League to Save Lake Tahoe v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency

ORDER

Development in the Lake Tahoe region is regulated by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (“TRPA”). TRPA amended its “shorezone” ordinances on October 22, 2008. Plaintiffs League to Save Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Club challenge these amendments, arguing that in adopting them TRPA violated the Tahoe Regional Planning Compact and the implementing Code of Ordinances.

Pending before the court are cross motions for summary judgment on liability. The California State Lands Commission has filed a brief supporting plaintiffs and the Shorezone Property Owners Association has filed a brief supporting TRPA. The court resolves the matters on the papers and after oral argument.

I. Background

A. Lake Tahoe

For well over a century, writers have praised Lake Tahoe’s beauty. See Tahoe-Sierra Pres. Council v. TRPA 535 U.S. 302, 307 , 122 S.Ct. 1465 , 152 L.Ed.2d 517 (2002) (quoting Mark Twain, Roughing It 174-75 (1872)). For over forty years, government has struggled to preserve this treasure. Id. at 308 , 122 S.Ct. 1465 . With mixed optimism and pessimism, the court expects both the praise and the struggle to continue.

Lake Tahoe is an alpine lake located in the northern Sierra Nevada…