Letters to the Editor
Already Zoned for SFR
Dear Editor:
Thank you for the interesting article, “Transient Home Rental Program Working For County.” It provides good information about June Lake, and pertains to many resort communities currently doing their best to accommodate a situation that they hadn’t anticipated: fulfilling a demand for single family vacation rentals that often are only available in residential neighborhoods. The Mono County Board of Supervisors are to be applauded for their approach, as they recognize that this is not an “easy fix” if a community lacks the desired product, has no appropriate zoning to accommodate the use, nor strong land use ordinances to discourage illegal rentals.
I have personally spoken to representatives of other resort communities in the same position as June Lake, and when I have talked about the Town of Mammoth Lakes far-sighted General Plan and zoning, including supporting ordinances, everyone I have spoken to said these surely would have made their situation much easier. Our town is fairly unique, along with Park City and Jackson Hole, in that from our inception, we have recognized that a successful resort community provides for both of those elements: resort amenities, including single family vacation rentals, and community residential neighborhoods that provide housing for its residents. Mammoth’s 2007 General Plan clearly spells out the distinction between the two, and our zoning provides for both, in separate zones.
There are currently more than 180 legally-zoned stand-alone homes in the Resort (R) and RMF-2 zones, not counting the hundreds of luxury townhomes and thousands of other vacation rental units. In our residential neighborhoods (RSF, RMF-1, and RR zones), town ordinances prohibit short-term rentals (less than 30 days). In addition, many of the newer residential neighborhoods have CC&Rs (private subdivision restrictions) that also prohibit that use, although some of the older neighborhoods such as the Sierra Valley Estates and Old Mammoth do not. The latter two areas are protected by Town ordinances prohibiting overnight single family rentals, as are all of the RSF, RMF-1, and RR areas.
Surprisingly, many residents in our town are not aware of how very fortunate we are to have planned in advance to create both a resort and a community, and to have allocated ample zoning for both.
Sandy Hogan
Mammoth Lakes
MONOSAR Benefit Success
On November 22, I was able to bring the Reel Rock movie “Valley Uprising,” which is about the climbing revolution in Yosemite Valley, to the Mammoth community as a benefit for Mono County Search and Rescue (MOSAR).
I am not a member of MOSAR or a climber. I lived in Camp 4 in Yosemite for three months the summer of 1973. I was 10. My mom met my step-dad, Rick Mosher, that summer. They divorced four years later, and Rick moved to the Eastern Sierras and joined the Mono County Sheriff Search and Rescue Team. He is the only team member to have died during a search, along with the pilot, in an airplane crash near Mount Morrison in 1979.
The benefit was a great success, and the movie was AWESOME! I would like to thank each and every person and business who contributed, whether you were a sponsor, donated an item for the raffle, bought raffle tickets, and or attended the movie. 100 percent of the proceeds went to MOSAR. Special thanks to MMSA for providing the venue, Canyon Lodge.
My experience from my recent fundraising efforts for the MOSAR benefit is that the community of Mammoth, along with many other communities in Inyo and Mono county rock in your generosity. Heartfelt thanks to you all. Not just for the MOSAR benefit, but for whatever non-profit fundraising efforts that you are able to support.
Jennifer Langlo Sheldon
Mammoth Lakes
