FILE: An aerial view of Palisades Tahoe ski resort.
Two and a half hours into a seven-hour, emotionally charged hearing about a proposed development that will reshape Olympic Valley and Palisades Tahoe ski resort, Dee Byrne walked up to the dais to speak before the Placer County Planning Commission.
The stakes were high: The day’s meeting was entirely devoted to one item on the agenda. The commission would decide whether to endorse the 93.3-acre development just outside the Tahoe Basin before the development goes to the county Board of Supervisors, who will make the ultimate decision on the project later this fall.
Since its inception, the Palisades development proposal has sown division in the North Tahoe, Truckee and Olympic Valley communities. The ski resort wants to repurpose the giant asphalt parking lot at the bottom of the mountain, redeveloping the disturbed land into hotels, condominiums and timeshares for visitors to stay overnight, with as many as 1,493 new bedrooms. There would also be retail and restaurant space and pedestrian pathways, as well as affordable housing for 386 employees.
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The ski resort has consistently argued that it needs to build more beds for visitors to become a competitive destination worldwide and boost the economy. The ski resort also believes that if more people stay overnight at lodging within walking distance of the chairlifts, the development will reduce ski traffic. That said, the development may also put thousands of cars on the roads in and around Lake Tahoe.
The development’s progress has been stymied by a steadfast opposition movement that operates under the slogan of “Tahoe Truckee True.” The opposition says it wants to see a scaled-down version of the development, one that will be more in line with the Tahoe community’s priorities on housing, wildfire safety and values.
“This do-nothing, stop-everything and delay approach simply is not in the best interest of this valley long term or of Tahoe,” Byrne said. “Things are falling apart, and businesses in the village cannot survive. We need a viable, vibrant Village, diverse base area offering, and updated infrastructure to meet the current winter demand and the summer demand that comes to this region that we cannot currently serve.”
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Last week at the hearing, almost every seat was taken, and people stood around the edge of the........