Industry News
Palisades Tahoe has reached an agreement with Keep Tahoe Blue and Sierra Watch to settle litigation challenging proposed development in Olympic Valley. The organizations have issued the following shared statement: “Sierra Watch, Keep Tahoe Blue, and Palisades Tahoe negotiated in good faith to find a solution that effectively ends the fourteen-year conflict over Olympic Valley while supporting the social, economic, and environmental needs of Olympic Valley and the Lake Tahoe region.
Under the settlement, all parties agree on a revised blueprint for the Village at Palisades Tahoe Specific Plan that: reduces the total bedrooms within the Specific Plan by 40 percent, reduces total new commercial space by 20% in the Specific Plan main Village area, affirms the permanent elimination of an indoor waterpark within the Village Specific Plan area, protects the land that was proposed for development at the base of Shirley Canyon by creating a conservation easement, preserving the land for recreation and public trail access in perpetuity; and prevents additional development within the Specific Plan boundary for 25 years if Placer County approves the revised blueprint, the agreement would end the conservation groups’ legal challenge to the County’s 2024 approvals.
In 2003, Sierra Watch commissioned planning and conservation biology experts to produce a set of Conservation Priorities for Martis Valley, providing specific recommendations for revising the land use map in the Martis Valley Community Plan to direct development away from valuable resource areas. The Sierra Watch team drew a bold line around 15,000 acres to map its Martis Valley Conservation Priorities. Most of that land–about 80%–was threatened by pending or potential development.
The agreement, which was reached after years of conflict and months of negotiations, reduces the size and scale of the proposed project, cutting the number of bedrooms allowed by 40% and commercial square footage by 20%. It also ensures that Olympic Valley will not be home to what became the most controversial component of the original plan: a massive indoor waterpark.
“When people work together, that’s the best way to Keep Tahoe Blue–now and for the future,” Dr. Darcie Goodman Collins said, Chief Executive Officer of Keep Tahoe Blue. “But when we need to take a stand to protect the Lake, we will, just like we have for almost 70 years.”
As part of the settlement, Keep Tahoe Blue and Sierra Watch agree to drop their lawsuit challenging last year’s approvals of Alterra’s Village at Palisades Tahoe Project, pending Placer County’s approval of the revised project blueprint.
In the future, all parties agree on supporting a new vision for Olympic Valley, with major and material reductions in the size and scale of the project:
- The initial 2011 application called for a total of 2,184 bedrooms. In 2014, Palisades Tahoe revised its proposal down to 1,493 bedrooms. The agreement announced today calls for a total of 896 bedrooms–nearly a 60% reduction from the 2011 proposal and a 40% reduction from the latest plan.
- Commercial square footage in the Main Village is cut by 20%, decreasing the total from 278,000 square feet to 222,000 square feet.
- Sensitive parcels at the mouth of Shirley Canyon, once slated for subdivision, will be permanently protected as open space and will never be threatened by future development.
- The proposed indoor waterpark will be replaced by a smaller Mountain Adventure Center, omitting previously proposed attractions such as waterslides, indoor waterskiing, wave rider, wave pool, waterfalls, and an indoor river.
- Alterra agrees not to seek any additional development on the project property for 25 years.
Although the size of the overall project has been substantially reduced, Alterra has maintained its commitment to workforce housing, with a total of 296 new beds for resort employees.
Key to Keep Tahoe Blue’s mission, the agreement cuts upwards of 38% of daily car trips, many of which would have entered the Tahoe Basin, along with preventing more traffic, air pollution, and water pollution that would have threatened the Lake’s water quality and clarity. “Lake Tahoe is a treasure that’s here to be loved and experienced by everyone. And it deserves to be protected for everyone,” Goodman Collins said of Keep Tahoe Blue.
The collaborative effort resolves the epic struggle over Olympic Valley and the Tahoe-Truckee region. It began in 2010, after Alterra’s parent company, KSL Capital Partners, bought the famed Sierra ski resort then known as Squaw Valley. Sierra Watch organized a grassroots movement of local residents and Tahoe visitors, initially working together as the campaign to Keep Squaw True, which was later rebranded as Tahoe Truckee True in 2020.
For fourteen years, thousands of volunteers stood together to protect their mountain values, sending letters to officials, attending public hearings, and signing a petition in opposition to the proposed development. They planted purple flags in Olympic Valley, marched in local parades, and even made a movie chronicling their shared commitment, The Movie to Keep Tahoe True.
Placer County approved the project in 2016, but Sierra Watch filed suit to overturn those entitlements–and prevailed. In 2021, California’s Third District Court of Appeal ruled in favor of conservationists, finding that the 2016 approvals violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
In 2022, Alterra filed a request for a new round of entitlements for the same project. Two years later, at a packed and emotional public hearing, the Placer County Board of Supervisors voted to approve the project. Sierra Watch filed suit–again. This time, they were joined by Keep Tahoe Blue in a shared commitment to protect the region.
The settlement agreement announced today would end that litigation and, also, the broader conflict. “For fourteen years, Olympic Valley has been at the frontlines for the biggest fight over the future of Tahoe,” Tom Mooers of Sierra Watch said. “Now it’s another great example of how we can work together to protect the places we love.” The three organizations appreciate the collaborative spirit that has driven months-long negotiations and look forward to working together in the future to protect and uplift this unique region, its community, and all who love it.
