CAN WE SUPERSIZE IT, PLEASE?
Rockspring just got a little bigger.
Developer Mark Rafeh got approval Wednesday from the Mammoth Lakes Planning and Economic Development Commission to add nearly 6,000 square feet of amenity space to the resort condominium, nearly two years after the project was first approved and with construction already underway.
The Rockspring project was originally approved in April 2024 with 118 units, 198 bedrooms and a range of guest amenities. The development team later reduced the project to 110 units, a change approved in May 2025. Foundation and structural permits followed in June 2025 and February 2026, and the team submitted the current application for a major project change on June 23.
Commissioners voted 2-1 in favor of the expansion, with Commissioners Billy Deaver and Lana Grand absent and Dawn Vereuck dissenting. And despite only having two votes, the approval still counted, according to Town Attorney Andy Morris.
“For Design Review applications, an affirmative vote of a majority of Commissioners present is required for the Commission to take action, with at least three members present for any such vote,” he said in an email.
The addition bumps up the center part of the building, situated between the towers, by nearly 11 feet and includes lounges and meeting spaces “oriented to owners and guests of the project,” which only vaguely describes the goals of the space and who is welcome there.
Commissioner Vereuck asked whether people outside the Rockspring property could rent the new amenity space for events, such as to host the Board of Realtors or something like a wedding.
Developer Mark Rafeh confirmed that the space could be rented for events of any size, but got shaky when it came to how he’d supply parking for all that activity.
“We weren’t going to not allow local entities, like if the Realtors wanted to have lunch there,” he said. “If it was like a formal event of some sort, like a wedding, I mean, we have valet parking. Obviously, those are some things that the operator of the amenities space will have to address.”
The approval was amended to require an events management plan addressing noise, parking and traffic. The plan would set parameters around how loud an event could get and give MLPD the ability to enforce those limits if activity fell out of bounds. It would also require Rockspring to give notice to nearby businesses.
And, per a public comment request, the Commission agreed to add a sound study to the deal to ensure the addition complies with the California Environmental Quality Act.
When the Sheet asked Rafeh why the variance was not introduced in the initial planning but rather two years after the fact, he didn’t answer the question directly.
He said the idea emerged as the team worked with the hospitality management company and refined the building’s interiors.
The project team decided to add a separate gathering and dining space after realizing that the main lobby would be too open, noisy and congested to serve all of those functions. The space would also provide a place for guests and owners to work, addressing the lack of a business center in the original design.
The need for additional communal space became more apparent after changes to the second-floor layout. Robert Schaubmayer, co-owner of the nearby Alpenhof lodge, which houses Clocktower Cellar, said he saw the delay in bringing this variance forward as “more of a bait and switch.”
“We all see the writing on the wall, I mean, what it’s going to turn into,” he said of the expansion. “It’s gonna turn into more people, more traffic … the whole area cannot sustain what this is, this disaster, essentially.”
“They’re gonna farm it out to a separate operator and they’re gonna let that separate operator deal with it,” he continued.
50/50 Brewing No More
The putative anchor project of the Mammoth Mall, 50/50 Brewing, has pulled out of the deal, Community and Economic Development Director Nolan Bobroff said in his director’s report at PEDC Wednesday.
“There had been rumors off and on for a while as to whether that was happening,” he said. The brewery was slated to open fall/winter of 2025.
No replacement project has been identified yet, and there are a few “code compliance issues” with the space.
In the meantime, Bobroff said the town is hoping to remove the fence to make it look less like a construction site.
North Village Parking
Also in his director’s report, Bobroff explained, why, if you’ve tried to park at The Village this summer, you’ve found construction instead.
Two major parking projects are underway in the North Village area, one to install electric vehicle chargers and another to rehabilitate existing parking as the Mammoth Crossing project moves through the approval process.
At the hillside lot (next to the Westin), crews are finishing work on a new electric vehicle charging station, a project that has kept the parking lot closed for much of the summer.
The project was initially approved last year for six fast chargers, with an option for two additional chargers. Construction was delayed after Southern California Edison required changes to retaining structures and other infrastructure.
The town issued a new permit in July after the issues were resolved. The remaining work includes connecting the site to SCE’s underground infrastructure and patching the parking lot, which requires making a pretty large trench in the ground.
The lot is expected to reopen by the end of next week, though intermittent parking-space closures may continue as crews finish installing and connecting the chargers.
Across the street from Mammoth Brewing, grading work is underway on the northwest corner of the North Village area as part of Mammoth Crossing, a larger development proposal.
The applicant submitted a full entitlement package for Mammoth Crossing in early July, including a tentative tract map, design review, use permit and a zoning amendment. The project would encompass three corners of the North Village area.
The project is still a long way from approval. Town staff have completed an initial review of the application and identified items that still need to be submitted before it can move forward.
In the meantime, the applicant is rehabilitating existing parking areas on the three sites for potential public parking. The grading currently underway is on the southwest site, where an existing parking lot is being improved.
It’s not clear yet whether that lot will be free or paid, but we can probably guess the answer.
The work also follows the demolition of several structures on the properties, including an old building that had been abandoned for years.
A historic cabin remains on the site and is being considered for relocation in coordination with the Southern Mono Historical Society.
The historical society has not responded to The Sheet’s inquiries about where the building will be relocated to.
