Discovery Land Company, the owners of Homewood Mountain Resort have recently announced a change in their development plan from what had been originally approved. The new plan changes the architectural style of the homes and condominiums to be built, from a classic Old Tahoe Lodge style to a Mountain Modern style.
The ski area has two base areas; North and South. According to the original Homewood Project Overview the North Base is planned to be the location of the Village/Pedestrian Core with Club Facilities; dining, lounge, fitness center and kids club. There will be several residential buildings with large three and four bedroom luxury condominiums as well as 10 – 20 guest rooms, employee housing units, an amphitheater, underground guest parking, commercial space for shops and ski area base facilities. The South Base is planned to be primarily residential with the following facilities; ski services, dining/lounge, health and safety and parking. The first phase of the development is planned to be seven homes built at the North Base sometime in 2024. The second phase has not been made public to date.
Updated April 24, 2024
According to an article posted in the Sierra Sun on April 23, 2024, Discovery Land Co.’s Homewood Mountain Resort will be public. At a community meeting held April 23, Discovery Land Co. Partner Ed Divita said: “There’s no plans or intention to privatize Homewood, this project is for residents and visitors alike.” “If you have a pass or ticket and a way to get to the mountain, you can ski at Homewood,” “… we want all of our ski products available to all.” He also outlined the full resort plan with current revisions which should be complete in eight years. This plan includes:
- Installing an 8-passenger gondola to replace the Madden Chair
- Replacing Ellis Chair
- Improving snow-making capabilities
- Improving mountain maintenance
- Adding up to 225 residences
- Adding a hotel with up to 75 rooms
- Adding up to 13 on-site workforce housing units
- Adding a new base mountain facility that includes food and beverage service, ski school, rental shop, lockers, restrooms, first aid, and mountain administration
- Adding about 270 day-use parking spaces in a 3-level garage
- Adding a new mid-mountain lodge and gondola terminal with a learn-to-ski lift, store, pool, and food and beverage
- Employing alternative transportation methods
The ski area has two base areas; North and South. According to the original Homewood Project Overview the North Base is planned to be the location of the Village/Pedestrian Core with Club Facilities; dining, lounge, fitness center and kids club. There will be several residential buildings with large three and four bedroom luxury condominiums as well as 10 – 20 guest rooms, employee housing units, an amphitheater, underground guest parking, commercial space for shops and ski area base facilities. The South Base is planned to be primarily residential with the following facilities; ski services, dining/lounge, health and safety and parking. The first phase of the development is planned to be seven homes built at the North Base sometime in 2023 or 2024. The second phase has not been made public at this time and which Homeowners Associations property owners will be able to purchase Club memberships has not been released.
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History
JMA Ventures, the owners of Homewood, first announced the Homewood Resort Master Plan for the creation of a Village at the base of the ski area in 2006 just shortly after they acquired the ownership of the resort. Since that time they have gone through all of the necessary regulatory approval steps with the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) and Placer County. The county and TRPA approved the EIR-EIS and the plan in December 2011. As with most development proposals in the Tahoe area this proposal resulted in a loud outcry of disapproval by the environmentalist community. In January 2012 a public interest law firm Earthjustice, representing the Tahoe Area Sierra Club and the Friends of the West Shore, filed a lawsuit in federal court against JMA, Placer County and TRPA in an attempt to either stop the project or scale it back. In January 2013 Judge William B Shubb ruled in TRPA’s favor on most of the issues and sent one issue back to the Agency for further review. This put a halt to the project. On January 30, 2014 the lawsuit was settled. JMA is revising the plan to conform with the settlement and resubmitting it to both the TRPA and Placer County for final approval.
Updated October 19, 2023
JMA Ventures and Discovery Land Company announced they are no longer pursuing a private model for the Homewood Mountain Resort, but instead plan to keep the ski area public while also selling lifetime memberships. Additionally, they have dropped plans to build the development in the mountain modern architectural style and instead plan to build in the the Old Tahoe style as outlined in the 2011 master plan based on community demands. However, advocacy groups remains wary of these promises until concrete assurances are in place that JMA and Discovery will follow through with plans to maintain public access to the mountain.
