Truckee 2040
General Plan and Downtown Specific Plan
Truckee 2040 Approved!
On May 9th, the Truckee Town Council approved the next General Plan to guide growth, development, and conservation over the next 15+ years!
More than 50 comment letters were submitted by May 9th, and 25 verbal comments were made at the hearing. The majority asked the Town Council to still not approve or, at the bare minimum, consider making some additional changes. Letters and testimony of support have been at an all-time low in this process, even until the final hearing with massive councilmember outreach before plan adoption. So what does General Plan approval mean now? The council and staff have stated that the next step will be moving forward with some key components for Truckee 2040:
First, the Development Code is a governing document that includes all land use, zoning, and subdivision regulations. It is important to understand that the land uses associated with Truckee 2040 are only in effect once the Development Code is updated to align with the General Plan.
Second, bringing together the West River Street Advisory Committee to begin discussions and visioning for a reimagined West River Street corridor. The new River 2 River Revitalization Steering Committee commenced in July 2023, and MAP Executive Director Alexis Ollar is serving as the environmental representative.
Third, work with Tahoe Forest Hospital to complete their campus Master Plan.
Objective Design Standards - Adopted September 12th
On September 12th, the Town Council adopted various Development Code updates, including a new chapter called the Objective Design Standards. This chapter outlines various residential regulations, including requirements for building colors, styles, materials, and massing.
Basically, the State of California now requires local jurisdictions to help streamline residential development by making their housing requirements more objective and removing certain permitting processes. If an applicant follows these new standards to a tee, the review process gets simplified. If an applicant chooses to have more flexibility, they can follow the current permitting process. On the plus side, the new system makes some design regulations more black and white and, therefore, easier to interpret. On the downside, this removes some of the community’s ability to include that creative Truckee funk flair in their projects.
In addition to this new chapter, the Town also changed several other regulations, such as the method for calculating the height of residential dwellings on slopes. MAP supports several of the modifications, including prohibiting development on the top of ridgelines, clustering open space, locating density at the least visible part of a site, and adding buffers for wetlands (we guess an arbitrary 10-ft-wide buffer is better than nothing, even though the science says these buffer zones should be bigger). On the flip side, some of the modifications raise red flags, like the fact that chimneys and rooftop appurtenances are no longer included in building height calculations, which is basically a 5-ft height increase (you’re welcome, developers; so sorry, mountain viewsheds).
Truckee 2040: What Changed?
So, what changed after just a few weeks from the April 11th and 13th hearings? With more than 200 people in the room and 200 people online saying “Delay Truckee 2040,” the council is willing to take a slight pause, do some additional outreach and meet with stakeholders such as CATT, MAP, and Tahoe Forest Hospital.
While not all changes or recommendations were incorporated, the council member's main focus was getting out into the community and doing additional outreach. Coffee talks were well attended, but what came from those talks on May 9th? It is unclear to us. MAP sat down multiple times with each council member in person, via Zoom, or by phone to address our concerns with the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) as the errors and issues were ignored by Ascent and staff, as well as policy strength, clarity, and accountability for the future of the next General Plan. We focused our efforts on helping to advance better mitigation for Truckee 2040 with more substantial commitments, and those efforts were somewhat successful. The Town addressed CATT's concerns with making language changes to specific Climate Action Plan (CAP), actions that are infeasible at this time and attempted to reconcile the lack of General Plan inclusion for the Tahoe Forest Hospital by suggesting a third-party planner work with each entity of the future master plan. Whether those efforts went far enough is still not evident.
If you missed the hearing on May 9th, you can watch the footage and get caught up on what happened and how to stay engaged moving forward.
MAP’s Truckee 2040 Policy Proposals & Town Council Decisions
MAP submitted several items to the council and staff for consideration before approving the General Plan, such as simple requests to more complex requests involving CEQA. Things such as defining workforce housing in the future Development Code update to evaluating Truckee’s need for a future Environmental Justice program or element have been part of our advocacy since 2018. The council was willing to strengthen some of the Climate Action Plan policies while adjusting the CAP resolution, which lowers some of our CEQA concerns and risks. We are thrilled to help Truckee advance environmental justice by creating this new policy while advancing conservation efforts through natural resource mapping and, hopefully, a future Transfer of Development Rights program.
As a land use advocacy organization, we know how crucial it is to stay engaged and keep on top of General Plans, Master Plans, and Specific Plans. Even though Truckee 2040 has been approved, our advocacy has not come to an end. Once the Development Code amendments are finalized, it is time to ensure appropriate implementation and mitigation. It’s not over yet, and we hope our die-hard MAP members will be with us as we participate throughout the next couple of decades!
What is a General Plan?
