TAKE IT EASE-Y
A Mammoth Lakes business owner’s proposal for a six-unit employee housing project was unveiled Wednesday at the Mammoth Lakes Planning and Economic Development Commission meeting. A decision on the fate of the project was delayed in order to address concerns from neighbors.
The multi-family affordable housing project would be located at 54 Mono Street. The project application allows for a base density of three units, and includes a density bonus request for an additional three units, resulting in six total units. 3+3=6!
The applicant introduced himself via zoom as Bipin Morari. He briefly stated that he has owned a hotel in town since 1995. His goal with this project was to build affordable housing for his employees.
Morari’s efforts were initially commended by commissioners Cynthia Fleming, Dawn Vereuck and Lana Grand.
“I wish more employers had the opportunity to do this,” Fleming said.
Vereuck echoed her sentiments. She noted that there is a need for employers to provide housing.
“It’s a refreshing and amazing project to see,” Grand followed.
All six of the units would be restricted to workforce housing. The applicants would be vetted on a case by case basis by Eastern Sierra Community Housing.
Chair Michael Vanderhurst questioned the application’s inclusion of employees in both Mono and Inyo counties.
He stated that he would rather see those living in Mono, and Mammoth take priority in the proposed housing.
The meeting then opened for public comment. Keith and Kim Erickson, who own and live in the property neighboring the proposed site, both expressed their concerns with the application. They live in a three-unit, multi-family unit.
Kim Erickson spoke first.
“The whole project plan starts off, in our eyes, as extremely fraudulent as the easement going to our property is exclusive,” Erickson said.
The easement is 30-feet wide, and is currently on the applicant’s property. Going through that easement is the only way to get to the Erickson property.
“I feel like the owner and developer have been misled into thinking they can share this exclusive easement with us. That’s our biggest concern,” Erickson continued. She was adamant that the Ericksons would not, in fact, share their easement. She worried that come winter, when the snowblowers needed to clear space for the possible tenants to enter their home, the piled snow would block the entrance to their home.
She also doubled down on her theory that this application was deceitful. “I’m hard-pressed to believe that it’s for workforce housing.”
“I just kind of feel like I’m getting pooped on,” Keith Erickson added.
Pete Minor and Frank Longo, both property owners on Mono Street, also spoke against the application.
Mammoth Public Works Director Haislip Hayes presented a 2023 letter from Dan Holler, former Town Manager. The letter discussed the legal relationship between Morari’s property on 54 Mono Street, Parcel 1, and the Erickosn’s property on 56 Mono Street, Parcel 2.
“The description of the Access Easement of the Parcel Map, appears to create an ambiguity by the use of the term ‘exclusive’,” the document stated. Meaning, in layman’s terms, that there is no clear definition of the word exclusive in the context of the Mono Street debacle. The letter deems that the two parcels would, in fact, share the easement, in the form of a shared driveway. This driveway would be exclusive to the owners of Parcel 1 and 2.
The commissioners voted to continue the agenda item to their October 8th meeting. As a part of this unanimous decision, the board also voted to schedule a site visit, which they would all attend along with the Ericksons, Morari, and the architect of the potential development, prior to the October 8th meeting.
