TRPA to review staff cuts

On Thursday, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency's governors will discuss reconfiguring the staff following the lay-off of five employees.

"This is the first major organizational change the agency has gone through in its 40-year-old history," TRPA Spokesman Dennis Oliver said.

Joanne Marchetta, who assumed the helm at TRPA approximately a year ago, has enacted a multi-layered cultural shift within the agency - the foremost layer being a shift from categorically anti-development policies to working with the private sector to affect environmental redevelopment.

After an initial period of assessment, the agency is beginning to implement changes. On Thursday, Marchetta will discuss those changes and how the mid-June layoffs represent an organizational commitment to a new agency-wide method of operation.

On Wednesday, the board will discus policies that lay the groundwork for more pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly town centers while promoting an increased use of public transportation.

Oliver said curbing the use of private motor vehicles is a major strategy in combating diminishing lake clarity, as much of the fine sediment which enters the lake and compromises Tahoe results from fine sediment from roadways and paved parking lots.

Also on Wednesday, the governing board will continue discussion of the land use milestone of the regional plan update, a carry-over from last month when officials were unable to contain the lengthy discussion into a single day of meetings.

The centerpiece of the land use milestone is a staff-recommended shift from plan area statements to transect zoning, which officials say will allow for more local control of development issues and shift much of the development into condensed urban cores with a focus on pedestrian accessibility and mixed residential and commercial use.