There’s room at the Inn … for haggling
Inn at the Village argues for reduced affordable housing obligation.
Mammoth Lakes Housing (MLH) Board members continued to discuss how to proceed with a proposed Affordable Housing Mitigation Plan for the Inn at the Village at Monday night’s MLH Board meeting.
The Inn at the Village project is intended to expand the 80|50 private residence club in the North Village between Canyon Boulevard and Minaret Road in Mammoth, adding a building C to the existing buildings A and B.
Building C will include up to 67 bedrooms, as well as a restaurant, spa, and outdoor pool and jacuzzis.
Inn at the Village applicants Severy Realty Group/SFI Mammoth Owner, LLC have already requested several amendments to the North Village Specific Plan, including an increase in the allowable density for the project site, an increase in the allowable building height, and a reduction in the required front yard setbacks along Minaret Road.
Now the project is requesting an Affordable Housing Mitigation Plan that would allow the Inn to carry over alleged credits from the original 80|50 In Lieu Fee Agreement for Affordable Housing Units to cover its requirement to either provide workforce housing on-site, or mitigate the project’s impact on affordable housing.
According to the Town’s staff report regarding the proposed Housing Mitigation Plan, the original developers of the 80|50 project entered into an agreement with the Town that ensured the developers would pay $1 million per development (A, B, and C) to buy Employee Housing Unit (EHU) credits.
The money paid to the town for these EHU credits would go into the Town’s Housing Mitigation Fund, with the goal of mitigating 80|50’s impact on the availability of affordable housing within the community.
Per the 80|50 Agreement, the developers did pay $2 million for buildings A and B. However, the original developer did not construct building C, and did not pay the final $1 million.
Since the original development was completed, the Town has changed its approach to affordable housing mitigation. The Town’s interim policy now requires that 10 percent of the total project units be provided for on-site affordable housing. But the Town can also approve an Affordable Housing Mitigation Plan to secure affordable housing unites off-site.
Because the current applicant is proposing a 67-bedroom building, they would have to provide 6.7 EHUs at the project site.
Instead, the applicant is proposing an alternate Mitigation Plan, claiming the original project had 4.5 EHU credits leftover after the A and B buildings were completed. The reasoning: the original developer paid $2 million, which yielded credits for 20 EHUs. The developer also received credit for two EHUs for demolishing two commercial buildings on the project site, bringing the total to 22 EHUs. But the construction of Buildings A and B by the developer generated a demand for 17.5 EHUs, leaving 4.5 credits unused.
The developers argue that the Town should not require any additional housing mitigation beyond the application of the project’s existing 4.5 EHU credits.
But the Mammoth Lakes Housing (MLH) Board argued that the Inn project cannot be a successor to the 80|50 Agreement and only receive the remaining 4.5 EHUs of credit; if the Inn project is a successor to the 80|50 Agreement, developers would also owe the $1 million per the original 80|50 Agreement.
“If they didn’t pay the full amount [of the $3 million In Lieu Fee], then I’d argue there are no credits,” said MLH Board member Bill Taylor. “There’s no escape clause that I can see.”
Taylor went on to argue that if the Inn at the Village is a new project divorced from the original Agreement—although Town staff reported that the Agreement was never nullified—then the Inn project would have to mitigate the 6.7 EHUs required by the Town’s interim policy.
MLH Executive Director Jennifer Halferty agreed that developers could not “claim a portion of the contract but not take on the full Agreement.” If the developers were to claim just the 4.5 EHUs, Halferty said they would have to show documentation of their transfer to the new developers. “Did the new developer buy the credits?” she wondered.
The Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the proposed Inn at the Village project entered a 45-day period of public review on July 8. While the EIR remains available for public comment, Town staff will continue to analyze the applicant’s Affordable Housing Mitigation Plan, said Daugherty.
Halferty said the MLH Board is waiting to hear back from the developers and Town staff before recommending action to the Planning Commission regarding the proposed Mitigation Plan.
Town Council will make the final decision on the Mitigation Plan.
Halferty said she expects representatives of Inn at the Village applicant Severy Realty Group/SFI Mammoth Owner, LLC will attend the MLH Board meeting in August.
