OLYMPIC VALLEY, Calif. – Partners, including the Alterra Mountain Company, held a virtual informational community meeting on Monday night, Dec. 1, reviewing reductions to the development planned for the Village at Palisades Tahoe.

“It was not easy,” Arden Hearing, head of real estate development for Alterra Mountain Company, said at the meeting. “We compromised to move the project along and to address as much as we could and the range of concerns that we heard.”

The reductions to the development size come after a legal challenge from the League to Save Lake Tahoe and Sierra Watch following the Placer County Board of Supervisors’ approval of the development plan last November.

The legal challenge ended in a settlement with agreed upon reductions that are now being incorporated through amendments to the development plan, known as the Village at Palisades Tahoe Specific Plan.

The revised plan, which designer Ryan Lovett said at meeting, isn’t just a smaller plan, but a better plan in that it is more authentic and connected to the iconic valley’s history and nature.

The amendments include the following changes from the prior plan:

• Reduction of lodging bedrooms from 1,493 to 896 (40% reduction)
• Conserves an additional 7.6 acres (21% increase)
• Reduces main village commercial space from 278,000 square feet to 222,000 square feet (20% reduction)
• Reduces the Mountain Adventure Camp from 90,000 square feet to 72,000 square feet (20% reduction)
• Reduces Mountain Adventure Camp max height from 96 feet to 78 feet
• Increases parking garage max height from 20 feet to 35 feet
• Excludes the waterpark

In addition to reducing the overall project size, the changes also shift development away from Shirley Canyon and move density towards the existing village. The changes also create more open space, and improve walkability with pedestrian only areas.

The increase in parking garage height was in alignment with concentrating development near the existing village.

The amendments also include a wider range of design style possibilities such as transitional, Olympic mid-century architecture, and contemporary styles in addition to the traditional mountain architecture outlined previously.

Lovett explained all the styles are mountain inspired and incorporate the valley’s architectural heritage and diversity.

The changes trigger supplemental environmental analysis in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

“I think it’s really important to say and to note that despite the reductions in development, this plan remains really committed to supporting Olympic Valley and the North Lake Tahoe communities,” Amy Ohran said, president and COO of Palisades Tahoe, referring to the revised plan as a meaningful reset that maintains the following community commitments:

• workforce housing totaling 296 beds
• maintaining a minimum number of day skier parking
• continued implementation of traffic management
• restoration of Washeshu Creek
• Support for fire and EMS
• new passive and active open space, new trails and enhancements

The revised plan will go through a series of meetings and hearings before it goes before the Placer County Board of Supervisors for approval.

• Olympic Valley MAC – Dec. 8
• Olympic Valley Design Review Committee – January
• Planning Commission – Spring
• Board of Supervisors – Spring/Summer

Although the public could submit questions at the online meeting, the organizers did not answer them live. Staff will instead compile and respond to those questions in a FAQ page released ahead of these future hearings and meetings.

The FAQs will also be discussed at the MAC meeting and will become accessible on placer.ca.gov/8213/Village-at-Palisades-Tahoe-Specific-Plan.