Donate

Martis Valley West

Defending Lake Tahoe from the impacts of reckless development

Support our advocacy

On February 14, 2022, California’s Third District Court of Appeal unanimously decided in favor of the League, our conservation partners, and environmental protections for Lake Tahoe in a long-running legal fight. The ruling protects North Lake Tahoe from oversized development while dealing a serious setback to the would-be developers of the Martis Valley West project.

Read the press release here.

On July 13, 2022, the Court of Appeal issued a Writ and Judgment directing the rescission of all approvals for the North Tahoe building proposal. The action finalized an important legal victory for the League and our co-plaintiffs Sierra Watch and Mountain Area Preservation, effectively closing this chapter in our ongoing effort to protect Lake Tahoe form the impacts of oversized, improper development – even when it’s located outside the Basin’s boundaries.

Read our blog post.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Martis Valley West is a proposed 760-unit residential development with an additional 6.6 acres of businesses planned to be built on a ridgeline overlooking Lake Tahoe and the Martis Valley, immediately adjacent to the Tahoe Basin.

The League is engaged in a decade-long fight to ensure development outside the Basin, such as the Martis project, does not impact Lake Tahoe’s environment or community – by creating traffic impacts, pollution and increased fire danger. The Court of Appeal’s February 2022 decision was a major, precedent-setting victory that can protect Tahoe from impacts beyond the Basin’s boundary. However, we will remain vigilant in the likely case that another project seeks to skirt the strict environmental protections that govern projects inside the Basin boundary.

HISTORY
Parcel map for proposed Martis Valley West development project.

Parcel map for the proposed Martis project.

See a timeline of important milestones.

In 2016, Placer County approved the proposed project against strong opposition from the League, environmental organizations and community members who cited unavoidable impacts to Lake Tahoe’s fragile environment, among other objections. After exhausting all other means to amend the project, the League to Save Lake Tahoe joined with Sierra Watch and Mountain Area Preservation to ask a court to enforce California’s environmental law to protect Lake Tahoe from pollution caused by the proposed Martis Valley West project.

In the spring of 2018, the Placer County Superior Court issued an order to vacate and set aside Placer County’s 2016 approvals of the proposed Martis Valley West project, citing Placer County’s failure to provide sufficient analysis of the project’s impacts on emergency evacuation, such as in the event of a wildfire.

The project developers had also originally proposed development on adjacent land inside the Basin (the Brockway campground), but that property has been sold to the U.S. Forest Service where it will be protected from development in perpetuity.

Read more about the proposed project and our objections in this in-depth article.

RELATED NEWS

In August of 2021, a court invalidated approvals for a proposed development project in Olympic Valley in a case very similar to Martis Valley West. In that decision, attorneys for Sierra Watch argued that the project’s environmental impact report intentionally failed to analyze or mitigate the project’s potential impacts to Lake Tahoe from added traffic. Combined with the favorable outcome in the Martis case, the two decisions set a strong precedent to help secure responsible, Lake-friendly planning for the region.

READ MORE
Martis Valley West Project History
  • 2010
    2010 - 2012

    Initial designs for the Martis Valley West surface and discussions with conservation groups begin.

  • 2013
    2013 - 2016

    The public process for community engagement and environmental review through Placer County takes place.

  • 2016
    October 11

    Despite years of strong opposition from conservationists and the local community, the Placer County Board of Supervisors issues final approvals for Martis Valley West.

    November 10

    The League to Save Lake Tahoe, Sierra Watch and Mountain Area Preservation file suit to invalidate the project approval, requesting that the court enforce the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to protect Lake Tahoe from pollution caused by the Martis Valley West project. They also alleged that the County violated the Timberland Productivity Act when it rezoned the Martis Valley West parcel to allow for urban development on timberland.

  • 2018
    March 12

    The Placer County Superior Court vacates Placer County’s 2016 approvals of the Martis Valley West project, citing the County’s failure to provide sufficient analysis of the project’s impacts on emergency evacuation, such as in the event of a wildfire.

    May 10

    The conservations appeal, asking California’s Third District Court of Appeal to revisit environmental impacts associated with the Martis Valley West project that were not addressed in Placer County Superior Court’s prior ruling. The appeal seeks to ensure all the project’s environmental threats are addressed under CEQA, and that a precedent is set to protect Lake Tahoe. The appeal also asks the court to rule for conservationists on their claim under the Timberland Productivity Act.

  • 2020
    December 10

    The USDA Forest Service announces that it has completed the purchase of a 120-acre parcel adjacent to the Martis Valley West property that was also owned by the Martis developers. The 120 acres had been planned for development, but after strong opposition from conservation groups and the community, the developers agreed to sell the property to the Forest Service, where it will be protected from development in perpetuity.

  • 2021
    August 24

    California’s Third District Court of Appeal rules that Placer County violated CEQA in its approval of a proposed development project in Olympic Valley, in a case very similar to Martis Valley West.

    December 17

    Oral arguments are held in the conservationists’ case before California’s Third District Court of Appeal.

  • 2022
    February 14

    California’s Third District Court of Appeal unanimously decided in favor of the League, our conservation partners, and environmental protections for Lake Tahoe in a long-running legal fight. The ruling protects North Lake Tahoe from oversized development while dealing a serious setback to the would-be developers of the Martis Valley West project.

    July 13

    The Court of Appeal issued a Writ and Judgment directing the rescission of all approvals for the Martis Valley West Project.