Tahoe Truckee True Archives

Release: Failed Olympic Valley Development Back to Threaten Tahoe Again

December 1, 2022/by Tom Mooers

Contact: Tom Mooers (530) 265-2849 x200

December 1, 2022

FAILED OLYMPIC VALLEY DEVELOPMENT BACK TO THREATEN TAHOE AGAIN

Olympic Valley, Calif. – Placer County released a revised environmental assessment for massive development at Palisades Tahoe, formerly Squaw Valley, yesterday.

The announcement makes official what had been looming over Tahoe for months: resort owners Alterra Mountain Company seek a new round of entitlements for the same plan they first proposed more than ten years ago—with the same destructive impacts to Tahoe, according to planning documents.

Pictured: Olympic Valley and Palisades Tahoe

Alterra’s plan to remake the mountain playground with a series of highrise condos, a roller coaster, and an indoor waterpark have made Olympic Valley, formerly Squaw Valley, the biggest conservation battleground in the Sierra this century.

Thousands of volunteers have been involved in an effort to stop the development and Keep Tahoe True. Regional conservation group Sierra Watch secured a court order to wipe out previous approvals, made in 2016. But Alterra continues to push its speculative scheme to transform Tahoe with Vegas-style attractions.

“Alterra’s relentless effort to force its reckless development on the Sierra is an insult to anyone who lives, skis, or plays in Tahoe,” says Tom Mooers, Executive Director of Sierra Watch. “Our community and our mountains deserve better.”

At a Town Hall meeting in Olympic Valley in May, Dee Byrne, Alterra’s President of Palisades Tahoe, had claimed there is “not enough to do” in Tahoe and said Alterra would apply for a new set of entitlements.

Under state planning law known as CEQA, the California Environmental Quality Act, Placer County is required to assess what the development would mean to the region and its traffic, fire safety, water supplies, and visual resources.

Details about Alterra’s proposal, and a draft review of its impacts on Tahoe, are available at: Village at Palisades Tahoe Specific Plan

Development would include a series of high-rise condo hotels, many eight stories tall, containing 1,493 new rooms—as many bedrooms as three of South Lake Tahoe’s Stateline casinos combined—over an area greater than six city blocks.

Pictured: Scale Model of Proposed Development

The main attraction would be a 90,000-square-foot indoor waterpark with artificial rivers, indoor water-skiing, video arcades, and North America’s tallest indoor waterslide.

The project would add 274,000 square feet of commercial development—enough to build a mall covering more than five football fields—further exacerbating the region’s workforce housing crisis.

According to planning documents, the project would make Olympic Valley a construction zone for 25 years. It would add 3,300 new daily car trips to Tahoe traffic. And it would draw 78,263,299 gallons of water annually from the local watershed.

Placer County will accept comments on the Revised Draft Environmental Impact through January 30, 2023.

Comments can be mailed to:

Placer County Community Development Resource Agency

Environmental Coordination Services

3091 County Center Drive, Suite 190

Auburn, CA 95603; or

emailed to cdraecs@placer.ca.gov

In 2015, the last time the County collected comments on the plan, hundreds of citizens submitted letters—95% expressed opposition.

Conservationists, successful in stopping the development so far, remain committed.

“More than 20,000 people have joined our movement to Keep Tahoe True,” says Mooers. “And if it takes another ten years of grassroots commitment to defend our mountain values, so be it. Tahoe deserves no less.”

About Sierra Watch

Sierra Watch works to protect great places in the Sierra Nevada. Founded in 2001, the Nevada City based non-profit has built a remarkable track record in land preservation in Tahoe’s Martis Valley, on Donner Summit, and for other treasured Sierra landscapes. For more information, visit www.sierrawatch.org.

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Release: Placer County Rescinds All Approvals For Massive Development In Tahoe’s Olympic Valley

November 8, 2022/by Tom Mooers

Contact: Tom Mooers (530) 265-2849 x200

November 8, 2022

PLACER COUNTY RESCINDS ALL APPROVALS FOR MASSIVE DEVELOPMENT IN TAHOE’S OLYMPIC VALLEY

Olympic Valley, Calif. – The Placer County Board of Supervisors rescinded its approval of a massive development proposed for Tahoe’s Olympic Valley at a public hearing today.

The vote was unanimous, and the action was compulsory. Conservation non-profit Sierra Watch had secured a court order commanding the County to “vacate and set aside its approval” of Alterra Mountain Company’s proposal to remake Tahoe with development on a scale the region has never seen.

“Today’s action is a milestone event in Tahoe conservation,” said Tom Mooers, Executive Director of Sierra Watch. “Like generations before, we are showing how we can work together to defend our mountain values.”

Pictured: Tahoe’s Olympic Valley

Would-be developers Alterra Mountain Company, then acting as KSL Capital Partners, purchased the Tahoe ski resort formerly known as Squaw Valley in 2010. Within a year, they applied to Placer County for development entitlements for a series of high-rise condo hotels, a rollercoaster, and a 90,000 square-foot indoor waterpark – as wide as a Walmart and nearly three times as tall.

