Is a residential community dying?

Andrew Whyman
Special to the Bonanza
March 19, 2008

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Mind-numbing numbers. Startling, stupefying statistics. Sometimes facts and figures seem to correspond with the universe we inhabit. Sometimes they don't. Generally, it depends on the universe in which we live our lives.

For example, you're comfortably retired, a long-time and full-time Incline resident and, aside from escalating property taxes, quite pleased with life at the lake. Then again, you're a Hispanic working-class, married, father of three preschool children, living in a two-bedroom Incline apartment and struggling to pay rent with the proceeds of two entry level jobs. Not so good, but at least there is work and the family is together.

Or you're solid middle class with two children, one in elementary school and the other in middle school now living in a condominium and hoping to be able to purchase a home. Better, and there's also the lake and recreational opportunities.

Or you're a satisfied snow birder, living in Incline half the year, and enjoying the lake and golf when you do.

So, let's run some numbers and see what they do for you.

The full-time resident population in the Tahoe Basin has declined substantially, from 62,000 in 2000 to 55,000 in 2005.

By 2005 second homeownership was a remarkable 55 percent in Washoe County and an incredible 69 percent in Placer County.

Gaming income has declined consistently on both the North and South shores in recent years, down some 19 percent in the last 10 or so years with a loss of 3,000 employees.

School enrollment has declined 20 percent in the Tahoe Basin in the last four years and further decline is anticipated.

Lastly, annual sales tax revenue has actually climbed during this time frame.

So, fewer full-timers, more part-timers, fewer kids going to school.

Add in a contemplated future of more fractional ownership, more high-end condominium projects, more hotel rooms and an accelerating exodus of middle class families and suddenly the idea of a vibrant Incline community, a town, if you will, is redefined to mean second homeownership in a resort setting.

Forget K-12 education, forget the service clubs and organizations, forget the lifeblood of small towns; diverse populations of people who don't tend to look and think just like you.

Are we at a tipping point here? Have we already inexorably changed, but just don't know it yet? The signs of accelerating community disintegration in "our town" are certainly available in the numbers.

Recent Bonanza columns have focused on "Incline turning into a town of haves and have-nots" (Bonanza editorial March 9), on the "inevitable reduction of school district resources ... if trends persist" (Jim Clark's March 9 Bonanza column). Add several letters to the editor about the proposed composition of the contemplated Boulder Bay project.

At its core, these issues are about land usage. That's where TRPA, and what now passes for local, county, and regional government could play vital roles.

If building stable and sustainable communities is a preeminent value around the lake, meeting that challenge will require powerful governmental authority working closely with visionary entrepreneurial groups. Do we have such government? Have the visionary leaders stepped forward?

The Achilles heel of so many beautiful places is that people want to be there.

Too many "visitors" ultimately destroy the place. To be sure, there is a viable balance between personal desire and sustainable community. Failure to identify and achieve that balance will be the death of a full-time residential Incline Village.

Andrew Whyman is a nearly-retired physician who lives in Incline Village. To contact Whyman, email adwhyman@aol.com.