I am a resident and home owner in Incline Village and have lived on the North Shore for more than 10 years. I am writing to express my support of the Boulder Bay project in Crystal Bay. I have followed this project since its inception and attended the public meetings held by Boulder Bay. I applaud the owners and all the professionals involved in the proposed redevelopment of the Tahoe Biltmore (aka Boulder Bay).

I support well-planned, environmentally responsible redevelopment that will create additional business for our region and nearby Incline Village. The Boulder Bay will be the second project ( the first being the SNC Environmental Center ) to adhere to the very strict environmental stands of Leadership Energy and Environmental Design certification.

This means our little Incline Village and the North Shore will be one of the first regions in the world to have two LEED projects within such close proximity. Furthermore, The Boulder Bay project will reduce the “gambling area” in the new facility and increase the green belt (park area.) I ask — what other “casino owner” has had the foresight to reduce access to gambling and substitute healthy pursuits?

I live in Incline Village because I like the beauty of the region. I support a business that will bring more tourists to the region and increase local business taxes and options for us all. In general, I find this a community of intelligent people, but scaremongers who use words and phrases like traffic, congestion “urban sprawl” and “meth lab” are ill-informed and not part of the thinking and visionary residents who long for progress and responsible redevelopment.

In one meeting a resident of Crystal Bay voiced his opposition to the addition of a park as part of the Boulder Bay redevelopment. When asked what he objected to he cited the noise of children playing! What a grumpy, mean-spirited comment! Typical of a “NIMBY” (Not In My Back Yard) mentality.

I applaud the owners of the Tahoe Biltmore and the Boulder Bay Resort, the Wittenberg family. They had the foresight and vision to conceive of a project where a family could take an afternoon stroll on a weekend and a center where a visitor is encouraged and provided transport systems other than the private gas guzzling car.

The Wittenbergs have decades of investment into green businesses, long before it was fashionable to be green. They are intelligent, caring, community focused folks. Let’s support this kind of community enhancement with intelligent questions and suggestions. Let’s get on board with solving our problems of preserving our region while understanding that we are dependent on tourism for the health of our region.

Lynn Berardo

Incline Village