This expansion plan, which encompasses 93 acres of development in Lake Tahoe’s Olympic Valley, was endlessly scrutinized and argued back and forth for nearly 15 years.
After considerable debate on both sides of the issue, a resolution has finally arrived for adding to the base village at Palisades Tahoe, the largest ski resort in the Lake Tahoe region.
The Placer County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday (May 12) to approve an amendment to the Village at Palisades Tahoe Specific Plan, allowing Palisades Tahoe to move forward with the vision of its village and base area. The plans will see the parking lots (East and West) around the current Village at Palisades Tahoe converted into various buildings.
This follows last month’s Placer County Planning Commission’s recommendation that the Board of Supervisors approve the plan.
The Village at Palisades will have 896 hotel/condominium units, 222,000 square feet of commercial space and a 72,000-square-foot Mountain Adventure Center, where its height was lowered from 96 feet to 78 feet.
The development plan won’t happen quickly. It could take 25 years before it’s completed.
Additional elements of the plan include extensive restoration of Washeshu Creek and the Olympic Channel, along with new and expanded trails and trail enhancements designed to improve connectivity and outdoor access.
Plan Opposition: Over the past decade or so, environmental groups have sought to have the village plans canceled. This was due to concerns about environmental and traffic impacts. This opposition was led by the Sierra Watch and the League to Save Lake Tahoe.
Tuesday’s vote by the supervisors resolves a bitter 15-year fight between the private equity developers who own Tahoe’s largest ski resort and a grassroots movement , many of them longtime Palisades skiers, local residents and environmentalists.
“We have arrived at a compromise,” said Cindy Gustafson, the Placer County supervisor who represents the Lake Tahoe region, at Tuesday’s meeting in Kings Beach. “And compromises, neither side gets fully what they want, but we all work together to move our community forward.”
Settlement Agreement: The two sides first announced a negotiated settlement in 2025. As part of this agreement, the plan featured a 40% decrease in total hotel and condo bedroom units, a 20% reduction in new commercial space, a reduction of the Mountain Adventure Center, and creation of a development boundary and timeline for construction.
In addition, an indoor waterpark, which was slated to be part of the Mountain Adventure Center, was no longer part of the plan.
For the community, the development offers a range of benefits. The agreement includes an employee housing complex with space for 295 workers, a $500,000 pledge toward employee housing facilities around Tahoe, and devoting land to the new West Valley Fire Station.
It also establishes an $800,000 regional initiative fund to support environmental restoration, public trails, and public safety improvements.
The majority of the plan will be constructed on existing asphalt parking lots and other previously disturbed areas while more than doubling the acres designated for open space. The plan also establishes standards and guidelines around building heights, setbacks and other design elements.
“We appreciate the Board’s decision, the extensive, comprehensive work of Placer County staff and their environmental consultants, and the involvement of the community in this process,” said Amy Ohran, President and COO of Palisades Tahoe. “Over the last 18 months, we have leaned in, listened closely and made meaningful adjustments that reflect what we heard. We’re excited to move forward.”
A Long Process: The plan to expand the village at Palisades Tahoe was initially proposed in 2011.
The latest vote was the third time the Placer County Board of Supervisors approved the development. The board’s approvals in 2016 and 2024 were both swiftly followed by litigation from environmental nonprofits, blocking the development’s progress.
The most recent lawsuit was filed in the fall of 2024 by environmental watchdog nonprofits – Sierra Watch and Keep Tahoe Blue (also known as the League to Save Lake Tahoe). The lawsuit argued the development would “remake the region” and cause “severe, irreversible impacts” to Lake Tahoe, citing issues from gridlocked traffic to degrading Lake Tahoe’s clarity.
Alterra Mountain Company, the private equity company that owns Palisades Tahoe, settled the lawsuit the following summer by agreeing to dramatically reduce the size and scope of the project. The settlement was a turning point in the development’s contentious history, allowing the developers and the environmentalists to reach a compromise.
“It’s been a really long journey, shaped by years of input, dialogue, and at times — let’s just be honest — some real tension and some real divisiveness,” Ohran said. “And the timing was right to evolve the plan and to evolve the relationships around the plan.”
