South Shore Area Plan Amendments

**IMPORTANT: A public scoping meeting is scheduled for the TRPA Advisory Planning Commission on Wednesday, May 14, 2025 at the TRPA board rooms in Stateline, Nevada. Meeting information will be available by May 7 on the Meetings and Notices page. **

What is the South Shore Area Plan?
The South Shore Area Plan (SSAP) is a component of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) Regional Plan. The Regional Plans’ Goals and Policies serve as a guide for all future land use decisions within the Tahoe Basin. The SSAP was approved by the Douglas County Board of County Commissioners and the TRPA Governing Board in the fall of 2013. The SSAP revised the relevant Douglas County plans, maps, and ordinances developed to implement the 1987 Regional Plan, and replaced the Kingsbury and Stateline Community Plans, and the relevant portions of Plan Area Statements (PAS) 070A and 080. These PASs were more than 20 years old and had undergone only minor changes since their adoption. The SSAP consists of a land use element; the SSAP Zoning Map; Douglas County Code (DCC) Chapter 20.703, Tahoe Area Plan Regulations; and the South Shore Design Standards and Guidelines.

Click here to view the current SSAP

What is the area footprint of the SSAP?
The SSAP covers properties generally along US 50 from the California-Nevada Stateline to the lower Kingsbury area. The SSAP includes the High-Density Tourist District containing the casino core, the Edgewood Lodge and Golf Course, the Edgewood Mountain area, and the Kingsbury Commercial Town Center. These areas are zoned as Tourist, Recreation, Resort Recreation, and Mixed Use, respectively.

Click here to view an interactive map of the SSAP area

What is the Barton Hospital Project?
Barton Health has proposed to relocate its hospital in South Lake Tahoe, Calif. to its property in Stateline, Nev. (former site of Lakeside Inn & Casino). In addition to applying for a permit from TRPA to build the project, the project requires an update to the Douglas County SSAP to create a special subdistrict for a medical facility on the Barton property. Click here to view Barton’s Hospital Permit Application. For additional information regarding the permit application please visit TPRA’s Baton Hospital Major Projects page.

What is the process to amend the SSAP?
The South Shore Area Plan, is a joint Douglas County/TRPA planning document for the town center areas of Lower Kingsbury Grade and Stateline.
Douglas County is the designated lead agency for the SSAP. Any amendments accepted by Douglas County must also be approved by TRPA before they can be incorporated into the plan.
Barton Hospital requested amendments to the South Shore Area Plan. Those area plan amendments include:

1. Creation of special subdistricts specific to a medical facility use.
2. Increased height limit within the proposed project area. Within a portion of the subdistrict, a maximum building height of 85 feet from natural grade could be allowed on a portion of the parcel. The current allowable height on the parcel is 56 feet. The previous Lakeside Inn and Casino was approximately 60 feet from natural grade. The additional height would only apply to a portion of the project area and not to other areas within the South Shore Area Plan boundary.

The area plan amendments are being reviewed by Douglas County and TRPA in conjunction with the Barton project application and a single Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is being prepared for both applications.

The process to review the area plan amendments includes multiple opportunities for advisory bodies and decision makers to gather public input.

Currently, The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and Douglas County Community Development Planning Division are seeking public comments on the scope of an environmental analysis of the proposed Barton Stateline Hospital project. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will evaluate the potential impacts of the proposed project and possible amendments to the Douglas County South Shore Area Plan.

The agency raised the level of environmental review for the proposed project from an Environmental Assessment to an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to thoroughly review potential short-and long-term impacts to Lake Tahoe's environment. All scoping comments previously submitted during the Environmental Assessment process will be carried over and do not need to be re-submitted. Scoping comments should be sent at the earliest possible date, but not later than June 6, 2025.

Click here to view the Notice of Preparation of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Barton Health Hospital Project and related South Shore Area Plan Amendments.

Process and Schedule
An EIS is the most detailed type of environmental review. It thoroughly examines if the proposed project meets regional environmental standards and if it will cause immediate or cumulative impacts to areas such as water quality, forest health, scenic views, traffic, and more. Preparation of an EIS can take approximately a year to complete and includes the following steps:

1. Notice of Preparation and Scoping: May 14th TRPA Advisory Planning Commission.
   - Notify the public and partner agencies that an EIS will be prepared, and request scoping comments from the public to define the issues to be analyzed in the EIS.
   - All scoping comments previously submitted during the EA process will be carried over and do not need to be re-submitted.
2. Prepare the Draft EIS document, including conceptual alternatives to analyze.
3. Circulate the Draft EIS to the public and partner agencies, and request comments.
4. Assemble and respond to public comments on the Draft EIS.
5. Prepare the Final EIS document.
6. Present the Final EIS and recommended action to decision makers.
   - Douglas County Planning Commission, Date TBD
   - Douglas County Board of Commissioners, Date TBD
   - TRPA Advisory Planning Commission, Date TBD
   - TRPA Governing Board, Date TBD

Douglas County will continue to post meeting dates and public input opportunities here. Additionally, please visit this link to the TRPA Major Projects Page for additional information on the TRPA permitting process and the proposed hospital.

Estimated EIS Timeline
In June 2025, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency released the following tentative schedule of important dates for the environmental analysis and application process.

Scoping Notice Released May 1, 2025
Public Scoping Period (30+ days) May 1, 2025 – June 6, 2025
Public APC Scoping Meeting May 14, 2025
Public Scoping Summary Report End of June 2025
Release Draft EIS Late 2025
Release Final EIS Early 2026
Douglas County Action Spring 2026
Tentative Project Approval and SSAP Amendment Hearing(s) Summer 2026

What happens after each public hearing? What if one board denies an application?
At each meeting, the hearing body will recommend approval or denial and/or approve or deny aspects of the SSAP. However, it is the TRPA Governing Board that will provide final approval of all amendments. Accordingly, if the Douglas County Board of County Commissioners approves any or all the amendments, those amendments would not be effective until the TRPA Governing Board provide final approval.