Updated May 2, 2023
In a meeting this morning Jeff Cowen, TRPA Public Information Officer, said that TRPA has not received any request from JMA, Homewood to review the revised plans. When I asked does that mean forward movement is on hold, he said JMA, Homewood cannot start any new construction until they do submit a review request and TRPA and makes a decision.
Updated April 13, 2023
Homewood Mountain Resort and JMA Ventures has not released any information regarding in which local subdivisions property owners will be offered the opportunity to purchase memberships in their semi-private ski and lodging club.
Based on current information from both the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) and the Friends Of The Westshore it appears that JMA Ventures’ Homewood project is going to have to go back into TRPA review of the project due to the changes that the developer wants to make to both changing the resort into a semi private club and the design changes in architectural style of the homes and condominiums to be built, from a classic Old Tahoe Lodge style to a Mountain Modern style that many feel is not compatible with the local Homewood community.
According to the MAJOR PROJECTS page on the TRPA website; “The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) received a proposal in November, 2022 from Homewood Mountain Resort to make changes to its 2011 master plan. While no formal application to amend the master plan has been submitted, TRPA has communicated with Homewood that an application with adequate environmental review and public input opportunities will be needed for the changes to be considered.” READ MORE
Here is what the recent Friends Of The Westshore March/April Newsletter ahd to say; ” After receiving hundreds of community comment letters expressing concerns about the privatization of the resort, TRPA has questioned the consistency of the privatization with the approved Master Plan.” READ MORE
Read these two articles and click on their various links to get a detailed current understanding of where things stand with the proposed development.
Updated February 14, 2023
According to articles posted in Moonshine Inc it appears JMA Ventures intends to create a semi-private ski and lodging resort with lifetime family membership instead of traditional ski passes in the next two years. Membership will be for the owners of the Homewood Mountain Resort residences and for locals who live in some West Shore homeowners associations, with some available for purchase by members of the public. It has not been stated which homeowner associations will be included or how much lifetime membership will cost, but it will likely be more than most current passholders and local Homewood skiers can afford. JMA President Art Chapman gave the example of the Hermitage Club as a model for what Homewood’s family membership pricing structure might look like. The Heritage Club, located in Vermont opened three years ago and members pay a one-time fee of $75,000 for the whole family, plus a $15,000 annual fee.
JMA will be restricted by its conditions of approval with Placer County to 1,000 people a day on the mountain due to the development’s number of parking spaces. The parking situation, and the number of new housing units JMA sells, will dictate how many non-residential memberships will be available to the public. The current Homewood development plan calls for approximately 180 units and a small boutique hotel with around 20 rooms.
There will be community ski days three times a month where the public will be able to buy day tickets, Children’s ski teams will also continue, and there will be a small grocery store with around 30 surface parking spots open to the public.
The changes have not been approved by both Placer County and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) and public agencies do not yet know if the change to a semi-private resort will trigger further review. Locals are mobilizing to object and force the developer to move back into the approval process. The Chambers Beach and Mountain Club President Kevin Foster organized a meeting with more than six West Shore homeowners associations and they unanimously disapproved of Homewood’s decision to become semi-private and believe the change should be viewed as a new project that would require new approvals and entitlements.
Updated April 14, 2022
Development To Start This Summer
JMA Ventures, the owners of Homewood Mountain Resort, have announced plans to start construction this summer of the first phase of development of a modified version of their originally proposed village plan. The project is expected to take five to seven years to complete. The first phase will be seven homes built at the North Base. According to a recent article in Moonshine Ink, their plan is to create a semi-private ski and lodging resort. Season passes will be for the owners of the Homewood Mountain Resort residences and to locals who live in some West Shore homeowners associations.
For a list of the expected Homeowners Associations that will be included in the resort sign up for my Tahoe Insider’s Guide.
