Placer County has released for public review a partially-revised final environmental impact report for the Village at Palisades Tahoe Specific Plan in North Lake Tahoe.
The Village at Palisades Tahoe Specific Plan proposes an 85-acre resort village located in northeastern Placer County to redevelop the existing ski resort base area at the west end of Olympic Valley. The specific plan also includes an 8.8-acre parcel known as the east parcel, located 1.3 miles east of the resort near the entrance to Olympic Valley.
The specific plan would implement a hospitality and recreation-based, all-season mountain resort community with up to 850 hotel, condominium-hotel, and fractional ownership residential units and a maximum of 1,493 resort bedrooms, plus 297,000 square feet of new and replacement commercial space for restaurants, retail, private recreation uses and skier services. The east parcel would be developed with employee housing, a community market, shipping and receiving and employee intercept parking.
The proposed plan and project includes public trail improvements such as flushable restrooms and parking at the trailheads to Granite Chief and Shirley Canyon trails, new sewer connection and flush restrooms at Olympic Valley Park and restoration of Washeshu Creek to correct legacy impacts from prior channelization in 1960. Construction of a new fire station within the proposed village at the west end of the valley, workforce housing for 386 workers and public transit improvements are also written into the resort development. Additionally, the proposal includes an indoor recreation center to provide year-round recreation opportunities for both visitors and locals.
The project was approved by the county’s Board of Supervisors Nov. 15, 2016, and was subsequently litigated. The trial court upheld the project approvals, but the appellate court determined the EIR for the project needed additional analysis in four areas: wildfire evacuation times, construction noise impacts, traffic and public transit service levels, and regional impacts to air and water quality in the Lake Tahoe Basin. On Nov. 8, 2022, the Board of Supervisors took action to decertify the EIR and rescind the project approvals in accordance with the appellate court decision.
Alterra Mountain Company, owner and developer of Palisades Tahoe, has worked with county staff and the environmental consultant to revise portions of the EIR analysis. Following comments made by the public to the partially-revised draft EIR, the final revised EIR is now available. The complete EIR package includes written responses to all comments, the draft and final revised EIR, as well as the draft and final EIR from 2016. It can be found online here: Village at Palisades Tahoe
While the project proposal itself is unchanged from what was approved in 2016, the negotiated development agreement between Alterra and Placer County includes expanded workforce housing units and multiple measures to reduce impacts of vehicle trips in the area, including a lodging fee that would fund vehicle-miles-traveled reduction efforts, payment of a Tahoe Regional Planning Agency mobility fee equivalent amount, obligations to improve the state Route 89/Olympic Valley Road intersection, required traffic management and parking plans on higher visitation days, as well as annual traffic analysis and reporting.
The county will host a virtual community meeting regarding the Village at Palisades Tahoe Specific Plan to present project information pertaining to transportation and transit, fire and emergency evacuation and water supply Thursday, Aug. 15 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Participants will be able to submit questions on these topics through an online chat managed by county staff. That meeting will be held via Zoom here Two community meetings set to discuss environmental impact report for Village at Palisades Tahoe Specific Plan.
The Village at Palisades Tahoe Specific Plan will also be discussed at a special joint meeting of the Olympic Valley Municipal Advisory Council and the North Tahoe Regional Advisory Council on Aug. 17. The meeting will be held in the Palisades Tahoe Ballroom at 1750 Village East Road in Olympic Valley. It will begin at 10 a.m. and will be streamed virtually via Zoom. Seating may be limited.
The final revised EIR is also available for review in person, at the same link, via computer kiosks at Placer County libraries, the Placer County Community Development Resource Agency (3091 County Center Drive in Auburn), at the County Executive Office in Tahoe (775 N. Lake Boulevard in Tahoe City), and the County Clerk-Recorder’s Office (2954 Richardson Drive in Auburn).
A hearing before the Planning Commission is scheduled for Sept. 5 at the North Tahoe Event Center in Kings Beach. An agenda for the hearing including the time the item will be considered will be available no later than 72 hours before the meeting at this link. At this meeting, the commission will consider a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors to approve or disapprove requested project entitlements and certify the final EIR. A hearing before the Board of Supervisors to certify the final EIR and take action on the requested specific plan entitlements has not been scheduled but is anticipated to occur late fall or early winter 2024.
Learn more about the Village at Palisades Tahoe Specific Plan here: Village at Palisades Tahoe.
