What are BMP’s, and Why Are They Part of Tahoe’s Home Building Requirements?

Meeks Bay Architect BMPs Lake Tahoe

Meeks Bay Architect BMPs Lake Tahoe

For over 30 years, our architect firm has been designing lakefront and mountain homes that are situated with the Lake Tahoe Basin. And every year, our clients enquire about “BMP’s” which are defined as “Best Management Practices,” which are required as part of the home building (and selling) process.

With the building season around the corner, we thought it would be appropriate to dedicate this news article to this popular question.

BMP’s were created as part of the region’s quest to protect the Lake Tahoe Watershed that feeds into Lake Tahoe. As stated on the Tahoe Regional Planning Agencies’ (TRPA) website, here is the simple definition:

Best Management Practices, also known as BMPs, capture and infiltrate stormwater and stabilize soil to prevent erosion. This simulates pre-development conditions when precipitation would soak into the ground and be filtered by the soil, rather than running over impervious surfaces (like roofs and roads), collecting pollutants such as sediment and nutrients as it travels, and ultimately ending up in Lake Tahoe. Research proves that implementing BMPs on existing development is a critical step toward improving Lake Tahoe’s water quality and clarity.

The ideal end result is to ensure future generations continue to enjoy the pristine water within Lake Tahoe.

Whether our team at Borelli Architecture is designing homes, or commercial buildings, within the Tahoe basin, we will work with our partners to ensure the project includes the installation of BMP’s according to the TRPA requirements. Once the property has been reviewed and approved by a team member of the TRPA, the property owner will receive a BMP Certificate. At that point, it’s the owner’s responsibility to continue to maintain the land that surrounds their home or commercial establishment.

Examples of BMP’s for Your Home

There are some good resources available that have been written and published by the TRPA. Within this link, you will find an easy-to-read document that details some of the more common practices to prevent sediment and unwanted nutrients from entering our watershed.

It includes:

  • Paving dirt driveways
  • Installing drain rock under gutters and roof lines
  • Building retaining walls on steeper slopes
  • Vegetating and mulching open soil

For information, visit www.tahoebmp.org or call the BMP hotline at (775) 589-5202.

Or, feel free to contact our team. As part of our personal design services at Lake Tahoe, Borelli Architecture also offers the following assistance:

  • Custom Interior Design
  • Site Planning
  • Space Planning
  • Permit Processing Assistance
  • TRPA Feasibility Studies
  • Contractor Selection and Bidding Assistance
  • Construction Administration Services

Finally, if you are thinking about building a home within the Lake Tahoe basin, now is the time to get started. Connect with us now for your complimentary consultation.

Jim Borelli - Borelli Architecture Lake Tahoe Carson City Truckee

James P. Borelli
Founder/Principal
Borelli Architecture
Lake Tahoe / Truckee
jim@borelliarchitecture.com
775.831.3060

New TRPA Forestry Efforts Give Hope to Healthier Habitats to Come

Hiking in Lake Tahoe

Hiking in Lake Tahoe

With memories of a summer filled with smokey skies and raging fires, residents throughout Lake Tahoe are fully-focused on efforts to keep summers like last year in the past and never to return.

Recently, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPS) Governing Board approved new policies to expedite forest revitalization programs throughout the High Sierra.  In a recent press release, they announced their plans – with the most aggressive change focusing on the change in policies about ‘ground-based’ mechanical equipment (bulldozers, etc.).  As the story noted:

The decision expands the areas where ground-based mechanical equipment can be used on steep slopes. The new policy will promote forest and ecosystem resilience to disturbances such as climate change, the agency said today.

Steep terrain can be more difficult and resource-intensive for land managers to reduce hazardous forest fuels. Prior to the update, Lake Tahoe agencies could use ground-based mechanical equipment on slopes up to a 30 percent gradient, while work on steeper slopes was limited to hand crews, pile burning, and aerial logging to protect water quality from potential erosion.

TRPA Executive Director Joanne S. Marchetta said, “The Caldor Fire and the surge of megafires in the region are clear directives for us to improve our forest health policies to better protect communities and the environment from wildfire. TRPA is committed to advancing science-based practices that protect the lake and bolster our resilience to ever-growing wildfire threats, especially given the need for fuels reduction work in untreated areas narrowly missed by the Caldor Fire.”

In previous years, in fact in decards, machinery was not allowed on ANY slope over 30%.  This long-standing directive dates back to our own experience here in Incline Village when the former Ski Incline transformed its resort and doubled its terrain back in 1987.  During that year, the expansion (now known as Diamond Peak) was literally built by hand.  And for those of you who have skied the upper mountain, you can only imagine how the crews had to dig the holes for the lift towers, remove vegetation, and build structures at the top of the Peak.

The story adds another visual to the challenge at hand:

The policy change will facilitate additional forest health projects on steeper slopes. Approximately 61,000 acres in the Tahoe Basin have slopes from 30 to 50 percent, and nearly half of that area is in wildland-urban interface defense and threat zones near communities where hand crews continue to work. Additionally, post-fire assessments of the Caldor Fire show that steeper slopes tended to burn at higher severity than other areas.

“This is a game-changer for fuels reduction in the basin,” Chief Scott Lindgren of Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District said. “Hilly terrain is a significant portion of the Tahoe Basin and with the right kind of equipment, we can do quality fuel reduction work and protect the environment at the same time.”

Our team at Borelli Architecture applauds the TRPA and all who are focused on a healthier, safer, future for the entire region.  If you are interested in learning more about their year-round efforts to preserve, restore, and enhance the unique natural and human environment of the Lake Tahoe Region, contact Jeff Cowen, Public Information Officer, at (775) 589-5278 or jcowen@trpa.gov.

If you would like a personal insight about the TRPA, securing building permits in Tahoe, and other key initiatives that are key to starting to build a home in the Tahoe basin Feel free to reach out to our architect firm in Lake Tahoe, Carson City, and Reno region.

James P. Borelli
Founder/Principal
Borelli Architecture
Lake Tahoe / Truckee
jim@borelliarchitecture.com
775.831.3060