Industry News
As previously reported, Homewood Mountain announced plans last year to move to a members-only model. The California ski area argues that over the last decade, the number of season pass holders dropped by 35% along with a 40% fall in skier visits and significant losses toward daily ticket sales. Moving to a members-only model means resort goers would need a paid membership to access the ski area and its amenities, eliminating day ticket sales. Homewood has argued that moving to a members-only model would create a more sustainable revenue source and that members would be able to enjoy a more pleasurable year-round experience, including summer hiking and mountain biking.
Since Homewood’s announcement, many have openly criticized and opposed the resort’s intended plan, arguing that Homewood is throwing its local population of skiers and riders under the bus. Although locals could still ski at the resort by purchasing a membership, the shift from day ticket sales to a semi-private model has left many in the Tahoe area feeling neglected or gypped.
Keep Homewood Public is an organization that argues that instead of “maintaining the heritage of a ski resort that can be enjoyed equally by local residents and visitors,” Homewood’s developers JMA Ventures, Mohari Hospitality, and Discovery Land Company are severely restricting public access to Homewood Mountain Resort to paid members, at a not-yet-revealed cost.
KHP has since filed a legal objection in the form of a letter against Homewood’s proposed plan, outlining its concerns against a semi-private model and proposing an alternative plan that KPH believes is a better solution. According to KPH, the letter argues the following:
- Developers JMA Ventures, Mohari Hospitality, and Discovery Land Company are breaking the promises they made in the 2011 Master Plan to re-invent Homewood Mountain Resort as a community center open to all. This is a bait-and-switch!
- Instead of “maintaining the heritage of a ski resort that can be enjoyed equally by local residents and visitors,” developers JMA Ventures, Mohari Hospitality, and Discovery Land Company are severely restricting public access to Homewood Mountain Resort through paid memberships, at not-yet-revealed cost.
- Despite the 2011 Master Plan’s “central goal” to “restore Homewood as a key gathering center for Lake Tahoe’s West Shore1,” developers JMA Ventures, Mohari Hospitality, and Discovery Land Company will only “open the area to residents multiple times each month (no holidays or weekends).”
- Developers JMA Ventures, Mohari Hospitality, and Discovery Land Company claim their new plan will reduce traffic (“Vehicle Miles Traveled”) compared to the 2011 Master Plan2. This is hard to believe; West Shore skiers and boarders driving to Palisades or Northstar, plus resort employees commuting from Truckee or Reno, will worsen already-congested Resort Triangle traffic.
- Contradicting the 2011 Master Plan, in which “the new Homewood Resort design is conceived as an alpine village community in the architectural style of the classic old Tahoe lodges,” JMA Ventures, Mohari Hospitality, and Discovery Land Company have already begun building homes in a “mountain modern” architectural style on Fawn Street.
- The Tahoe Basin Design Review Committee recently agreed with our concerns, finding the developers’ proposal “not in compliance with the 2011 Master Plan, which is the guiding document they are required to consider.” Thank you, neighbors!
- Responding to the vehement objections of 300+ concerned residents, TRPA has asked JMA Ventures to provide additional information on how the proposed changes “fit within the vision and goals of the Master Plan.1” We share TRPA’s concerns and thank them for their letter.
- As next steps, we demand:
- An immediate stop to the non-conforming construction underway at the South Lodge;
- A complete pause on permitting
- A completely new proposal for Homewood, including EIS/EIR, from JMA Ventures, Mohari Hospitality, and Discovery Land Company, with ample opportunity for community input.
Instead of going semi-private, KPH wants to Homewood to serve as “a key gathering center for Lake Tahoe’s West Shore and maintain the heritage of a ski resort that can be enjoyed equally by local residents and visitors.” The organization is fighting for Homewood to continue to offer a convenient and quality skiing experience to local, west shore residents and to restore the ski area as a community center of the west shore of Lake Tahoe. KPH intends to preserve Homewood as a small, no-crowds-on-the-slopes, family-friendly enclave that can be enjoyed equally by residents and visitors alike, according to its letter.
Now that the letter has been issued, a waiting game will ensue until the resort responds. Will Homewood change its plan, taking into consideration the voice of its community? Or will a long, bloody, drawn-out legal battle ensue?
