A revised proposal for Squaw Valley’s village expansion should be submitted to Placer County in mid-December according to an article in the Sierra Sun. Alex Fisch, senior planner for Placer County, believes the revision will be “notable.” In the same article Chevis Hosea, vice president of development for Squaw Valley, said that “the community has been providing valuable input, and we’re considering it as we make revisions.”
Regional organizations, Sierra Watch and Friends of Squaw Valley, have jointly conducted an informal survey of residents in Squaw Valley. To the question: what do you like least about Squaw Valley, thirty percent of the participants responded the “proposed village development.” In contrast, to the question: what do you like most about Squaw Valley, thirty-four percent answered “mountains, scenery,” thirty-three percent answered “skiing, terrain,” and ten percent specified the “natural environment” according to the same article.
Spokespersons for the different sides of this issue have different viewpoints of the survey. Chevis Hosea is quoted as saying “to be frank, this is a very limited survey of people who have already been a part of our community input process.” He goes on to say that “since the community input process began, Squaw has received feedback from more than 5,000 people who have visited Base Camp, the information base for the village project, and from those who have attended more than 300 meetings held by resort officials.” The executive director of Sierra Watch, Tom Mooers, thinks the survey “shows there’s a deep connection to Squaw Valley based on love of the mountains and outdoors, and that those values shouldn’t be lost to irresponsible development.”
The local group Friends of Squaw Valley has set forth the following recommendations for inclusion in the development plan:
- A village that maintains an intimate scale, which prioritizes open space, pedestrian gathering places and mountain views.
- A village that serves as a community center, not just a center of a commercial resort.
- A village economy that is viable, sustainable and regionally integrative, while not compromising environmental qualities.
There are currently lots of different rumors circulating around the valley as to what changes this revision will contain. In recent talks with the staff at Base Camp there was no specific information other than that the changes will be significant. They have covered and moved their original model to a location behind a wall and are only showing the new larger model that shows the Village in the context of the entire Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows area. Expect to see changes to the old model once they have submitted the revised plan to the county.
Click this link to read the entire Sierra Sun article.
Click this link to visit Squaw Valley’s Village Expansion web site.
Placer County: Village at Squaw Valley Specific Plan
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