Homewood’s base area development plan was approved by the TRPA board at their Dec. 14 meeting, but already one lawsuit is being filed against the project.
Homewood’s base area project includes construction of a five-star hotel with up to 75 rooms, 56 residential condominiums, 47 multi-family condominiums, 48 ski-in ski-out chalets, 13 workforce-housing apartments, and 15,000 square feet of retail space. The project has a projected price tag of $500 million, according to the TRPA.
The California Clean Energy Committee, a Davis-based nonprofit that has sued planning projects across the state, advised the California Superior Court of its intention to sue Placer County’s approval of the project on Dec. 6. The California Clean Energy Committee focused on the traffic generation, energy use, and greenhouse gas emission from the project in its ‘writ of mandate’ to the superior court.
Despite the lawsuit, even project critics have recognized the environmental benefits of the Homewood redevelopment project. When completed, the project is expected to keep 80,000 pounds of sediment from entering the lake each year, reduce coverage, create on-site clean energy generation, and restore wetlands.
‘The project as proposed, with its 50-year storm water treatment capacity on site, restoration of mountainside dirt roadways, and other assorted and innovative measures, does appear to provide some water quality benefits,’ said Carl Young, of the League to Save Lake Tahoe, in a written statement.
Young said the League supports long-term monitoring of both traffic and water quality at the Homewood development.
But after negotiating some changes to the project, the League sounded much less critical of the project than it has in the past.
‘We respect employers and others in the community who seek to Keep Tahoe Blue while growing our local economy,’ said Young.
