A milestone agreement resolves a 14-year conflict over a development at Lake Tahoe’s largest ski resort, Palisades Tahoe.

Environmental watchdog groups in Lake Tahoe reached a monumental agreement with Palisades Tahoe, the largest ski resort in the region, to significantly downsize a controversial development. The agreement resolves 14 years of conflict over the future of Olympic Valley, located a few miles northwest of the Tahoe Basin.

The downsized development plans are part of a settlement reached after seven months of negotiations between the League to Save Lake Tahoe, Sierra Watch and Palisades Tahoe.

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“This is a resolution to the 14-year fight, and everyone who cares about Tahoe and joined us in standing up to keep Tahoe Truckee true should feel good about this outcome and what we’ve all achieved together,” said Tom Mooers, executive director of Sierra Watch, in an interview Tuesday morning with SFGATE.

In November, the Placer County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a plan to build 850 hotel, timeshare and residential units, intended to increase tourist accommodations at the ski resort. The development plan also included nearly 300,000 square feet of commercial space in the narrow alpine valley. One of the sticking points of the development that critics repeatedly called out was a 90,000-square-foot entertainment and recreation center the ski resort had originally envisioned as an indoor water park. Palisades Tahoe is a world-class ski resort and destination for outdoor recreation, and critics repeatedly said an indoor water park would be grossly misaligned with Tahoe’s culture and........

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