Pictured: 2013 Scale Model of Proposed Development in Tahoe’s Olympic Valley

Sierra Watch responded by building a grassroots movement under a banner of Keep Squaw True. Thousands of volunteers got involved. Hundreds spoke up at public hearings.

Pictured: Sierra Watch Volunteers at a 2016 Public Hearing

In November of 2016, in the face of overwhelming opposition, the Placer County Board of Supervisors nevertheless voted 4-1 to approve the project. Sierra Watch challenged those approvals in court, arguing that Placer County violated state planning laws.

In August of last year, the Third District Court of Appeals agreed with Sierra Watch that Placer County ignored the proposed development’s impacts on Lake Tahoe, fire danger, noise, and traffic.

“Judgment in this case is therefore entered in favor of Petitioner Sierra Watch,” the court declared in its unanimous decision. “The County shall vacate and set aside its approval of the Project, including the Specific Plan, the Development Agreement, the Large-Lot Vesting Tentative Subdivision Map, amendments to the Squaw Valley General Plan and Land Use Ordinance, zoning change, development standards, and related resolutions and ordinances… adoption of related findings of fact, statement of overriding considerations, and mitigation monitoring reporting program; and certification of the EIR.”

Earlier this year, however, would-be developers Alterra Mountain Company announced they were committed to reviving their failed proposal and trying again for a new round of approvals.

At a Town Hall meeting in Olympic Valley in May, Dee Byrne, Alterra’s President of Palisades Tahoe, claimed there is “not enough to do” in Tahoe and said Alterra would apply for a new set of entitlements “sometime next year.”

Alterra’s attempt at new entitlements for an old project, however, faces a steep climb.

At today’s hearing, County Planner Patrick Dobbs affirmed Alterra’s commitment, stating, “The applicant wants to move forward with the project;” as did Alterra’s representative, attorney Whit Manley, “My client remains committed to this project.”

Pictured: Developer Alterra’s attorney Whit Manley address the Board of Supervisors

Tahoe’s problems – loss of lake clarity, too much traffic, not enough workforce housing, increasing fire danger, limited water supplies – have gotten worse. And each would be further exacerbated by Alterra’s proposed development.

Sierra Watch advocated a different path forward.

“Now that the approvals are gone we’ve got a clean slate and an opportunity to bring people together – the property owner, local residents, County planners, regional stakeholders – to work on a collaborative plan for Olympic Valley,” said Mooers. “Tahoe deserves no less.”

About Sierra Watch

Sierra Watch works to protect great places in the Sierra Nevada. Founded in 2001, the Nevada City based non-profit has built a remarkable track record in land preservation in Tahoe’s Martis Valley, on Donner Summit, and for other treasured Sierra landscapes. For more information, visit www.sierrawatch.org.

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Pictured: Olympic Valley under smoky skies September 7 2022

Meet the New Waterpark. Same as the Old Waterpark?

September 12, 2022/by Tom Mooers

At two meetings under smoky skies in Tahoe’s Olympic Valley last week, Alterra Mountain Company gave a brief update on its proposed development; Placer County counsel described their legal obligations in the aftermath of Sierra Watch’s court victory; and planners laid out the steps in the upcoming public planning process.

The project and the process were portrayed as a steamroller – as if environmental review had been reduced to mere technicalities and the project is inevitable.

But it felt more like a train wreck.

Pictured: Olympic Valley under smoky skies September 7 2022

We’ll start with the good news: officials informed us that, per court order, the Placer County Board of Supervisors will rescind all 2016 approvals of Alterra’s original project at its meeting on October 25.

This includes, as spelled out in the Final Judgment in Sierra Watch vs. Placer County et al, “the Specific Plan, the Development Agreement, the Large-Lot Vesting Tentative Subdivision Map, amendments to the Squaw Valley General Plan and Land Use Ordinance, zoning change, development standards, and related resolutions and ordinances… adoption of related findings of fact, statement of overriding considerations, and mitigation monitoring reporting program; and certification of the EIR.”

This is a major milestone in our ongoing work to keep Tahoe Truckee True. And it should provide a great opportunity for a clean slate, a chance to work together on collaborative planning for Olympic Valley and the Tahoe Truckee Region.

But County officials also informed us that they are already moving forward with a new public planning process for Alterra’s old project, this time known as the Palisades at Tahoe Specific Plan.

They showed us a slide of the proposed development: there were no changes to Alterra’s failed proposal – still 1,500 bedrooms, still 25 years of construction, still an indoor waterpark.

Pictured: Placer County planner Alex Fisch presents slide of Alterra proposal – same as the old plan.

Doubling down on the old, failed plan, Clayton Cook of the County Counsel’s office informed the audience that environmental review would be based on the time at which the proposal was originally filed with the County: 2011(!).

As if the County had a Tahoe Time Machine that could transport us all back eleven years – and that nothing has changed in the meantime.

Members of the Olympic Valley and North Tahoe Regional Advisory Councils, as well as members of the public, pointed out the simple fact that: times have indeed changed – and not necessarily for the better.

