Lake Tahoe Building Ban Extended by Federal Court

A year-old building moratorium at Lake Tahoe was extended today by a federal appeals court that said there was reason to believe a bi-state agency’s development plan “will only contribute to deterioration of the environmental quality.”

The decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was a victory for environmental groups and the state of California, which argued that the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s controls on growth were too weak to protect the scenic lake.

The court’s ruling prolongs indefinitely the building moratorium imposed last June by U.S. District Judge Edward Garcia of Sacramento, who said the regional agency’s 20-year plan probably did not comply with federal anti-pollution standards.

If the decision stands, the moratorium will remain until the agency stiffens its controls on development. It also may give new impetus to proposals in Nevada to withdraw from the planning agency, which has representatives from both Nevada and California.

Garcia’s ruling was supported by evidence that algae in Lake Tahoe “is growing at an alarming rate, with the inevitable result 40 years down the road of a loss of most of the lake’s clarity,” the appeals court said.

In three unanimous decisions by a three-member panel, the court refused to lift the moratorium, to grant exemptions for 100 to 150 homes a year on the California side of the lake, or to exempt repair of some private piers.