Homewood Ski Resort Announces It Will Not Open for 24/25 Season | South Lake Tahoe

HOMEWOOD, Calif. – In a letter posted on their website and social media, the owners of Homewood Mountain Resort (HMR) announced that they cannot open for the 24/25 season due to financial constraints, but the Community says it’s more than that.

In May 2024, HMR submitted an application to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) for what it said were minor changes to the master plan approved in 2011. On September 25, the TRPA Planning Committee heard a proposal that would revise that plan and change the language of the Community Access Plan.

“The proposed changes are merely site plan changes,” the HMR team explained. “The proposed site plan changes seek to relocate the gondola station to a more skier-friendly location, reduce building mass, reduce residential density and open mountain and lake view corridors. The revisions do not make any changes to the master plan’s central goal of restoring Homewood as an important gathering place for Lake Tahoe’s western shore. Anyone who wants to purchase a pass and ski at Homewood will continue to be able to do so on an equal basis with everyone else.

HMR has been owned by San Francisco Bay Area-based JMA Ventures since 2006. They partnered with Discovery Land Company (DLC) in 2022 to develop the popular small resort.

Changes to Homewood included in the original 2011 plan included a hotel with up to 75 rooms, 225 townhouses (now reduced to 122), the addition of 13 workforce housing units, a new Base Mountain facility and a parking garage the possibility of paid parking.

Their proposed changes to that 2011 plan include moving the base of the gondola to the area, rather than to the center of the hill where it is now located. The views from SR89 would improve and instead of the view of a large parking lot, drivers would experience a village atmosphere similar to that experienced in South Lake Tahoe at Heavenly Village.

According to HMR, they are still awaiting approval of the changes, including the approval submitted over a year ago to replace the Madden Chair (gondola) to advance ski infrastructure and other investments.

“Hypothetical fears and false rumors about public access to the mountain from Keep Homewood Public leadership have dramatically slowed the pace of the approval process,” the HMR team said.

HMR attempted to make the West Shore Resort private, and the plan was met with major opposition in the community. Keep Homewood Public (KHP) is a group of small businesses, residents and visitors who oppose privatization of the resort.

“Keep Homewood Public is extremely disappointed with this decision by the mountain,” the group said in a statement on social media. “This is the wrong decision for the community, the mountain’s local employees, West Coast businesses, the rental market and for the overall project/development.”

The resort said its financial partner has withdrawn support for this ski season, with no clear path forward. KHP said it doesn’t believe that statement, saying the decision came right after what they called an auspicious TRPA meeting on Sept. 25 that they say paves the way for the public to vote shares the mountain with members.

“Homewood is the heart of the West Coast – we don’t want to imagine what could happen to our community if that heart permanently stopped beating,” KHP said.

HMR says they made the difficult decision not to open, knowing full well the huge disappointment their announcement would cause.

“The HMR team remains focused on working through the permitting process at upcoming planning meetings this year with community members and government agencies in hopes that we can install the gondola next year and resume operations at the resort sometime soon,” it said stated in the letter from the company. “We are also working to support each employee to find alternative employment or remain with us while we work through the approval processes.”

There was an informational article about HMR during the TRPA Planning Committee meeting on September 25th. “We view the West Coast as a popular part of Lake Tahoe,” TRPA Executive Director Julie Regan said during the meeting. “Your concerns are important to us,” she told the large number of members of the public who attended. The agenda item was to gather feedback on the master plan in Homewood, particularly public access to the mountain, which HMR said was still their goal and part of the master plan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU-xwhKy44

Homewood moderators said everyone will continue to have access to Homewood Mountain without exception. Year-round activities planned included hiking trails, a swimming pool, and year-round food and beverage operations. There are concerns about the use of the words “access without exception” as speakers said there were limits on daily and annual passes and no definitions were published on how many tickets would be open to the public.

Some of the commenters are concerned that annual resort memberships give private members more access than public members. DLC, a luxury real estate brand that offers privacy and exclusivity in its “clubs” around the world. They currently have Homewood in their selection of luxury private condominiums and resorts on their website.

One person, Chris Heasman, was invited to the TRPA meeting from Scotland, where he had experienced DLC operations on the Scottish islands. He said when DLC took over, it was not good news for the region. According to Heasman, DLC features a complete lack of transparency, widespread environmental degradation and unauthorized construction. He said other communities facing DLC ​​said the company can’t be taken at its word, especially when it comes to public access. He said to look at Barbuda, Portugal, the Bahamas and other areas where the situation was much worse than Scotland.

KHP said the Mountain’s decision not to open this season suggests they had no intention of being public at all, which DLC says is not true.

Since the meeting was only an information event, no vote took place.

“The agency has worked with Homewood management, partner agencies and community representatives to review master plan changes proposed by property owners and continue to address critical issues including public access, employee housing and fire response,” TRPA said in a statement: “When Homewood Mountain Resort completes its work, the agency may submit the proposal to the Board of Directors for consideration. TRPA understands how important Homewood is to skiers and snowboarders, as well as to the West Coast, and we remain committed to keeping the community informed about the public process in the coming months.”

Sign up for updates by emailing TRPA at [email protected]. For more information, updates and documents, visit the Homewood Master Plan page.