Lobbyist's amendment helps him, few neighbors, get Tahoe pier

CARSON CITY - Powerful casino lobbyist Harvey Whittemore has slipped in an amendment to help him and a few Glenbrook neighbors build a private pier over objections of others in the upscale, historic Lake Tahoe community.

SB192, approved Friday by the Senate and sent to the Assembly for final legislative action, started out as a bill limiting terms of officers on boards governing "common-interest communities." That includes exclusive Glenbrook, where Whittemore has a home and is co-owner of the golf-course.

As the deadline for committee action on bills neared, the Senate Judiciary Committee chaired by Mark James, R-Las Vegas, amended and passed SB192 and sent it to the floor. The full Senate passed the measure Friday.

The amendments include a change sought by Whittemore, as counsel for "Glenbrook Property Owners for Fairness," that could block the homeowners' association at Glenbrook from stopping Whittemore and his golf course partner, Larry Ruvo, from their pier-building plans.

If the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency OKs a pending application for the pier, the only way the association could stop Whittemore and Ruvo would be to have in place a legal easement specifically barring the project.

Absent that easement, someone with a TRPA endorsement for a pier could proceed "without obtaining any other approval," the amendment states.

Asked about the amendment, Whittemore insisted it "simply restates the existing provisions governing easements which say that unless something is specifically prohibited it's allowed."

"This restates existing rights," he said. "We just didn't want any further confusion."

There's much opposition to his pier plan, including a pending Douglas County District Court lawsuit filed to block one of two pier plans submitted by Whittemore and Ruvo. There's also a proposal pending before the TRPA to ban any new, individually owned piers within Glenbrook Bay.

But Whittemore said the amended SB192 is a good one and the changes were sought by a group of people - not just him and Ruvo, and the two other families who would own the pier.

Critics say there's only one common-use pier in Glenbrook Bay now, and more piers would mar the beauty of the bay and its sandy beach. They also say more piers could threaten water supplies because of increased boating activity.

Others, particularly those living along the points north and south of the bay, don't want a flat prohibition because that might hamper their chances of building piers.

Douglas County, which takes in Glenbrook, had gone on record only a few months ago supporting a pier ban. But last month, county commissioners rescinded their opposition - drawing criticism for showing no backbone.

The commissioners reversed themselves despite concerns from one, Don Miner, that Glenbrook and other areas of the scenic lake shouldn't be developed with too many private piers. He noted that's already occurred on Tahoe's north shore.

archive