Notice / Opposition of Tahoe Donner’s Proposed Use of Open Space
September 17, 2010 · Print This Page
Recently, the Board at Tahoe Donner has begun making plans to construct a new $3.1 million dollar Forestry Department building. Instead of rebuilding on its current site on Northwoods Boulevard they have proposed four alternative sites. The potential four sites under consideration are: (1) Northwoods Boulevard, next door to the Golf Course Maintenance facility, (2) the land at the end of Alder Creek Road an eighth of a mile beyond the pavement (open space area), (3) Skislope Way, at the green gate trailhead, and (4) Skislope Way, 1,000 feet on Skislope Way above the green gate trailhead.
Tahoe Donner describes this building as: “The Proposed new building would not be a fine finished facility like Trout Creek Recreation Center or The Lodge; rather the finish would be utilitarian, similar to the current Golf Course Maintenance facility.”
The majority of the square footage of the proposed 2 level facility (6,600 square feet) is identified for Forestry operational use, including work bays; large equipment storage; atv, splitter and chipper storage; flammables storage; material storage bins; wood pile and office space including three restrooms (men’s, women’s and unisex), kitchen, conference room and locker room with showers, washer and dryer. The perimeter of the facility will be encompassed by a security fence with sliding metal gates.
Property owners in Tahoe Donner have indicated through a survey conducted by the Tahoe 
Donner Association that open space is the number one most important aspect of Tahoe Donner. The proposed site at the end of Alder Creek is an open space area. For Tahoe Donner to consider building the new Forestry Facility at this location is outrageous. The Alder Creek site is the most used open space in all of Tahoe Donner. It is used year round with cross country ski trails in the winter, hiking, biking and equestrian center uses in the summer. The actual site on Alder Creek is in the center of the most used trail (Lions Leap) within the cross country ski area.
Tahoe Donner’s plan is moving along fast so now is the time to oppose their sprawl into our open spaces. Once they get a project like this in place there may be no stopping the future use and development into these treasured and extremely limited spaces.
Link to Potential Sites
Link to Forestry Building Schematic Elevations
Please join the opposition to the Alder Creek Forestry Project. Reply to SaveTDTrails@hotmail.com with your name and address. We will add your name to the petition to oppose this site. The actual petition wording is included below.
| Petition summary and background | Tahoe Donner is currently considering multiple sites for a proposed NEW $3.1-million Forestry Multi-Use Building. Several sites on this list are not consistent with the current Tahoe Donner General Plan, which supports the preservation of open space, was approved by the board and is a governing document for Tahoe Donner Association. |
| Action petitioned for | We, the undersigned, oppose any proposed site for a new Forestry Multi-Use Building outside of TD’s main corridor, Northwoods Boulevard. We urge the TD Board and management to follow the current General Plan, including site recommendations of the General Plan Committee for forestry and maintenance facilities. We want the TD board and management to know that we adamantly support the preservation of open space and trails and expect the board and management to cluster all maintenance and forestry facilities to avoid encroaching on open space and trails. Clustering and centralization should also be used to minimize the cost and increase the efficiency of remodeling, rebuilding and operating maintenance or forestry facilities. |
If you are so inclined, please forward this email to any other person(s) you feel would be interested in this information.
You can also express your opinion directly to board@tahoedonner.com and forestryproject@tahoedonner.com .
There will be a Tahoe Donner Community Forum meeting at 10:00 AM on September 11, to discuss this site. This meeting will be at the Northwoods Clubhouse. Our strength will come from our numbers so please attend if at all possible.
While I agree with you that the Alder Creek site is inappropriate for the project, opposition is generally more effective if an alternative is proposed. You may suggest to question the project at large as wise use of funds, in particular in these times, a suggestion we would agree with. But we do think that the two Skislope sites are equally objectionable than the the Alder Creek site.
Hi Klaus,
Hope you had a chance to enjoy Tahoe Donner over Labor day weekend. We saw alot of cars at your house when we rode by on bikes this morning.
Thanks for the feedback. The petition that we have utilized while canvassing Tahoe Donner neighborhoods opposes the use of any site outside of TD’s main corridor, Northwoods Blvd. (that would include the two sites on Skislope).
Following is the exact wording of the petition:
Petition Summary and Background: Tahoe Donner is currently considering multiple sites for a proposed NEW $3.1-million Forestry Multi-Use Building. Several sites on this list are not consistent with the current Tahoe Donner General Plan, which supports the preservation of open space, was approved by the board and is a governing document for Tahoe Donner Association.
Action Petitioned For: We, the undersigned, oppose any proposed site for a new Forestry Multi-Use Building outside of TD’s main corridor, Northwoods Boulevard. We urge the TD Board and management to follow the current General Plan, including site recommendations of the General Plan Committee for forestry and maintenance facilities. We want the TD board and management to know that we adamantly support the preservation of open space and trails and expect the board and management to cluster all maintenance and forestry facilities to avoid encroaching on open space and trails. Clustering and centralization should also be used to minimize the cost and increase the efficiency of remodeling, rebuilding and operating maintenance or forestry facilities.
There are 4 Community Forums highlighting each proposed site. We will attend all of these meetings and we encourage you and others to do the same. All meetings are at the Northwoods Club House on the following dates: Northwoods Site 9/10 at 6 pm, Alder Creek Site 9/11 at 10 am, Skislope site (trailhead) 9/17 at 6 pm and Skislope site (above trailhead) 9/18 at 5 pm.
The alternative that we have proposed is that TD should “follow the current General Plan, including site recommendations of the General Plan Committee for forestry and maintenance facilities”. The GPC recommended that the site remain in its current location on Northwoods Blvd. and that is what we advocate. When I talked with two members of the General Plan Committee they said they had not heard about the “four proposed sites” until a few weeks ago when TD sent out a member News email flash.
The money is preposterous and at best a pie-in-the-sky number. We have asked to see how they have calculated the expenses.
If you would like to sign the petition please do so at SaveTdTrails.com and provide your name & TD address.
Respectfully,
Karen
Wonderful! That is a good proposal and has our full support.
Best,
Klaus