Homewood Mountain Resort has been open to the public since 1962.
Let’s keep it that way.
What’s going on?
In 2022, developer JMA Ventures, supported by partners Mohari Hospitality and Discovery Land Company, announced their intention to convert Homewood into a members-only resort.
What does “members only” mean?
Instead of “maintaining the heritage of a ski resort that can be enjoyed equally by local residents and visitors,” as JMA promised in their 2011 Master Plan, JMA announced an exclusive residence club for the super-rich, similar to Discovery Land Company clubs in Yellowstone, Scotland, and Southampton.
Has Discovery agreed to public access?
Under pressure from regulators and the community, Discovery published a “Draft Public Access Plan” that contains unenforceable generalities like “season ski passes will be available for purchase by the public.”
The vagueness could help Discovery create the exclusivity members expect by discouraging public recreation in the future.
(c) Mike English. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
What are the impacts?
Homewood sells thousands of passes every year. If Discovery were to discourage public recreation by raising prices, reducing pass availability, letting lifts and lodges deteriorate, or reducing parking, those displaced residents and visitors would drive elsewhere to ski/board. This would worsen already-congested Resort Triangle traffic.
Current development on Fawn St
Master Plan architectural visualization (video)
What are those buildings on Fawn St?
The developers have begun building “mountain modern” houses on Fawn Street. These buildings contradict the “style of the classic old Tahoe lodges” specified in JMA’s Master Plan, which could set a precedent for the rest of the resort’s architecture.
What’s the latest?
TRPA has required the developers to propose a revised Master Plan. Discovery expects to submit this “in April.”
We have told regulators that the new proposal must include enforceable specifics on public access, such as pass quantity and pricing commitments, parking availability, and shuttle capacity/frequency.
We have requested enforceable specifics from Discovery. Their responses, which we have documented in the KHP Scorecard, continue to threaten public access at Homewood.
What is our ask?
We want the vision promised in the Master Plan quantified, built, and enforced.
Public access: anyone may recreate at Homewood year-round.
Persons-At-One-Time: dedicate all of Homewood’s regulated operating capacity to the public.
Pricing: public access for skiing, snowboarding, hiking, biking, and picnicking, including for day visitors, to be priced comparably with Mt. Rose or Diamond Peak rates.
Perpetuity: execute the recreational land use deed restriction required by the Master Plan.
Architecture to evoke the “Old Tahoe” look of West Shore landmarks such as Vikingsholm and the Hellman-Ehrman Mansion.
Community benefits to be included in every phase of building, supported by a bonded fund covering 110% of construction cost.
Ski area facilities, including for day skiers, to be upgraded as promised.
Enforceable specifics to be documented in a Ski Area Operating Plan, per TRPA Code of Ordinances, or development agreement, and enforced by TRPA.
How can I help?
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We want to update our community the very minute Homewood's developers submit their proposed plans to regulators.
When that plan is submitted, we will need everyone who loves "Homiewood" to tell Placer County and TRPA your opinion of what Discovery Land Company, JMA Ventures, and Mohari Hospitality are trying to do.
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