A grant in the sum of $1,585,724.00 has been awarded for the environmental cleanup of the Truckee Railyard.  Holliday Development secured the funds from CCLR (Center for Creative Land Reuse), a non profit organization focused on creating sustainable communities by identifying and implementing responsible patterns of land uses and development.  At this time the funding has been put on hold due to the State of California’s financial crisis but is expected to be released in the near future.  We will keep you posted.  Once released the environmental cleanup of the railyard will begin.

The Truckee Economic Impact Analysis – Draft Report has been recently published and will be open for discussion at the January 20th workshop held at Truckee City Hall, 6-8pm.  This report examines three factors important to the future of the downtown:

1.The changing nature of retail in the Downtown, the current functional problems in the Downtown and the developments planned and proposed throughout Truckee that could compete with the Downtown.

2. The development program and phasing of the Railyard Master Plan are presented, and the potential impact of each potential land use are addressed.

3. The assessment focuses on the impact of the Railyard Master Plan as a whole on areas of concern identified by community members.  This section addresses the impacts of the projects on rents, competition and the mix of retail stores in the Downtown, as well ss the historic character of the Downtown and the smart growth goals of the Town.

The Executive Summary of the Impact Analysis says,

“The Railyard Master Plan has the potential to improve the cultural and retail experience in
downtown Truckee, provide an economic boost to existing businesses and draw more locals to
the historic core. New shops and restaurants in the Railyard development can bring critical mass
to the downtown and increase visibility, foot traffic and sales for existing businesses. The
introduction of continuous sidewalks, ample parking and a stronger community presence will
also benefit local merchants, particularly those that have already found success in the downtown.
Although the downtown may never return to its roots as a full-service retail center, it has the
potential to serve both residents and visitors alike as a destination for restaurants, shopping
entertainment and cultural opportunities. The shift to an entertainment-oriented downtown is in
line with national retail trends, as many traditional downtowns, like those in Bend and Telluride,
develop new economic identities in response to big box and formula retailers. The biggest threat
to the Railyard Master Plan and the existing Downtown is an oversupply of retail outside of the
downtown, and the Town must take a conservative approach when approving new retail outside
of the downtown to help deter this threat.”

In addition, the analysis found that the first phase of the Truckee Railyard development (hotel and residential) will generate over $1,000,000 of retail spending per year in Truckee.

Meeting Summary:

On Tuesday Jan 20th, Strategic Economics, the consulting firm hired by the Town, presented their draft Economic Impact Analysis to Town Council and the Planning Commission.  The findings of the draft report supported the idea that the Railyard would create a critical mass downtown, making the downtown more of a destination and strengthening the entire downtown core. Especially components such as the movie theatre serve as a prime opportunity to attract more locals and tourists downtown.  The Town is taking comments on the report until February 6th before working on the final analysis.  The firm received a great deal of input to consider from the public, council, and commissioners.  Refinements in the inventory of available retail space, a better understanding of the “leakage analysis”, a closer look at the case studies, and proposal of ideas for how to make Truckee more competitive in the region were all requested from the workshop.

Again, the draft report can be downloaded here:  http://www.truckee2025.org/devel/rymp/rymp04.htm

Forbes Mountain Magazine visits Truckee

Did any of you read the most recent article on the Town of Truckee in the Forbes Life Mountain Time magazine?  Wow!  Author Mike Kessler interviewed Rick Holliday, president of Holliday Development, Mark Tanner owner of Tanner Construction and Billy McCullough, owner and chef at Dragonfly Restaurant. Believe it or not two “fact checkers” called Rick to make sure that the information was correct and this is what we got:

According to Mr. Kessler, the Railyard project is a $500 million luxury condominium project that is already under construction.  The reality is that the draft EIR was recently released and that most of the discussion has been around infrastructure and traffic studies.  In addition, the first phase of the project is proposed to be focused around a boutique hotel, movie theatres, and smaller multifamily homes.

Mark Tanner was identified as a carpenter.  Although he may be a great carpenter his real job is running his construction company and building some of the nicest houses in the area with some of the best service.

Mr. Kessler also stated that Tahoe gets an unthinkable average of 400 inches of snow annually.  That sounded like a lot since we are usually all praying for the white stuff and saving shower water in buckets to flush the toilets, so I looked up the annual averages and found that since 1903 the average snowfall in Tahoe is 194.4″ annually, according to the Western Regional Climate Center.  Other websites range up to 100″ higher but nothing was even close to 400″.

I guess the moral of the story is still….don’t believe everything you read!