Nevada threatens to leave Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (San Jose, Carson: school, casino)

[18Montclair]

CARSON CITY, Nev. -- Frustration over tough land use regulations fueled criticism against California and Lake Tahoe regulators Friday as Nevada lawmakers considered a proposal to withdraw from a decades-old compact governing the scenic basin that straddles both states.

Under SB271, Nevada would secede from the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, a bi-state agency created in 1969, and assume regulatory duties for lands in the Tahoe Basin within the state's boundaries.

Sen. John Lee, D-North Las Vegas, said the regulatory structure of the TRPA has been taken over by California and litigation from environmental groups. He said his bill is "the only arrow I have in my quiver" to try bring change.

Republican co-sponsors called TRPA a "bloated bureaucracy" and an "obstructionist organization," that takes years to decide if a homeowner can cut up a dead tree or pave a driveway.

"We are suffocating from regulation," said Mike Young, an Incline Village resident and president of the Nevada Association of Realtors. He said Nevada is being held "captive" by California's influence on the bi-state regulatory board, calling the neighboring state "the big bully in the school lunch room."


Nevadans' ire over 'big bully' California's regulations may fracture Tahoe land agency - San Jose Mercury News

I cant understand people being fed up with too much regulation and oversight for things as mundane as cutting down a dead tree.

However, I suspect that if left to their own devices, their side of Tahoe would have already been turned into a tacky casino-lined theme park of sorts.

The article goes on to say:
The biggest problem, she said, is "two states with what at times can be profoundly different philosophies." California, she said, emphasizes environmental protection and a few weeks ago questioned TRPA's environmental commitment. Nevada on the other hand is about free enterprise and private property rights. "Each state wants to control its own destiny," she said.

The problem with this last part is that our destinies with respec to Lake Tahoe are intertwined.

[Woof]

Yes, I remember many years ago seeing Tahoe for the first time, which was also my first look at California ..... I didn't know it was Tahoe right away, but was amazed at the sudden beauty coming over from the barren ugly Nevada desert.

I also can appreciate frustration with California/US environmental bureaucracy, but after all it did save half the state from washed down into the SF Bay waters after the Gold Rush, saved the other awesome natural beauty of Yosemite, and has created the state with the most federal and state parks in the Lower 48. Yes, better bureaucracy than "a tacky casino-lined theme park".