Developer will pay $1.65 million for stormwater violations at construction site in Placer County

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE – The Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board has approved an agreement under which Palisades Development, LLC will pay $1.65 million for stormwater violations between 2018 and 2021 during construction activity at the Palisades at Olympic Valley (formerly Palisades at Squaw) residential development in Placer County.

In 2021, Lahontan Water Board staff received a complaint that Palisades Development, LLC was building homes in violation of the State Water Resources Control Board’s Construction General Permit. The residential development is nearly 20 acres in size and includes 63 single family homes as well as associated infrastructure, roads, and landscaping.

A subsequent inspection by board staff found that Palisades Development, LLC, among other items, had not updated its documents to reflect vertical construction, no longer employed a qualified stormwater professional, was not completing weekly inspections or rain event inspections, and had not installed or maintained numerous Best Management Practices across the construction site. Although Palisades took some measures to comply, the violations continued through the remainder of the 2021 construction season.

“We are pleased this permit violations case settled with a penalty amount comparable to the potential impact to high quality streams and rivers,” said Ben Letton, assistant executive officer for the Lahontan Water Board. “We are confident this case will encourage future compliance with the Construction General Permit in our region, particularly in the Truckee watershed.”

The $1.65 million penalty will be deposited to the State Water Resources Control Board Cleanup and Abatement Account. The funds in this account are used to provide parties, such as public agencies, non-profit organizations, and tribal governments with grants to clean up pollution that threatens water quality. Examples of such projects include pollution abatement at the former Leviathin Mine in the Lahontan Region.

The Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board is a California state agency responsible for the preservation and enhancement of the quality of California’s water resources in eastern California. For more information about the Lahontan Water Board, visit its website.