As always, we will keep you updated on these and other projects in our bi-monthly newsletters. We look forward to your continued feedback and support, and encourage you to contact us with any additional ideas or questions you may have.

Sincerely,

Homewood Mountain Resort

We have received some updates to the Resort’s plans related to a new “Conceptual Plan” that has been recently circulating among the public. Highlights include:

• An overall decrease in the number of new residential units to approx. 200-225 units at build-out;

  • In addition to the seven new units on the Fawn St. parcel (“Phase 1A”), which has been approved by Placer County’s Design Review Committee but is still under review by TRPA, 28-35 townhouse units would be developed in Phase 1B (see image below);

• All units will be sold for private ownership;

• Once the units are built and sold, the ski area will be used by resident owners and locals, who will have an ongoing opportunity to ski at Homewood; skiing at the resort will eventually no longer be available to the general public.

• No hotel for the general public. There will be a smaller “concierge” hotel of 20-25 units for use by residents’ guests only;

• The Resort will include a general store that will be open to the public and a 1.5 level parking structure for store customers and day-use by skiers/snowboarders at the corner of Highway 89 and Fawn St.;

• The architectural design will change from the traditional, chalet-style depicted in the approved Master Plan to generally flat roofs and a “mountain modern” design.

Meeks Bay Resort Restoration Project

The Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Report (DEIS/DEIR) is now expected to be released in late March/early April; a 60-day public comment period including public meetings will follow. We will send an alert when the DEIS/DEIR is available for review and comment. Information from previous meetings and other materials can be accessed here.

Martis Valley West Specific Plan

Great news! In February, California’s Third District Court of Appeals issued another victory for Tahoe conservationists when it halted the 760-unit housing project approved by Placer County in 2016, stating that Placer County’s review of the Martis Valley West project was “inadequate” because the developers failed to disclose the project’s impact on traffic in Lake Tahoe and to mitigate the project’s climate impacts. As reported in the San Francisco Chronicle:

“[The] ruling also reinforces a new precedent that’s emerging to hold more developers accountable for their impacts on Lake Tahoe by closing a long-standing loophole that lets projects located just outside of the basin skirt Tahoe’s stricter environmental regulations.”

FOWS appreciates the hard work of the Co-Petitioners who filed the lawsuit: The League to Save Lake Tahoe, Mountain Area Preservation Foundation, and Sierra Watch. We congratulate them on this victory!

The developers could seek a re-hearing or appeal to the California Supreme Court, although we hope that they will instead work with conservation organizations to permanently protect the undeveloped forest lands where the project was proposed.

Tahoe Keys Aquatic Invasive Weeds Treatment Proposal

The controversial plan to apply herbicides (in addition to non-chemical treatments) to the Tahoe Keys lagoons was approved by the State Water Board and TRPA Governing Board in January, although the agencies’ own environmental analysis concluded that the alternative using only non-chemical treatments was the environmentally-superior option. Further, the approved project fails to address the key cause of the extensive weed growth - including stagnant water and nutrient inputs (e.g. from fertilizer use). Background information can be viewed on the Sierra Club’s website here and Sierra Club comment letters and attachments (one of which FOWS was a signatory) can be accessed here. In February, the Sierra Club submitted this Petition to the Water Board requesting the project be halted and the Water Board conduct a review of its decision.

Hazardous Algae Blooms

In recent years, HABs have been detected in the Tahoe Keys lagoons and other local south shore beaches. Climate change, coupled with ongoing nutrient inputs, is expected to increase HAB occurrences. Local citizens have started two Facebook pages to share research, information, report potential HAB occurrences, and advise of any known local cases of neurological disorders such as ALS and Parkinson’s (click on the links below). Their information also states that herbicide use makes the problem worse.

Tahoe Hazardous Algae Blooms

Tahoe Area ALS/MND Research Library

FOWS has been informed that plans are underway to have scientists test the algae blooms and their effect on human health this spring. We will share future updates and findings.