HomeMy Public PortalAboutPublic Comment - Emilie KashtanPublic Comment Form
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First Name Last Name
Emilie Kashtan
E-mail Phone
ekashtan1953@gmail.com
Agency*
Town Council
Planning Commission
Other Truckee Resident and Proper
Date of Meeting*
2022-09-27
To find the date for an upcoming meeting or to view the agenda click Agenda Item Number (?)
here. Agendas are posted at least 72 hours before the meeting time.
7.1
Public Comment (?) *
To the Town Council
I applauded the great deal of work and time that has gone into
the General Plan over years, having participated in some of the first workshops. After a quick review, here are some thoughts.
A.
, The Climate Action Plan (CAP). The hired "consultant"
directed by the Town Council to explore all available options has not disclosed
all options, but rather what Staff and the consultants' bias and agenda are. This influences the General Plan. The
Public outreach has been lacking especially in light of the Budget over costs.
Consider: .
Item 3, to be a leader in climate resilience. With all Truckee's problems workforce,
climate, power outages, we need to be a "participant and partner with other similar towns
to strategize all considerations for a whole plan and not just Truckee's Plan.
Item 6A, reforestation, look out your window, we have lots of trees
and do not need at this time to waste time and money on this issue.
Item 7.5 Retrofits. In
addition to lighting, because many existing homes are older, wall and ceiling insulation,
window and door caulking, motion sensor light switches requiring minimal costs, might be some preliminary considerations for the
homeowner.
Item 7A Work with Utilities for retrofit
Programs & 7 K -Town Staff navigator position. The
TDPUD, Utility and SW Gas already have progressive incentive programs and the TDPUD
offers a free consulting program to evaluate a home. Expanding this with Town financial assistance
to provide a more extensive review of a house, meter reading, emissions and
needs, workshops and identification decarbonization practices might go a long
way to meet cost-effectiveness .
Item 9 Renewable Natural Gas Supply. Truckee
has limited power options for the foreseeable future so renew the expired Southwest
Gas Franchise, which everyone agrees is needed for a backup power source. Don't
consider "All Electric" in new construction because that is the only way to
pencil out cost and effectiveness, realizing later the consequences of no pipe
in the ground, when a second power source is needed resulting in "after the fact" costs that in the long run (20-30 years is that basis)
fails cost and efficiency studies. Since Truckee purchases power out of state, availability,
costs out of contract are real concerns.
.Item 16 -Reach Codes. and Item 16 Cost
Benefit Analysis - The suggestion to
hastily adopt by the beginning of 2023 stricter building codes, such as Push Codes
that are above and beyond the State's, are fret with problems from having no
current data, to knowing what has been working in order to calculate goals, to studies
that actually reflects Truckee's climate in order to get real cost, efficiency and
impact data. Better definitions and use of "affordable housing (relative to actual impacts) and "renewal energy" are terms loosely
thrown
around that mislead.
B.
Community Character Elements
Item 6, CC -1F Dock and Pier Standards. It
would be nice after all these years of paying taxes for maintenance of the
docks to get them properly maintained, with secure and safe footing to the
docks. Currently the erosion caused by foot traffic is polluting Donner
Lake. Private docks are just that and
should not be dictated on what color chair they can put on them or a light for safety. Focus rather on the garbage left by visitors on or
around the public docks due to a lack of garbage cans. Also consider some of us involved Donner Lake folk to participate in meetings
in our neighborhood, rather than cherry picking.
Modifying Donner Lake Parking- This has been a problem since the bike lane
went in and the Town failed to admit that parking would be reduced by at least 50%. Much of the parking is on dirt, at an angle
adding to erosion and pollution into Donner lake due to the steep lake side. Now we
live with the consequences.
Item #?- Addressing Donner Lake water quality,
pollution and erosion: After 20 years of involvement including the Donner Lake Drinking water take over, Dock issues, speeding
issues, erosion into Donner Lake, I am glad to see the Town's paying some attention to these issues. Now will the Town consider
addressing the erosion and pollutions caused by a lack of Town enforced encroachments permits in and above the Green Point
subdivision, all
caused by the Town all reviewed in three studies over time, all ignored by the Town and Lahonton, Also consider dealing with under
engineered drainage structures due to shortcuts involving the Donner Pass Road and Bike lane project, leading
to ongoing pollution into Donner Lake. Wish I had been included in some of these meetings, which brings up the subject of public
involvement. Perhaps in solving some of the problems at
Donner Lake, the Town might involve interested owners in the conversation
and at the table.
Finally, dealing with traffic issues, the larges polluter of GHG is vehicles. Having been on Sacramento Traffic Calming
committees, widening streets causes increased speed and unsafe situations. Facilitating traffic movement, encourages that much
more traffic, which goes no where in really decreasing GHG. This is the elephant in the room.
PLEASE take caution in "goals", to make them
achievable and not a field of unrealistic and unachievable dreams. I have seen Projects
the Town pushes without listening to citizen input, being too short sighted, premature and irresponsible
due to haste and a lack of real and current data. Thank you. Emilie Kashtan .
Upon clicking submit, your comment will be emailed to the relevant Council, Commission, or Committee Members and Town Department Heads
and uploaded to the Town website for public view.