The recent ruling by the State of California Court of Appeals that the development plan approvals for the Village at Squaw (now Palisades Tahoe) are to be “vacated and set aside” is a significant victory for Sierra Watch and our community.

But in reports since this ruling, it is apparent that Palisades Tahoe intends to refile a revised Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and not alter the Specific Plan. In a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle on August 2nd, Palisades stated “that they are working with Placer County to resolve the issues identified by the Court and intend to re-submit the plan for public input”. Palisades downplayed the judgment as “procedural”.

Alterra will have to present the Specific Plan and revised EIR to the Board of Supervisors. This meeting will allow public comment. Any and all issues with the presented plan can be brought up as the public will not be restricted to the issues identified by the Court (traffic, impacts on Tahoe Basin, noise, and fire evacuation).

Unfortunately in a second statement to The Chronicle, Placer County said it “disagrees with aspects of the Court of Appeal ruling, but is complying with the court’s order,” according to Chris Gray-Garcia, Placer County’s deputy director of communications and public affairs. “It’s our understanding that the project applicant is working toward remedying the areas identified by the court so that it can bring the project back to the county Board of Supervisors for evaluation.”

The Board of Supervisors has gone through some changes in membership and hopefully the new Board of Supervisors will listen to our community’s concerns with – not only the original Village Development Plan – but our growing concerns over our water supply and growing risk of wildfire. Further, new proposed developments in the Valley will only exacerbate these risks (Granite View complex planned for Shirley Canyon).

At the Board of Supervisors meeting that approved the “KSL plan”, Friends demonstrated that there is a smaller development plan that achieved the ROI (Return on Investment) that KSL expected. While we were not given adequate time to present our plan, it is our intent to update this plan and resubmit for review.

In the interim, the Friends of Olympic Valley will monitor the proposal as it reenters the approval process and continue to update our community of any changes as they occur.