A General Plan is the local government’s long-term blueprint for the community’s future growth and conservation vision. The Town of Truckee is currently in the process of updating its General Plan with a planning horizon to guide the community and decision-makers until 2040. MAP serves as the environmental representative for the Town of Truckee’s General Plan Advisory Committee, providing guidance for the Climate Action Plan, Housing Element, Downtown Specific Plan, and Land Use Alternatives. The update process is the best opportunity for residents to get involved with community planning and decision-making.
Truckee 2040 Resources
MAP Truckee 2040 General Plan Proposals | Final Town Council Hearing, May 9th, 2023
Truckee Planning Commission | Truckee 2040 Final Hearing, March 21 & 22, 2023
Final Draft Truckee 2040 General Plan - February 2023
Final Draft Downtown Specific Plan - February 2023
Truckee 2040 Action Items Matrix
DRAFT Truckee 2040 General Plan
DRAFT Truckee 2040 General Plan with Modifications - November 2022
Town of Truckee Land Use Alternative Resources
Environmental Review
Truckee 2040 Draft Environmental Impact Report
MAP Letters, Resources & Action Alerts
Final Hearing – May 9th at 5:00 pm – Town Hall
The Truckee 2040 General Plan Update may come to a close soon! It’s been a long haul—with countless meetings, committees, surveys, and public hearings—but after five years of process, the plan that will define Truckee’s future for the next 15+ years is on the table for adoption. In case you missed it, the Town Council reviewed the General Plan last month, and they opted to delay the process for a few weeks to work out some last-minute details, build community trust, and provide additional opportunities for engagement. That delay is coming to an end, and we truly believe that the Town Council will make a final decision next week on the General Plan update.
Join MAP and the Truckee Community at Town Hall next Tuesday, May 9th, at 5:00 pm. This will be your last opportunity to give public comments and your chance to find out how it all unfolds. You do not want to miss this. We hope to see you there.
Read our Truckee 2040 Town Council Letter for May 9, 2023, which outlines our General Plan requests for the Truckee Town Council’s consideration on May 9th. Read MAP’s letter to Truckee Town Council regarding the Final Environmental Impact Report and our request to uphold the Planning Commission’s recommendation.
Attention Truckee Community! After five years of planning and process, the FINAL Draft Truckee 2040 General Plan and FINAL Draft Downtown Specific Plan, and the FINAL Environmental Impact Report have FINALLY been released by the Town of Truckee. As a quick reminder, Truckee 2040 sets the stage for conservation, growth, and development over the next couple of decades. It’s the local government’s guide to fulfilling the community’s vision. The FEIR is the document that outlines all the environmental impacts that may result from implementing the general plan and the policies and action items intended to reduce or mitigate those impacts.
All of the Truckee 2040 documents are also available on the Town of Truckee 2040 Page.
Planning Commission Recommends Denial General Plan!
Last week was a Truckee Planning Commission marathon, with back-to-back meetings on March 21st and 22nd to review and provide recommendations to the Town Council on the Final Truckee 2040 General Plan, Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR), and Final Downtown Specific Plan. So, how did it all play out? After much deliberation and several proposed edits, the Planning Commission recommended denial of the Truckee 2040 General Plan, denial of the current version of the FEIR, and approval of the Downtown Specific Plan.
These recommendations were enormous wins for MAP and the community! We know the hundreds of you who have sent in surveys, letters, and recorded verbal comments during the painful public process times of Covid. We know roughly 150 of you tuned in online last week to watch, hoping for better outcomes or curious about where the General Plan was headed. If you missed the hearings, you could always rewatch them online.
As of last Tuesday's hearing, the Commission received sixty-two comment letters, with only one letter of support from Southwest Gas. We believe that the General Plan is not ready for adoption, and the FEIR needs additional analysis; and appreciate the heavy lifting of the Commission to create the findings not to support the FEIR and uncover concerns with vague policies, lack of enforcement, and community concerns.
Among the reasons cited for denial, one commissioner stated, "I have a significant problem with the fact that we don't have a single community stakeholder in support of this plan. That gives me a lot of heartburn." The process has been ongoing for five years, but the length of the process does not dictate its quality, and many community members have yet to feel heard or seen.
Nearly seventeen years ago, the 2025 General Plan had community buy-in. Why is it so different now? Why are decision-makers denying the drastic community changes Truckee has undergone since the start of this process? By recommending denial, the Planning Commission validated community sentiments and testimony that Truckee 2040 is NOT ready for approval! The 2018 baseline conditions are not the same as in 2023.
Thank you to all who participated in last week's meetings—whether you were there in person, gave verbal comments, submitted letters, and/or watched online—your participation shaped the outcome of the meeting! We couldn't do this without your support!