Placer County OKs Squaw’s mega development
By Benjamin Spillman, Reno Gazette-Journal
A proposal to dramatically upgrade resort offerings in Squaw Valley won approval by the Placer County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday on a 4-1 vote.
The proposal by Squaw Valley Ski Holdings, which owns Squaw Valley Resort, is a plan with multiple, village-style developments with new hotel rooms, restaurants, retail, condominiums, time shares and an indoor water park or mountain adventure center.
The project, which would take as many as 25 years to build, has divided much of the Lake Tahoe community between people who see it as an important step forward for the iconic winter resort that hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics and others who see it as a blight on some of the most scenic and lucrative real estate in the Lake Tahoe area.
“I meditated on this process for days and I relied on my head and my heart and my gut to make this decision today,” Supervisor Jennifer Montgomery said of her “no” vote.