Grassroots movement in Tahoe wins court fight over ‘Vegas-style excess’ development at Squaw Valley
On Tuesday, California’s Third District Court of Appeal sided with a grassroots movement in Lake Tahoe at a pivotal point in a decade-long fight, sending a major development at Squaw Valley Ski Resort back to environmental review.
Citing the project’s impacts on Lake Tahoe and wildfire evacuation routes, among other critiques, the court decided that the environmental analysis on Squaw Valley’s 94-acre development project was “inadequate.” (The ski resort’s officials said last year that the ski resort will be changing its name to remove the racist slur, but they have yet to announce a new name.)
Sierra Watch, a local environmental nonprofit organization, challenged the development and the governing agency that approved it in court on the grounds that it failed the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which is the state’s landmark environmental law. CEQA requires that government agencies — in this case, Placer County — fully consider the environmental impacts of a proposed development before they approve it. CEQA also requires that the public have an opportunity to comment on proposed development projects.
In the opinion on Tuesday, which was signed by three California justices, the court agreed with many, though not all, of Sierra Watch’s claims.
