TRPA may ease building bans

El Dorado County property owners could soon build on land in the Lake Tahoe Basin after years of being told they couldn't.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, which regulates building around the basin, is recommending that an environmental grading system it uses to evaluate land be made less restrictive.

Preservation of land as open space and completion of a slew of environmental restoration projects has allowed TRPA staff to recommend the lowering of the Individual Parcel Evaluation System line from 686 to 581.

Lots considered most sensitive are assigned an IPES score of zero. Lowering the line 105 points should make it easier for landowners to get the number of points required to build. The TRPA Governing Board is expected to vote on whether to lower the line when it meets Wednesday.

In other action, the board is expected to:

n Listen to a presentation on the Tahoe Beach Club project, which would close a mobile home park at the end of Kahle Drive and replace it with a recreation area and condominium complex. TRPA staff has hired a consultant to draft a report on the possible environmental impacts.

n Vote to make recently adopted TRPA ordinances consistent with the Clean Water Act 208 Plan. The TRPA Governing Board last month approved limited forest thinning in sensitive stream areas.

The meeting is at 128 Market St., Stateline, starting at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.