Friends of Olympic Valley is an organization of concerned citizens and long-time Olympic Valley residents, originally formed in response to the size of the initial Village at Squaw Valley Specific Plan. Our focus is primarily land use, community and lifestyle culture in Olympic Valley but we understand that Olympic Valley has a regional importance as well.
FOOV MISSION STATEMENT:
The Friends of Olympic Valley seek to improve the quality of life for Olympic Valley residents and visitors and preserve our community mountain culture by advocating for environmentally sustainable and compatible development as well as for enhanced community amenities.
The Friends of Olympic Valley (FoOV), formerly Friends of Squaw Valley, was formed in 2012 in response to the original KSL Village development proposal. We were not anti-development, but instead we advocated for a smaller village that would minimize environmental impacts and be more consistent with the area’s culture. Community opposition succeeded in downsizing the very first design by 50%, but not in reducing the subsequent proposal which called for 25 years of development, 1500 bedrooms, an indoor water theme park, and threats to Shirley Canyon.
In 2016, Placer County Board of Supervisors approved the village specific plan. A lawsuit by Sierra Watch took years to work through the legal system, but eventually the courts vacated the approvals, requiring the developer (now Alterra Mountain Company) to begin anew. The Friends did not litigate but, during the hiatus, with an interest in healing the divisiveness in our community, amended its name and mission statement as noted above.
In 2023, Alterra presented the same (2016) village proposal, and the Friends again supported a smaller design with fewer environmental and cultural impacts, more valley community benefits, and a system to guarantee that development promises and mitigations would be performed.
In November 2024, the Board of Supervisors, once again, approved the egregious development proposal (minus some water park features). The developer and County were then sued by the League to Save Lake Tahoe and Sierra Watch, but a settlement agreement was achieved in July of 2025.
We applaud this new agreement which reduces the bedrooms count by 40% (as the Friends had proposed in 2016) commercial space by 20%, eliminates the indoor water park, adds protections to Shirley Canyon, and commits to 296 new in-valley beds for employees.
We will continue to advocate for the community during the upcoming “new” Village review process.
