In exchange for $75 million subsidy, Incline Village developer is only required to build 60 housing units
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So as I read this, and understanding that out at RiverWest where there are no actual hotels, but only owner-occupied vacation rentals with no permit for vacation dwellings, I think the same will happen at the Incline project. A little about RiverWest: When I asked Senior City Planner Jenn Moses how they can be operating vacation dwellings as hotels and to please send me the documents supporting her response, she replied simply saying, “Hi Mike, Sorry for the [seven-week] delay, but I want to make sure to respond to your email. I can share with you that Riverwest is in compliance.”
Yup, that’s it, assurance with nothing to back it up. It doesn’t take much understanding to know why no documents were shared, because the ones they have just don’t cut it.
So at the Incline site, I would expect much more of the same. For all these housing hawks on the council, I feel that they are severely underqualified and undereducated on city ordinances, and unable to state with assurance that all developers and individuals are operating within the rules. We know this isn’t true at all, thanks to the reporting from the Monitor and others asking questions.
All it will take is a developer with a good local attorney, say Bill Burns and his firm (which is an investor at RiverWest and represents the Incline project), to invest in a vacation dwelling or better yet “hotel” without the front desk or 24-hour staff and bypass all the paperwork and fees like RiverWest did. It’s just a matter of time before the City is held liable, but then again it will take real leadership to stand up to the snowball currently rolling down from the shining city on the hill to stop the madness.
Councilor Wendy Durrwachter is all alone in demanding accountability, but I’m sure she will try. The other eight must be looking forward to another position in politics or within the City Administration. It will take serious courage to ask the tough questions and vote no or to table these requests that ALWAYS need to happen NOW!