The League to Save Lake Tahoe — an environmental watchdog organization that’s been upholding its slogan “Keep Tahoe Blue” for nearly 70 years — filed a lawsuit on Wednesday seeking court intervention to stop a massive development from going forward at Lake Tahoe’s largest ski resort.
The League joins environmental nonprofit Sierra Watch in the lawsuit against Placer County, which approved a large development at Palisades Tahoe ski resort after a nine-hour hearing on Nov. 19.
The development at Palisades Tahoe would “remake the region,” the lawsuit states, with 850 hotel, timeshare and residential units designed to accommodate tourists on vacation. The site is in an alpine valley but features high-rise buildings and nearly 300,000 square feet of commercial space, including a 90,000-square-foot entertainment and recreation center. The lawsuit also highlights 21 timeshare units that would be erected at the mouth of Shirley Canyon, a popular hiking destination with waterfalls and a snowmelt-fed creek.
The development would cause “severe, irreversible impacts” in Olympic Valley and North Tahoe, the lawsuit states, citing gridlock traffic, destruction of natural resources, urbanization of a rural mountain valley and degradation of Lake Tahoe.
“As a solutions-based organization, litigation is an option of last resort. To protect Lake Tahoe, we were left with no choice in this case,” said Darcie Goodman Collins, CEO of the League to Save Lake Tahoe, in a statement.