Location
            Sierra Colina is an 18-acre urban in-fill parcel located in the core of Stateline, Nevada.  Sierra Colina is bordered by U.S. Highway 50 to the west; the Lake Village Subdivision & Lake Village Professional Building to the north; a commercial retail center (UPS store and formerly Burger King), Douglas Country Administration Buildings (Sheriff & Court) and the Douglas County Kahle Recreation Center to the south; and, a U.S. Forest Service parcel to the east (see website “Home Page – Surrounding Area.”)

Current Ownership
            Sierra Colina, LLC owns the parcel now referenced at the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (“TRPA”) as Sierra Colina Village.  Sierra Colina, LLC is a subsidiary of QMO, LLC (wholly owned by Steve Kenninger & Gail Jaquish, full-time residents in the community).  QMO, LLC purchased Sierra Colina in April 2005 during a foreclosure auction.  QMO, LLC transferred title to the parcel to Sierra Colina, LLC the same year (in a non-revenue, non-taxable transfer of title).

            Since acquiring the land in 2005, the current owners of Sierra Colina have:  a) researched the history of the property; b) conducted fuels reduction and forest health restoration on the site; and c) completed a right-of-way abandonment with Douglas County which returned to Sierra Colina land inside its parcel boundaries that Douglas County determined it no longer needed at the edge of its Lake Village Drive easement (a portion of the Lake Village Drive roadway is inside the Sierra Colina parcel). 

Sierra Colina Village Project Proposed to TRPA in 2006
            In April 2005, Sierra Colina commenced a year-long community outreach effort to consider a conservation purchase, residential possibilities and potential environmental and community benefits for this private property, which has been zoned for multi-family residential use since 1992.  Sierra Colina’s community outreach resulted in its filing a project application with TRPA in April 2006 proposing to create Sierra Colina Village.  The proposed Sierra Colina Village would be a residential neighborhood of 50 homes, including 9 moderate-income deed-restricted-homes, that should create numerous community and environmental benefits (the proposed project is described in more detail elsewhere on the website; see “Home Page” for  “Designs” and “Facts/Links” - “Sierra Colina Community Outreach”).

            When it submitted its Sierra Colina Village project application to TRPA in April 2006, Sierra Colina requested that a comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) be conducted at Sierra Colina’s expense.  The TRPA Executive Director approved a contract to prepare a full EIS on the proposed Sierra Colina Village project.  TRPA selected EDAW, Inc. as the independent environmental consultant for the EIS.  TRPA published the Draft EIS in August 2008.  The public period to comment on the Draft EIS concluded in October 2008. 

            The TRPA Governing Board will be considering for the first time in 2009 a completed EIS on this parcel in connection with the proposed Sierra Colina Village project.  Sierra Colina has no current or past business association with any of the prior owners of the parcel or with any of the prior TRPA activities concerning the parcel before April 2005.

History of the parcel for several decades before ownership by Sierra Colina
            When first researching the background of the Sierra Colina site, its current owners learned of the confusion within the community concerning the history of this parcel.  Without going too far back in time, the history for the last few prior decades is as follows. 

            For many years the 18-acre parcel now known as Sierra Colina was part of the Rabe family estate.  “Rabe Meadow,” across U.S. Highway 50 from the Sierra Colina parcel, was also previously part of the Rabe family estate.  The Rabe family estate owned several separate parcels, one of which contained the boundaries of what is known today as Sierra Colina.  Richard Welze acquired ownership of the parcel from the Rabe Estate.

            In 1992, Richard Welze requested that the TRPA Governing Board re-zone this 18-acre parcel.  In October 1992, the TRPA Governing Board, by unanimous vote, re-zoned the parcel and moved it from inclusion in the Genoa Peak Plan Area Statement (PAS 060 - a conservation plan area) to the Lake Village Plan Area Statement (PAS 073 - a multi-family residential and commercial plan area).  When TRPA moved Sierra Colina into the Lake Village Plan Area Statement in 1992, TRPA added multi-family residential to the allowable uses on the Sierra Colina parcel.  No one appeared at the October 1992 TRPA Governing Board hearing to oppose the TRPA Governing Board decision to transfer the parcel from the Genoa PAS 060 to the Lake Village PAS 073.  No one appealed this determination during the statutory appeal/challenge period. 

            When formerly part of the Genoa Peak conservation area, allowable uses on the parcel included development of one single-family dwelling and one secondary dwelling.  When the TRPA Governing Board moved the Sierra Colina parcel into the Lake Village Plan Area Statement 073 in 1992, it decided that allowable uses on Sierra Colina would also include multi-residential use with a maximum density of up to 3 homes per acre (the parcel has 18 acres; thus it was re-zoned for development of up to 54 homes).  Designating the parcel for a density of 3 homes per acre was half the density of its neighboring subdivision, the Lake Village Condominiums, which have a density of about 6 homes per acre (a total of approximately 325 homes are on the roughly 56 acres in the Lake Village Subdivision next door to Sierra Colina).  On the other side of U.S. Highway 50, west of Sierra Colina, the recently approved 142-unit Tahoe Beach Club has a density of over 7 homes per acre.