Drought is drying up our creeks. Climate change is shrinking our snowpack. Increased occupancy is straining local infrastructure and housing stock. Wildfires crest the Sierra as smoke fills our skies.

These are not mere technicalities. They are the most important issues facing Tahoe. And, as proposed, Alterra’s old plan would make each one worse.

Sierra Watch believes there’s a better way. We took to the podium to invite Alterra and the County to join us in a more collaborative approach: Take a time out from the train wreck, and see if we – community members, planners, conservationists, and Alterra – can come up with a limited development alternative that works for everyone.

Without engaging in another ten years of conflict and, more important, without jeopardizing everything we love about our mountains.

Olympic Valley – and Tahoe – deserve no less.

They didn’t take us up on the invitation – yet.

But Dee Byrne, President of Palisades Tahoe, offered some words of encouragement, promising that Alterra is “only interested in doing a project that adds value to the community.” She said, “We’re only interested in doing the right thing.”

It’s our job, in the months and years ahead, to hold Alterra to that commitment.

A Farewell to Chase – thanks for keeping us true!

April 26, 2022/by Tom Mooers

This week marks the end of an era for Sierra Watch: Friday is Chase Schweitzer’s last day.

He’s stepping down as Sierra Watch Engagement Director and setting out to seek his fortune beyond the granite cliffs of Tahoe’s Olympic Valley.

When we hired Chase seven years ago, we were looking for someone to “play a leadership role in Tahoe conservation” and “mobilize grassroots power to Keep Squaw True.”

And you know what? He did just that.

Pictured: Chase on his first day out in the field, 2015

For seven years, he helped us tap our shared passion for the mountains and plug us into something much bigger than ourselves. And it worked.

Pictured: Conducting outreach at Tahoe Truckee Earth Day 2018

There is no massive indoor waterpark in Olympic (formerly Squaw) Valley. But our shared love the mountains remains. Thanks, in no small part, to Chase.

Sierra Watch is looking for our next awesome field organizer. In the meantime, here’s to Chase and all he’s done for us and for Tahoe – truly a man to match our mountains!

Pictured: Cheers to keeping it true!

Sierra Watch Seeks Field Manager for Tahoe Conservation Campaigns

April 26, 2022/by Tom Mooers

Sierra Watch seeks a passionate conservation advocate to recruit and mobilize public support for our work to keep Tahoe Truckee True.

Founded in 2001, Sierra Watch has built a remarkable record in Sierra conservation, spearheading the long-term effort to protect Tahoe’s Martis Valley, playing the lead role in defending Donner Summit, and turning back a reckless scheme in Olympic Valley (formerly Squaw Valley) to transform Tahoe with highrises and indoor waterpark.

The position of Sierra Watch Field Manager is a unique opportunity to engage public support in our ongoing success, to be a leader in Tahoe conservation, and to work where you play. Key strategies include grassroots outreach and online engagement.

The ideal candidate has one-two years professional organizing or equivalent experience and has demonstrated entrepreneurial leadership in setting priorities and following through.

The position demands excellent communications skills. A passion for the Sierra Nevada is a must; a sense of humor is encouraged.

Salary DOE with health benefits. Location is North Lake Tahoe, California.

To Apply

Send a cover letter, resume, writing/media sample, and references to:

Field Manager Search

hiring@sierrawatch.org

Position is open until filled. Please, no drop-ins.

For more information, visit:

sierrawatch.org

Join us for Tahoe Truckee Earth Day, Saturday April 23

April 21, 2022/by Chase Schweitzer

Come join Sierra Watch for Tahoe Truckee Earth Day 2022!

Saturday, April 23

The Village at Palisades Tahoe / Olympic Valley

11:00 am – 5:00 pm

Earth Day marks an annual milestone in our ongoing efforts to protect this mountainous portion of our favorite planet.

Pictured: Lake Tahoe as viewed from space

It was twenty years ago when Sierra Watch set up a booth for the first time at Tahoe Truckee Earth Day.

We were a brand new organization, eagerly setting out to Save Martis Valley. We didn’t even have bumper stickers. We had postcards – and asked people to sign them to “Support a healthy future for Martis Valley and the Tahoe-Truckee region.”

Those little postcards must have worked – as building blocks in a long-term effort that keeps protecting the places we love.

And we keep coming back to Tahoe Truckee Earth Day; it’s always a great way to connect with the community and build our grassroots movement for Sierra conservation. Pretty much what Earth Day is all about.

Sierra Watch Field Director Peter Van Zant in 2014

That is except for the time in 2016 when the would be developers of Olympic Valley (what we then called Squaw Valley) kicked us out of the event. That’s right: the developers kicked the environmentalists out of Earth Day(!).

Stay Informed:

FAILED OLYMPIC VALLEY DEVELOPMENT BACK TO THREATEN TAHOE AGAIN

PLACER COUNTY RESCINDS ALL APPROVALS FOR MASSIVE DEVELOPMENT IN TAHOE’S OLYMPIC VALLEY