demolition and removal of the existing structures took place in the fall of 2011.
A: Hotel taxes or Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT), are taxes levied by local agencies on temporary lodging units. Because impacts of tourism occur where guests stay, TOT revenues remain local and are vital to small municipal agencies.
A: No, not currently. In 2009, the C&M Lodge property generated only $100 of TOT for the City of South Lake Tahoe. From 2005 through 2009, the C&M Lodge generated about $3,000 TOT, or about $60 per unit. Since 2010, the property has not generated any transient occupancy tax revenue for the City of South Lake Tahoe.
A: Edgewood Companies owns the 50 TAUs it is requesting to have transferred from the former C&M Lodge site located at 1209 Bonanza Avenue. The TAUs exist as documented property rights owned by Edgewood Companies as the landowner of the Bonanza Avenue property.
A: As proposed, the Edgewood Tahoe Lodge will be a world-class facility. Roughly 80 percent of all TOT revenues generated by the proposed Edgewood Tahoe Lodge would be used to fund South Lake Tahoe tourism promotion through the Tahoe-Douglas Visitors Authority (TDVA) and the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority (LTVA). The projected annual TOT generation from the Edgewood Tahoe Lodge is expected to be approximately $1.5 million.
A: The following is a list of benefits to the City of South Lake Tahoe from the proposed TAU transfer:
Gains from clean-up of C&M Lodge site:
- Removal of the existing blighted health and safety hazard, a substandard, de facto low-income housing unit that currently degrades the local neighborhood and community appearance to visitors
- Creation of a neighborhood park that will create a place for residents to connect and children to play
- Enhanced neighborhood property values: The replacement of blight with a neighborhood pocket park has been shown to lift the property values
Gains from Edgewood Tahoe Lodge Project:
Benefits will include extensive positive outcomes for the economy, environment and community as follows:
- Economic Benefits
- Generation of new jobs at proposed Edgewood Tahoe Lodge:
- Between 175 to 200 new jobs and between 87 to 200 indirect jobs
- Significant tax (TOT and Transient Lodging License Fee) funds will be generated to support tourism promotion of the South Shore via the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority
- Estimated Visitor Spend: $20 to $24 million dollars of new income per year from discretionary expenditures by lodge guests in retail, recreation, and restaurant establishments in the City of South Lake Tahoe.
- Attract a new type of longer-stay visitor to Lake Tahoe via response to three-bedroom market demand (inadequate supply of these rooms currently)
Environmental Benefits:
- LEED construction or other green building programs
- Net reduction in coverage & enhanced storm water treatment
- Substantial water quality improvements (70% of the 4,000 acre Edgewood Creek watershed (up from the current 50%) to greatly benefit Lake clarity thresholds
Community Benefits:
- Public beach access along the Edgewood-Tahoe Golf Course
- New bike trails
A: The City of South Lake Tahoe has authority in the development rights transfer process because the TRPA code of ordinances grants sending jurisdictions the right to approve or deny inter-jurisdictional transfers within the Tahoe Basin. The sending jurisdictions were granted this authority so they can protect their tax revenues. In this case, there is no tax revenue to protect as the vacant and soon-to-be-torn-down C&M Lodge does not produce any transient occupancy tax (TOT) or sales tax and the property tax is negligible. The City makes a decision based on one of the demonstrated benefits to the jurisdiction as a result of the transfer of development right outside city limits. Demonstrated benefits must include proof of economic or environmental or community gain to the City as a result of the transfer. As stated above, the Edgewood Companies is demonstrating substantial benefit in all three areas.
A: In June of 2007 the Solimar Research Group identified 1,476 TAUs in the City of South Lake Tahoe as excess supply the City should consider for transfer through the leveraged receipt of public benefit (i.e., purpose built affordable housing). Much like the C&M Lodge, these TAUs exist today in the form of dilapidated, low-income housing rentals that produce minimal TOT for the City of South Lake Tahoe. Allowing 50 of these TAUs from the C&M Lodge to transfer out of the City still leaves 96.6 percent of this excess supply within the City for a possible intra-jurisdictional transfer.
A: While not within the City limits, the Horizon property has historically been a large part of the South Shore economy, which is affected without regard to jurisdictional lines drawn on a map. The proposed transfer allows the Edgewood Tahoe Lodge EIS application to be amended by removing its current reliance on 120 TAUs from Horizon. This transfer preserves viable and transformative redevelopment options for the Horizon property.
Bonanza Park DesignOverview: On June 7th, 2011, the South Lake Tahoe City Council unanimously decided to conditionally authorize the transfer of development rights associated with the 50 Tourist Accommodation Units (TAU’s) from the C & M Lodge site to Edgewood Tahoe Lodge Project site. The transfer authorization is a critical step for the Edgewood Lodge Project to move forward. The authorization allows a transfer of development rights from a run-down property Edgewood Companies recently acquired in South Lake Tahoe called the C & M Lodge, located on the 1200 block of Bonanza Drive, near the 'Y' in South Lake Tahoe. The TAU's now conditionally approved for transfer produce no Transient Occupancy Tax. As a condition for the transfer authorization, Edgewood has agreed to construct and dedicate a park for the City in place of the former C&M Lodge site. The planned neighborhood pocket park is being called the Bonanza Park.
