Homewood Mountain Resort has been described as the “beating heart” of the West Shore of Lake Tahoe by locals, but the privately-owned resort will be closed for the 2024-2025 ski season.
The announcement was made on Homewood’s website on the evening of Oct. 11, claiming the resort has been operating at a deficit for years, relying heavily on an unnamed financial partner who recently pulled their support.
Events leading up to this go back years though – the resort has been embroiled in controversy since they floated the idea of going private in 2022.
This was met with public outcry and the community-led nonprofit, Keep Homewood Public, was founded in response. Candice Wilmouth, a member of the group, said the nonprofit was founded to protect public access to the resort.
“JMA Ventures, who were the owners of the Mountain at the time, announced in 2022 their intentions to privatize,” Wilmouth said. “And that's when the community said, ‘absolutely not. This project was inherently public. You cannot take this away from our community.’”
A letter sent by JMA Ventures to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency or TRPA, spelled out their reasoning –increased traffic from nearby Epic and Ikon resorts prevented people from getting to Homewood, and skier numbers and sales were in steady decline.
In that letter, JMA claimed privatizing would generate funds for needed improvements laid out in the resort’s master plan, a document which outlines the future vision and development of the resort.
But Wilmouth said the master plan, which was agreed upon by the TRPA and Homewood Mountain Resort in 2011, has a core goal of public access, which would be limited under a privatization plan.
“[The Master Plan] talks about how they are going to restore Homewood to the gathering place of the West Shore, and provide access for visitors and the public alike,” Wilmouth said.
Any changes to this master plan must be approved by the TRPA. In May of 2024, Homewood proposed site changes to the plan, and although these would not directly affect public access, they have yet to be approved.
Jeff Cowen of TRPA said waiting for approval of the changes does not prevent the resort from operating.
“TRPA’s role in their business is simply to make sure the master plan matches the community vision that was established back in 2011,” Cowen said. “They can continue to operate under the existing master plan.”
On Homewood’s website in their closure announcement, they referenced delays in site change approvals as a contributing factor as to why their financial investor removed their support.
Their website reads, “Hypothetical fears and false rumors regarding public access to the mountain from Keep Homewood Public’s leadership have dramatically slowed the pace of the approval process. Without a clear path forward, our financial partner has withdrawn their support for this ski season.”
Although Homewood declined an interview, their website says, “Anyone who wants to buy a pass and ski at Homewood will continue to be able to do so on equal footing with anyone else.”
Wilmouth and community members still have their doubts though.
“They started saying, ‘Oh, we're not going to privatize, it's going to stay public.’ But we don't believe them, because the company that's at the front of this development now, Discovery Land Company, all of their projects around the world are private. 100% of them,” said Wilmouth.
Discovery Land Company and JMA Ventures jointly own Homewood. Discovery Land Company specializes in luxury real estate and operates the famous Yellowstone Club ski resort, frequented by the likes of Tom Brady and Bill Gates. It also carries a hefty membership fee of $300,000.
Citizens were concerned this could be the future of their beloved resort.
Homewood is chalking up this fear of lack of public access to the mountain to false rumors. This is in stark opposition to what was said by Allen Smith, of Mohari Hospitality at a Real Estate Capital Market conference in March.
In a recorded panel discussion Smith said, “We’re involved with a project in Lake Tahoe where we are privatizing a ski mountain with Discovery Land, and a U.S.-based partner of ours, JMA Ventures. If you’ve heard of Yellowstone Club, which is a Discovery Land project, think of it as a mini version of that in Lake Tahoe.”
At a TRPA meeting in September, community members spoke up. Dan Copenhagen, local resident and member of Keep Homewood Public, voiced his concerns over the resort’s intentions.
“They clearly intend to take Homewood private. Here is a specific example of that. JMA and the developers maintain right now an active SEC filing offering memberships to Homewood Club for $200,000 each,” Copenhagen said.
This regulatory government document was issued by Homewood Club, LLC in 2022 and is still active.
Throughout the TRPA meeting, community members called for explicit definitions of public access and that their enforcement be enshrined in the master plan before any changes are approved.
Shortly after this meeting the resort announced their closure for the upcoming season, resulting in the loss of countless jobs and revenue for West Shore businesses.
The closure of the resort hits home for people like Wilmouth.
“We call it the Beating Heart of the West Shore,” Wilmouth said. “I have friends and neighbors that work there and have worked there in the past. It's really the reason that people would come down (to) the West Shore and that's what's so concerning about the mountain deciding to close this season.”
In early November though, Homewood posted on their website an updated community access plan outlining specific discounted ski tickets for locals and pass types for future seasons.
Their website says, “We’ve updated our community access plan to make it clear, you’re welcome here. In addition, we will continue to offer local loyalty deals and discounts plus a few new deals to ensure skiing and riding remains affordable for our neighbors and community members.”
