Placer County to adopt TRPA Phase 2 housing amendments to encourage deed‑restricted workforce housing

At a virtual town hall, Placer County and Tahoe Regional Planning Agency officials described plans to incorporate TRPA’s Phase 2 housing amendments into the Tahoe Basin Area Plan to encourage deed‑restricted workforce housing within existing development caps.

Placer County Supervisor Cindy Gustafson opened the meeting by summarizing the multiyear effort and the local need, saying TRPA had "started the working group on housing amendments" to identify ways "to encourage housing that would be affordable to our local workforce." Alyssa Bettinger, senior planner with the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, said she was "the project manager for the phase 2 housing amendments." Emily Setzer and Crystal Hooley, planners with Placer County’s Community Development Resource Agency, outlined the county’s process and timeline.

Why the amendments. The Phase 2 package focuses on development standards — height, density, coverage and parking — that TRPA and consultants identified as drivers of high construction cost and larger, less affordable homes. Bettinger said the package is limited to units that are deed‑restricted: "all of the changes ... only apply to deed restricted housing only." The stated goal is to make smaller units cheaper to build and occupy so more locally employed households can afford them.

Key changes and limits. TRPA’s governing board approved two main sets of changes: (1) expanded building envelopes in town centers, including an additional story of height for deed‑restricted housing, higher allowable coverage if the project connects to a stormwater treatment system, higher density limits and reduced parking requirements; and (2)…