OLYMPIC VALLEY, Calif. – The Olympic Valley Municipal Advisory Council (OVMAC) voted Saturday against the Village at Palisades Tahoe Specific Plan project with a message to the county and the applicant that the community is overwhelmingly against this development. 

After almost 7 hours, the unanimous decision was made. 

OVMAC member David Stepner made the motion, and OVMAC member Andrew Lange seconded it. 

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“Secondly, we encourage the applicant and county to evaluate a different reduce-sized plan with a reduced-sized mountain activity center,” according to the OVMAC project recommendation. “And that the community wants collaborative input.” 

The OVMAC recommendation will be included in Placer County’s report that will be presented during the Planning Commission’s Sept. 5 meeting at the North Lake Tahoe Events Center in Kings Beach. During the meeting, the Planning Commission will consider certification of the specific plan entitlements and the final Environmental Impact Report (EIR). 

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In late 2024, the Planning Commission recommendations will be presented to the Board of Supervisors for a decision. 

The public comment period lasted for more than two hours with everyone except two people opposed to the project. 

Comments from “Keep Tahoe-Truckee True” included evacuation issues, worker housing, project size, traffic, and density. 

“I don’t see anything great with 13 ½ acres of asphalt,” a store owner said. 

“The inflation of this place is pricing locals out … we can’t play here,” a local woman said. 

“A complete rewrite of the EIR is warranted,” said Wayne Nader, candidate for supervisor. “It was wrong in 2016, and it is wrong in 2024.” 

“Let’s not have John Muir rise up from the dead,” a transplant from Germany said. 

“Shelter in place is also known as roast to death,” a local said. “A good name for this development is potential death trap.” 

“This project is too much, too fast, too soon,” a local said. “Please consider scaling it down.” 

The Village at Palisades Tahoe Specific Plan is within the 4,700-acre Olympic Valley General Plan area in Placer County. It encompasses 93.33 acres of the 85-acre resort village within the Palisades Ski Resort base area. 

About 8.8-acres, the east parcel, is 1.3 miles east of the main village and less than a mile west of SR 89 and Olympic Valley Road. It is across the street from the Olympic Valley Public Services District offices and the fire station. 

It includes employee housing for up to 300 employees, off-site parking, shipping and receiving, and a market. 

The specific plan details a hospitality and recreation-based, all-season mountain resort community with up to 850 hotel, condominium-hotel, and fractional ownership residential units. It includes up to 1,493 resort bedrooms. 

There is a conservation corridor running the length of Washeshu Creek through the plan area to support improvement of terrestrial and aquatic habitat conditions, improved water quality and sediment management, and increased flood conveyance capacity. 

Other improvements include bicycle facilities, a transit center, new/extended utility infrastructure, new/improvements to existing recreational facilities and amenities, and a Village open space network. 

The Specific Plan would be developed over 25 years. 

The project will develop new commercial, retail, and recreational land uses similar to those currently allowed under the Olympic Valley General Plan and Land Use Ordinance. This community plan establishes land uses and policies for Olympic Valley. 

Examples include skier services, retail shopping, restaurants and bars, entertainment, and public and private recreation facilities. The new and replacement commercial uses in the plan area are up to 297,733 gross square feet including 206,211 square feet net new commercial. 

The Board of Supervisors approved the project on Nov. 15, 2016. Then it was litigated. The Appellate Court found the EIR had deficiencies in four areas and directed Placer County to take action to decertify the final EIR and un-adopt project approvals. 

On Nov. 8, 2022, the Board of Supervisors followed the Appellate Court’s ruling to decertify the final EIR and rescind the project approvals. 

Since then, Alterra Mountain Company has worked with the county and an environmental consultant to revise the EIR analysis. 

The final EIR was released on Aug. 9. It includes written responses to all public comments. It is available at https://www.placer.ca.gov/2747/Village-at-Palisades-Tahoe-Specific-Plan.