Scaled back Palisades Tahoe project cuts 72% from original proposal
KINGS BEACH, Calif. — May 12, 2026 — At a public hearing in North Lake Tahoe today, the Placer County Board of Supervisors approved the downsized Palisades Tahoe development project. Their vote today resolves the biggest development controversy in the Sierra and ends a fifteen-year fight over the future of Olympic Valley.
The downsized Village at Palisades Tahoe Specific Plan cuts more than 70% from the original proposal and does not include the most controversial feature of previous versions: a massive indoor waterpark.
“Today’s vote is great news for Tahoe and everyone who stood up to defend our mountain values,” said Tom Mooers of Sierra Watch, the group that organized the campaign to protect Olympic Valley and keep Tahoe Truckee True. “And it proves that we can indeed work together to protect the places we love.”
Keep Tahoe Blue joined Sierra Watch in supporting and celebrating the revised plan.
“At Keep Tahoe Blue, we’re guided by a simple principle: protecting this place means being willing to stand firm when necessary, and being willing to work together when progress is possible,” said Keep Tahoe Blue’s CEO Darcie Goodman Collins, PhD. “This revised project reflects that balance – and it means almost 40% less traffic impacts to Tahoe.”
Resolution was a long time coming; today’s approvals came after years of controversy – and a flurry of collaborative negotiations between the developer and conservation groups Sierra Watch and Keep Tahoe Blue.
It began in 2011, when Alterra’s precursor, KSL Capital Partners, bought the famed Sierra ski resort then known as Squaw Valley. Their initial proposal called for new development of a size and scale the region had never seen: a series of highrises with a total of 3,187 new bedrooms.
Sierra Watch organized a grassroots movement of local residents and Tahoe stalwarts, working together originally as the campaign to Keep Squaw True, re-named Tahoe Truckee True when the resort changed its name from Squaw Valley to Palisades Tahoe.
By 2014, KSL had cut their project down to 1,493 bedrooms. The main attraction would have been a 90,000-square-foot indoor waterpark, designed to include North America’s tallest indoor waterslide and attract 300,000 visitors every year. Would-be developers claimed they needed “a wet amenity to compete with the lake.”
Year after year, thousands of volunteers engaged in the struggle to protect their mountain values, sending letters to officials, turning out for public hearings, and even marching in parades.
Placer County approved the project in 2016. Sierra Watch filed suit to overturn those entitlements – and prevailed. But in 2022, Alterra requested a new round of approvals – for the exact same project.
Two years later, the Placer County Board of Supervisors again approved the project. Sierra Watch filed suit – again; this time they were joined by Keep Tahoe Blue. After the two groups filed their complaint, all parties involved came to the table to chart a different course.
Over six months of collaborative discussions, Alterra, Keep Tahoe Blue, and Sierra Watch hammered out a settlement. Under the new agreement, Alterra promised to downsize the development – cutting the number of bedrooms approved in 2024 by 40%, reducing commercial square footage by 20%, and permanently removing the indoor waterpark.
“It’s been a really long journey,” said Amy Ohran, President and COO of Alterra’s Palisades Tahoe resort, at today’s hearing. “And the plan presented today represents a truly new approach – smaller with a deeper sense of place.”
That new approach created an opportunity for a truly collaborative resolution, such that, after more than a decade of conflict, a remarkable thing happened at the hearing: the Tahoe conservation groups that had stood in opposition took to the podium to support the revised proposal.
“Sierra Watch urges approval of the Revised Village at Palisades Tahoe Specific Plan,” said Tom Mooers of Sierra Watch, the group that spearheaded a grassroots campaign to protect Olympic Valley. “And we take a moment to appreciate what got us here: the shared passion of the tens of thousands of people who stood with us to keep Tahoe Truckee True.”
Placer County Senior Planner Patrick Dobbs noted, “Today represents a different approach – of progress, collaboration over opposition, and a desire to find common ground and end this long-running legal battle.”
After two hours of comments and questions, members of the Board of Supervisors shared their support for the revised project.
District 5 Supervisor Cindy Gustafson described the resolution as “a monumental effort.”
Board Chair Shanti Landon agreed. “There have been huge strides made,” she said. “I am very supportive of moving forward.”
The vote to approve the project was unanimous.
###
About Sierra Watch
Sierra Watch secures conservation outcomes to protect the natural resources, mountain communities, and timeless values of the Tahoe Sierra. Founded in 2001, the Nevada City-based non-profit has built a remarkable track record in land preservation in the Tahoe Sierra, on Donner Summit, and for other treasured Sierra landscapes. For more information, visit www.sierrawatch.org.
About Keep Tahoe Blue
Keep Tahoe Blue is the donor-funded, science-based organization of environmental experts and Tahoe-lovers who have led the protection and restoration of the Lake Tahoe Basin since 1957. We use science to design innovative solutions, advocate with federal and state partners on behalf of the Lake, and engage thousands of volunteers as citizen scientists and stewards of Tahoe. Visit keeptahoeblue.org to donate and learn how to help conserve Tahoe for all — for generations to come.