Settlement Reached in Tahoe Ski Resort Dispute
- William Fulton
- Jul 14, 2025
- 2 min read
After many years of litigation and controversy, environmentalists have reached a legal settlement with the owners of the Palisades Tahoe ski resort that will limit the size of the resort’s expansion.
Palisades Tahoe, formerly known as Squaw Valley, is already the largest ski resort in the Tahoe region and gained fame as the home of the 1960 Winter Olympics.
The settlement created a significant reduction in the size of the development known as Village at Palisades Tahoe, to be constructed at the baes of the mountain. Alterra Mountain Company, owner of Palisades Tahoe, will build about 900 bedrooms rather than 1,500 and cut commercial square footage from 280,000 square feet to 220,000. Environmentalists claimed that the settlement will reduce projected vehicle trips by 38%.
The settlement ends 14 years of fighting in the courts and at the Placer County Board of Supervisors over the project. The first application was filed in 2011. Placer County originally approved the project and certified a related environmental impact report in 2016. (CP&DR coverage of the 2016 Placer County approval can be found here.)