jledc.org

COALITION FIELD TRIP

In mid-August The June Lake Coalition and other community members gathered at the June Mountain parking lot and boarded a Mammoth Mountain bus to tour the Rodeo Grounds and look at where proposed Intrawest buildings might be situated on the property. Peter Gallager of Intrawest had balloons set by Triad Engineering at 60-65 ft heights to allow everyone to visualize how the heights of the proposed buildings would impact the site and surrounding view planes.

Many of the participants were pleasantly surprised at how the existing tree cover and the topography of the property minimized potential visual impacts of the proposed development from the highway, if properly placed. The trees became a point of discussion and it was clear that in order to minimize the loss of trees the proposed development would need to go up (60 ft) instead of creating a larger footprint outward with a lower (35 ft) building height option.

Steve Perkins, Intrawest Site Planner, prepared some conceptual drawings to illustrate the number of trees that would have to be removed to accommodate development with different builiding heights. He emphasized that the drawings were conceptual only, nothing set in stone. The design proposals that are being considered are said to have an Adirondack “Camp” feeling. These “Rodeo grounds concept” drawings, along with other coalition documents, are available on the internet from the Mono County website's June Lake Coalition page.

Discussions at the site also included the need for more commercial development here in June Lake. Several in attendance assured Mr.Gallager that an influx to our business community is seen as an essential component to the economic viability of June Lake, outweighing concerns about potential competition with existing businesses. Fifty years of history and current economic decline have made it evident that this community cannot reverse the trend alone.


THE COALITION VOTES

The June Lake Coalition, comprised of many dedicated community members, have been meeting for six months and have benefited from the expertise of many speakers and consultants. The goal has been to identify mutually beneficial planning solutions and develop specific recommendations and options for presentation to the Mono County Board of Supervisors. In the beginning the group identified common issues and concerns it had about the future of June Lake. During the course of ongoing meetings, these issues and concerns were translated into a list of specific values. (Individual Coalition members determined which areas of concern were of greatest interest to them).

A total of fifteen values were identified – some of these are:

1.Economic viability
2.Lack of affordable housing
3.Community character
4.Loss or reduction of County services

A ballot was created giving each Coalition member a choice of 6 different options related to the Rodeo Grounds development. Each Participant was asked to choose one of six options for community growth, and to identify the three values most important that supported their option choice.
On September 19 the votes were cast and Option #5 was voted for by the majority of the Coalition members. This option included a density of 900 units and building heights of 60 ft. This falls well within the parameters recommended and allowed by the existing June Lake Area Plan. No amendments to the General Plan nor the Area Plan would be required.

(Reference: June Lake Area Plan, page 45 Action 1.1, also see Appendix C Commercial Lodging High, page 3)

Beware that misinformation is currently being circulated by certain parties to citizens and others concerned with June Lake's future:

“… now we are being asked to amend this plan to allow for a massive development that does not guarantee conservation of our scenic community…”

“…There is no reason to amend the existing plan. After all, the natural resources of June Lake have not changed; what has changed is the desire of a developer to create corporate wealth”.

The above statements are inaccurate and designed to evoke emotional responses. Again, no amendments to existing planning documents are being proposed by anyone at this time. “Corporate wealth” is not the issue here: the economic viability and sustainability of June Lake as a year-round tourist community is dependent upon continued operations at June Mountain, and no businesses, corporate or otherwise, can be expected to operate without receiving a reasonable return on their investment.

When those opposing development raise their voices there is no mention of the economic decline of the June Lake Community. There seems to be no concern for the loss of jobs and loss of tourist visitors if June Mountain were to close.

It is becoming very clear that those who live and work here and are dependent on a tourist economy must express their intention to have their voices heard above those who would seek continued economic decline in our community.

Our efforts are to guide and direct future development in a manner which will foster a healthy business climate while preserving our existing community values.

WHAT”S NEXT?

The Coalition presents its recommendations to the Mono County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday October 10th at 6pm at the June Lake Community Center. All community members and interested parties are invited to attend.