In The News – Ceding to Public Pressure, Homewood Mountain to remain Public
October 29, 2023 | Member Submitted
Originally Published in The Moonshine Ink 10/12/2023, Written by Melissa Siig
The West Shore community’s uproar over plans to turn Homewood Mountain Resort into a private ski area has paid off — JMA Ventures and Discovery Land Company announced they are no longer pursuing a private model, but instead plan to keep the ski area public while also selling lifetime memberships. They have further dropped plans to build the development in the mountain modern architectural style and instead reverted back to the Old Tahoe style as outlined in the 2011 master plan, once again ceding to community demands. However, Keep Homewood Public, a grassroots advocacy coalition formed earlier this year, remains wary of these promises until concrete assurances are in place that JMA and Discovery will follow through with plans to maintain public access to the mountain.
“The intent remains the same about updating Homewood’s infrastructure and creating a bed base at the mountain, but there has been an evolution,” said Ed Divita, partner at Discovery Land Company, which oversees sales, marketing, and operations of the new development. “We are taking into account feedback from the local community and TRPA [Tahoe Regional Planning Agency] and members of the design review committee.”