Tahoe leaders considering traffic fee to combat congestion, global warming

People could face new user fees for driving in and out of the Lake Tahoe Basin as the region grapples with problems associated with road congestion and global warming.

The Tahoe Transportation District is studying a plan backers say would help the region fill a $1.5 billion shortfall in transportation funds over the next 23 years.

The so-called One Tahoe plan would mean millions of people who visit Lake Tahoe annually would bear a greater burden when it comes to funding transit, trails and other infrastructure projects. Local residents would pay less.

During a meeting on Friday the district's board of directors heard an update on the project and voted unanimously in favor of continuing to study it.

The proposal could produce a flexible source of money that could reduce traffic congestion and cut down on greenhouse gas and other emissions that are harmful to the lake by creating and connecting new forms of transit with bike trails and walking paths.

"I think we have an opportunity here to really take a giant step in the Tahoe Basin in terms of transportation," said Cindy Gustafson, a Placer County, Calif., supervisor and district board member. "I'm tired of talking. We need to come up with funding."

More: How global warming is turning up political heat on Nevada lawmakers

But the fee idea also has the potential to be divisive as local leaders and residents worry about whether the added cost would prompt visitors to stay away from Lake Tahoe altogether.

Director Cody Bass, a member of the South Lake Tahoe City Council, said a fee could push visitors to competing destinations, such as the Eastern Sierra resort community of Mammoth.

"We have a lot of regional tourism," Bass said. "They will literally go somewhere else if they are going to be charged, even if it is $5."

Steve Teshara, the district's board chairman, acknowledged a fee could drive some visitors away but added less traffic would be an acceptable result.

"Yes it might mean a few folks don't come to Tahoe," Teshara said. "That might be a few less cars and that might be something we can live with."

At the urging of Bass the directors watered down a motion to keep studying the plan to remove any commitment of support to the idea before approving it unanimously.

"I can't vote to say I support a basin entry fee," Bass said. "It's just not appropriate."

The vote meant staff could continue working to generate answers to board members' questions and craft plans to brief and build consensus with other agencies in advance of the 2021 legislative session in Nevada.

The idea behind the fee is to supplement about $2 billion in local, state and federal funds expected to go toward the regional transportation plan in the coming decades.

Existing sources of money won't generate what's needed to pay what fee supporters say is needed to create a transportation system that allows people to move freely, cleanly and affordably around the basin without driving personal cars.

Nor will it cover costs needed to connect transportation within the basin with transit outside the basin to help people visit or commute without a car.

More: BLM advances plan for 11,000 miles of fire fuel breaks over six states; critics say it would be wasteful and damaging

"That is what this basin has to deliver," district manager Carl Hasty said. "And we have to all figure out how we are going to do that."

Backers considered other options, such as additional sales or fuel taxes. They settled on user fees as the most likely to generate the amount needed and with the fewest legal and political hurdles.

Locals and Tahoe visitors have long endured traffic congestion on summer holidays, winter weekends and, increasingly, in day-to-day life.

Traffic contributes to runoff from roads that can harm the lake's water quality in addition to making it less pleasant to get from place to place.

In addition to coping with traffic, California, Nevada and local communities around the lake are coping with the worsening effects of global warming, which is caused by burning fossil fuels mostly for transportation.

The problem is prompting states and communities to put greater emphasis on reducing automobile emissions. More transit options that don't include personal driving could help.

More: Child falls from ski lift at Northstar resort, transported to Renown

"Transportation is the big payoff," Hasty said. "If you are going to do greenhouse gas reduction there is some serious work that needs to be done."

Although there appears to be widespread agreement that global warming and traffic congestion are problems in the Lake Tahoe Basin it would take a lot of technical work and political consensus-building to introduce new fees as a solution.

For starters, the legislatures of California and Nevada would need to authorize the transportation district to implement the fee.

That's a tall order even with consensus of local communities, which at this point remains lacking.

"This isn't going to be popular," said director Marsha Berkbigler, a member of the Washoe County Commission. "There are constituents that aren't going to like it."

Gustafson agreed.

More: Local officials roll out revised Washoe County lands bill, critics say new version has old problems

"If we don't get there with the whole basin this is dead on arrival with the legislatures," she said.

The League to Save Lake Tahoe, the environmental group behind the iconic Keep Tahoe Blue bumper stickers, also questioned the effort.

In a Feb. 27 letter Gavin Feiger, the league's senior land use policy analyst, said much of the work behind the One Tahoe project could be done through the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency's Bi-State Consultation Group.

"The rhetoric around One Tahoe as an effort to bring stakeholders together for continued conversation around transportation priorities and funding is a worthwhile endeavor, but there is already a venue for this," Feiger wrote.

Benjamin Spillman covers the outdoors and environment in Northern Nevada, from backcountry skiing in the Sierra to the latest from Lake Tahoe's ecosystem. Support his work by subscribing to RGJ.com right here.