Kendra Wong offers an extensive background in finance and accounting, as well as community involvement as our newest member of the Community Foundation Board.  She is currently the Principal Accounting Officer at LENSAR, Inc and has served in a variety of consulting and advisory roles.  She is a Certified Public Accountant and an Associate Professor Emeritus at University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe, formerly Sierra Nevada University. Kendra received a BS in Managerial Economics from the University of California, Davis and an MBA from Arizona State University.  She and her family reside in Incline Village where they love being close to their favorite activities: golfing, hitting the slopes of Diamond Peak, or hanging at the pool or beach.  Kendra supports the Community Foundation because of the immense support they provide to non-profits in the community. By investing in the Community Foundation, she feels her time and donations have a greater impact by benefiting several community needs.

Mark Holmlund brings his expertise in investments to the Board here at the Community Foundation.  He and his wife are full-time residents in Glenbrook where together they own Alaethes Wealth, LLC, an SEC-Registered Investment Advisor.  He previously worked for Merrill Lynch in Los Angeles and Daiwa Securities in San Diego selling fixed income securities to institutional investors. Subsequently he worked for Pacific Life Insurance Company in Newport Beach.  Mark has earned his BA in Economics from Willamette University, his MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, and his MA in Historical Theology from Westminster Seminary.  Like many, he and his wife arrived in Tahoe for the winter and stayed for the summer! They enjoy skiing, golfing, and the many cultural activities available in Tahoe and Northern Nevada including the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, Classical Tahoe, and the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko.  Having previously served as chairman of the Rancho Santa Fe Foundation, Mark understands and believes in the value a Community Foundation brings to our local community.

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~ Sabrina Belleci | Inside Incline

Spring has arrived! As we watch water flowing down the streets and into the storm drains, it brings to mind the need for each homeowner to complete the BMPs on their property. The TRPA requires that every parcel in the Lake Tahoe basin install erosion control measures to help improve lake clarity.

According to the TRPA “Best Management Practices”, BMPs are methods to help developed properties function more like natural, undisturbed forest and meadowland. Water that is conveyed to a lake by an undisturbed watershed is usually quite pure, because the watershed’s soils and plants act as a natural water purification system. BMPs help developed properties mimic natural conditions, preventing sediment and nutrients from entering our surface waters and filtering runoff water through the soil. By implementing BMPs, property owners can help slow the loss of lake clarity.” 

Depending on the location of your property, the type of slope, proximity to a stream zone, soil type, vegetation and other factors, the amount of work required to complete the BMPs on your property can vary dramatically. BMPs for residential properties will often require planting vegetation or distributing mulch on bare land and compacted dirt; directing the runoff from snow melt and storm water, especially from impervious surfaces such as driveways and sidewalks and doing work to stabilize steep slopes and loose soil.

Owners of single-family homes and free-standing PUDS/Condos are responsible for doing the BMP work on their property. If you are considering purchasing an attached condo, then the homeowners association may be responsible for the installation of BMPs. The cost might be paid out of reserves or there could be a special assessment, depending on the financial situation of the particular homeowners association. Freestanding condo owners will very often be responsible for installing BMPs around the footprint of their property with the homeowners association taking responsibility for doing the BMPs in the common areas.

Some of the more common requirements to complete your BMPs are distributing gravel or rock mulch under decks and roof drip lines, repaving deteriorating driveways and sidewalks, revegetating compacted dirt areas and installing slotted drains in places where water tends to run off pavement rapidly or collect in pools.

The Nevada Tahoe Conservation District is a nonprofit organization that will perform a BMP analysis at your property at no charge on an appointment basis. I recommend that any homeowner who has not yet installed their BMPs contact the NTCD at 775-586-1610 and talk with one of the staff members about having an evaluation performed at your property. Another great resource to see if there has been an evaluation completed on your property for your BMPs is the TRPA sponsored website TahoeBMP.org.

Once there is an evaluation completed on your property, you can contact a local landscaping company or contractor to receive a bid on the work needed or you can complete them yourself. Make sure to have the TRPA come out and issue you a certificate of completion so your property complies and you are protecting the clarity of our beautiful lake. All property owners have a responsibility for maintaining their parcels and keeping Lake Tahoe as clear as possible by reducing contamination from sediment and pollutants.

Insider Tip from Inside Incline: Don’t forget to look in your mail for your bright yellow envelope from IVGID. Yard waste stickers are here, and you will need them for spring (May 1 – July 28) and fall (October 1-29) yard clean up. GO GREEN – If you have a small trailer or truck, you can bring your pine needles un-bagged to the transfer station and they will gladly let you dump them in exchange for a few stickers. 

~ Visit Sabrina Belleci | Inside Incline at insideincline.com

IT ALL STARTED IN 1946. A vision of its developers, the Tahoe Biltmore (a.k.a. The Bilty) was a stoic and storied hotel, lodge, and casino built with classic vintage architecture and wrapped within the beauty of Lake Tahoe’s north shore.

Throughout its life, the property changed hands and names as the Nevada Lodge, Cal-Neva Biltmore, and then back to its original brand as the Tahoe Biltmore.

In its heyday, it was one of the West’s finer destinations for the rich and famous and those who enjoyed the region’s more rugged adventures.

Among its celebrities is “Mary,” a spirit who has been reported to live within the hotel in the 60s. Those who have had a sighting note that Mary adorns a mini skirt yet lacks facial features. History notes that she was an entertainer in the former Aspen Cabaret and has been a legend ever since her ghostly first appearance.

Throughout those years, time has taken its toll. Gone is the glitz, the grandeur, the grand structures, and the meticulous grounds that seamlessly defined this treasured icon in Crystal Bay, Nevada.

Fast forward to today where it’s a new world for the highly blighted eye-sore on the Nevada and California state line.

Purchased by EKN Development Group in October 2021, the property and its owners will embark on an endeavor like no other under the temporary brand of Revitalize Tahoe Biltmore.

The design of this community inclusive setting is an archetypical style that blends into its pristine Sierra location.

Complementing this vision are efforts to incorporate innovative energy-saving elements within the property and focus on addressing the region’s most pressing issues including transportation, workforce housing, and an unprecedented program to support sustainable tourism.

Watch progress unfold through RevitalizeTahoeBiltmore.com as the owners rejuvenate this North Shore corridor with a four-season destination that honors its past, protects its sensitive surroundings, and has the heart and soul of its community in mind.

**This article originally appeared in the Summer 2022 issue of LIVE.WORK.PLAY., IVCBA’s magazine. You can read all the editions online.**