            The TRPA Governing Board’s 1992 decision to re-zone Sierra Colina for development of up to 3 homes per acre followed the TRPA Staff recommended approval of the proposed Lake Village Plan Area Statement (PAS 073) amendment, and provided Chapter 6 Findings from the TRPA Code noting that “the project will not cause the environmental thresholds to be exceeded”, even with a “worst case estimate of 50 residential units” on the parcel.

            By 1997, Richard Welze was pursuing a proposed residential project for the site called South Shore Estates.  Mr. Welze retained an architect, Mr. Jim Borelli, to design South Shore Estates.   Various versions of the South Shore Estates project ranged in size from 26 to 44 homes.  Douglas County approved a 44 home site plan on the parcel for South Shore Estates.  In an August 1999 TRPA Governing Board hearing, Mr. Welze’ South Shore Estates project was discussed by the Board for the first time.  The TRPA Governing Board took no action on it at that time.

            The main issue at the August 1999 TRPA Governing Board hearing on South Shore Estates was the TRPA staff’s recommendation that an Environmental Impact Statement (“EIS”) be prepared for the proposed project.  The August project hearing was continued to the September 1999 TRPA Governing Board hearing.  In its recommendation to the TRPA Governing Board for the September 1999 hearing on South Shore Estates, as a result of actions taken by the applicant during the prior month, TRPA staff withdrew its recommendation that an EIS be prepared for the project and recommended in a written staff summary to the Board approval of the proposed multifamily residential subdivision project. 

            Mr. Welze’ project was further discussed by the TRPA Governing Board at the September and October 1999 public hearings.  But, as indicated in the project chronology contained in the January 18, 2000 Staff Report (by Lyn Barnett) to the TRPA Governing Board, the Governing Board took no action on South Shore Estates at any of these 1999 hearings:

• For the September 22, 1999 Governing Board meeting on the project, a motion to require an EIS failed; a vote to approve the required environmental findings failed; and no action was taken on the project.

• For the October 27, 1999 Governing Board meeting on the project, a request was made by Governing Board member Don Miner to reconsider the project; the Governing Board determined not to reconsider the project. 

• On November 9, 1999, TRPA met with Mr. Jim Borelli and his attorney wherein Mr. Borelli proposed to prepare an Environmental Assessment (EA) to examine the proposed project.

• On December 3, 1999, TRPA informed Mr. Borelli to prepare an outline of the proposed EA by December 30, 1999 for staff review and presentation to the TRPA Governing Board in January 2000.

            At the January 26, 2000 TRPA Governing Board meeting, the Board discussed whether the South Shore Estates project should prepare an Environmental Assessment (EA) or an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed project. No Board action was taken on the project.

            In March 2000, Mr. Welze sold the parcel to Goshawk Ridge Development, LLC (a group of investors led by Mr. Jim Borelli, previously the architect for the South Shore Estates project).  The name of the project changed from South Shore Estates to Goshawk Ridge Development.  In early 2001, Mr. Borelli agreed to have TRPA contract with an independent environmental consultant to conduct a full EIS for the project.  In March 2001, the TRPA Governing Board selected EDAW, Inc. as the independent environmental consultant for the EIS.  The EIS Contract between TRPA and EDAW was executed in July 2001.

            By December 2001, work halted on the EIS due to funding shortfalls of Goshawk Ridge Development, which was responsible for funding 100% of the cost of the EIS.  Various disputes surrounding the property (but unrelated to the EIS) were pursued in 2002 and 2003.  In September 2004, Goshawk Ridge Development filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.  The bankruptcy process concluded with a Trustee sale of the property in April 2005 to QMO, LLC, which transferred title to the current owner, Sierra Colina, LLC.

            Other than dialogue and failed votes related to the proper scope of environmental review for the proposed Welze/Borelli project and to potential findings for that proposed project, the TRPA Governing Board has never voted to approve or reject any proposed residential project on this parcel.  Rather, in 2001, the TRPA Governing Board approved the commencement of a full EIS to study the environmental impacts of the proposed Goshawk Ridge project.  The expectation was that after completion of the Goshawk Ridge EIS, the Governing Board would be in a position to certify the EIS and vote to approve or reject the proposed Goshawk Ridge project. That never occurred.  Goshawk Ridge Development ran out of funding for the EIS before the EIS was completed.