More attention is being aimed that direction as the project continues to evolve, leading to changes in the distribution of housing types and numbers.

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The Changing Face of Homewood Mountain Resort

by Jerry Wotel

    Since Moonshine Ink reported on “Homewood’s Overhaul,” in the February 2008 issue, there have been changes to the housing aspect of the resort plan. The first publicly announced plan for the real estate development Homewood Mountain Resort (HMR), by JMA Ventures LLC, occurred six months prior. This followed several community meetings where discussion centered mainly on the ski area and environmental improvements, with little focus on the real estate portion. More attention is being aimed that direction as the project continues to evolve, leading to changes in the distribution of housing types and numbers.

    In April 2008, HMR submitted its Community Enhancement Program (CEP) Application to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA). The Application proposed redevelopment of the lower mountain facilities and conversion from a day-use ski area to a destination resort, with upgraded ski lift services and a new 14,000-feet mid-mountain lodge to house a private club for exclusive use of owners of the condominiums and fractional ownership units and their guests. An adjacent swimming pool is available to West Shore residents in the summer.

    In the CEP Application, the North Base contains a five-star boutique hotel, individually-owned condo hotel suites and penthouse units, a full service restaurant, a spa and fitness facility, all skier facilities, employee housing, parking structures, a 25,000 square feet commercial area containing a grocery store, hardware store, and ice cream parlor, and administration and operations. The South Base has 120 two-story condominiums, and multi-family condominium residences, up to three stories in height, that replace the current lodge and ski school site. The Application specifies a maximum housing density of 219 units at the North Base: 50 to 75 hotel rooms, 40 two-bedroom hotel/condo units (20 with lock offs creating another 20 rooms), 30 timeshare/fractional ownership units, 30 condo/penthouse units for sale, 12 multi-family condo units for sale, 12 affordable employee units, and 11 single-family home lots for sale.

    However, notes JMA Ventures President Art Chapman, the site plan and unit distribution for the HMR continue to evolve. Current thinking has maximum housing density at 233 units at the North Base and 99 condominiums at the South Base. There are now 40 timeshare/fractional ownership units, and 16 multi-family condo units for sale.

    Parking for the North Base will be 300 surface-parking spaces for skiers, at the site of the current gravel parking lot ,which is currently being evaluated by the TRPA for classification as a wetland. There will be separate parking with 300 to 400 spaces – principally for hotel use and for residents – below grade for the hotel/lodge building and the residential condominiums, largely below the building footprints of the hotel, gondola, and day skier facility.

    Numbers of guests and owners are critical to the impacts on traffic, utilities, and facilities. This can be accurately estimated by the number of bedrooms. On the North Base facility, there is a range of one to three bedrooms depending on the type of unit and market conditions with a total of 285 to 497 bedrooms, and estimated 570 to 994 residents (assuming two persons per bedroom). The 2000 Census figures show Homewood at a total of 1,396 housing units with 840 fulltime residents living in 369 housing units. Full occupancy of HMR’s new development would double the number of fulltime residents in Homewood.

    As you read this, you will have missed the TRPA Advisory Planning Commission (APC) that was held on August 13 to elicit comments from APC members and the general public on the Draft Notice of Preparation (NOP) and proposed joint Environmental Impact Study/Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR) with Placer County. However, the TRPA Governing Board will also review this project on August 27, at 9:30 a.m. at the TRPA Board Room at Stateline, Nevada.

    ~ Jerry Wotel is the President North Tahoe Citizen Action Alliance, ntcaa.org.