“VISION WITHOUT EXECUTION IS A HALLUCINATION”
A Direct quote from the General Plan
When Mammoth Incorporated in 1984 our community did a vision and planning process that resulted in our first General Plan. This plan is the blueprint for use and development in our community. It contains complex documents that analyze components such as density, traffic impacts noise etc. It defines areas in our community for use, The Resort Corridor, Commercial and Residential being a few.
During this time of analysis and input we, the people, decided we wanted to be a world class resort with a strong sense of community.
Our Vision in the General Plan for Single Family Homes:
Then: Protect our neighborhoods
Now: Protect our resident’s quality of life
Public Input Remains the Same:
Since our Town’s inception there have been hours of debate over various principals within the general plan. One thing however has remained constant; it was, and is, important to the community to support our neighbor hoods and keep our sense of community. This was accomplished by not allowing nightly rentals in single family homes.
Resort Corridor/North Village Specific Plan/Densities:
Due to our desire to maintain our sense of community and neighborhoods we designed and developed various areas and concepts to support resort development. In those various areas we have agreed to increased densities and services so that we could effectively deliver a better visitor experience. Changing this mixture creates untold impacts that have not been studied or analyzed as to how it will influence our collective futures.
We assert that this action is a General Plan Amendment not a Zoning Code Change. That disregarding 25 plus years of community vision and planning with no input or analysis of impacts will be to the detriment of our resort community and is a disservice to our community, residents and guests.
Are we stepping over dollars to pick up nickels?
This action will pit Neighbor against Neighbor…
General Plans and Visions take months…years to develop….and we like ours as it is.
For more information please contact us at MammothNeighborhoods@gmail.com.
And please sign our petition to stop the expansion of nightly rentals into our neighborhoods:
This is indeed a change in The General Plan and the effect will be to drastically alter the nature of Mammoth Lakes. It will destroy the core of an residential/recreational community.
The entire face of Mammoth Lakes will change, we love the small town atmosphere of community. Why change a good thing.
I would like to say that I am not in favor of rezoning single home rentals in our neighborhoods. I don’t see how the town feels this will raise more money since it does not accomplish bringing more visitors to town. It simply gives visitors more accommodation options which ultimately hurts the lodging community which I cannot support. Furthermore, single family neighborhoods should not have to deal with vacationers and tourists partying and making noise all night. I live on Manzanita next to a second home owner, and would not be pleased if vacationers and tourists were all of a sudden showing up there every weekend to party and vacation. We all need to work and make a living in this town and so there needs to be some sort of separation between locals and tourists. Thanks.
What makes the city think that allowing homeowners to rent their homes will bring in more revenue? Not only will the condominiums feel the pinch, but it will not bring in more revenue for the city, just drive more people into the red.
This is unquestionably a change to the General Plan and not a mere zoning change. It has no rational basis from a revenue-producing standpoint because it is unlikely to bring in additional tourist revenues –just perhaps shift them. The price that will be paid is “breaking the back” of the existing tourist facilities and destroying the character of existing residential neighborhoods.
The decision to buy our home was based on several established standards. One of those standards, was that it was located in a quiet RESIDENTIAL community. It was not located in a “resort corridor” or other community that would accomodate rental properties.
We feel very fortunate and grateful to have located in this neighborhood and would be disappointed and more, were the environment to change, impacting our space, traffic load, noise and possibly our home’s value.
Because it is known, that “renters” don’t usually have the same regard for properties as homeowners, please consider using other methods that will not “cheapen” and depreciate the residential communities in our town.
Changing this zoning restriction would do as much harm to ML as Intrawest would’ve done by turning the town into another Aspen. They were rebuffed and are now gone…this idea is stupid and so short sighted.
Again, let’s get back to basics. Our Town’s vision has evolved over many years and should be honored today, and especially during tough financial and economic times like the present. We need to preserve the integrity of our quiet residential areas. And if changes are imposed, they should be done through the public process, and with the unanimous local consent of the affected neighborhoods. We do not need any more “hits” to the unique character of our mountain paradise!
This has to be stopped!
We agree with the above comments. Let’s not change the zoning.
We all know why this zoning change is being considered at this time. This is not an acceptable way for the Town to increase revenue or pay off financial obligations.
This is not a good idea at all. We chose our neighborhood because it is quiet, locals and a great place to raise a family. Single night renters will not care about the environment. It will become unsafe for the kids playing in these areas. Let’s stop this!
Mammoth is a unique vacation area summer & winter. Let us not change The General Plan. It has kept the Mammoth we all love a town to be proud of.
I think we should keep the General Plan as it is. We like our quiet street and would not like to see the homes around us rented out for tourists.
Please keep our quaint town the way it is. no single family rentals we all have had it rough in our condo rentals with snow economy last few years.
Allowing widespread rentals of private homes will do nothing to increase revenue for the town, rather it would hurt our current lodging base of hotels and condos. We simply don’t have excess demand and thus allowing private home rentals would only steal the existing customer base away from approved lodging and move the renters into our quite neighborhoods. I am also confident that a majority of council is against this initiative and that the ides are only being pushed by a small group of second homeowners trying to subsidize their mortgage payments.
This zoning change would be a great detriment for Mammoth. We already have accomodations through hotels and condo’s to service Mammoth’s needs and those are already underutilized. We don’t want to see another White Stag Inn, Ullr Lodge or La Sierra building, because thats what we’ll get if the zoning code changes!
Please do not allow the rental of private houses.. The condo and hotel units have a hard enough time reaching capacity rentals now.
The Town’s unprofessional behavior got us into this mess now they want to make another stupid move. It will hurt our neighborhoods and hurt the lodging properties. Stupid stupid stupid!!!
Just take a look at Lincoln City Or. and see how much the local people hate the influx of week-end warriors into their neighborhoods.
This is a very bad idea. Who wants to see tourist buses in their neighborhoods?
The downward spiral of rental homecommunities is irreversible. It would be a nightmare
In addition to my former comment, I would also like to mention that collecting the revenue due from the owner is likely to be an “iffy” proposition.
I doubt that most owners are going to voluntarily register and follow the steps when they are renting their home, especially because to do so, will cause them to lose part of their income from their rentals.
At the moment, we have a homeowner renting his home illegally. When he was reported to the town, the town did not have and was not about to “track” the homeowner and ask him to be accountable.
Does the Town Council realize that to “collect” on these rentals means someone will have to be compensated to track and collect the money due??? This will cost money, and, therefore, detract from the net total the town thinks it may accrue from this fee.
Further, the Town seems to need a “reliable” source of income in order to pay the debt. I am not keen on paying a “tax” but that is one of the only sources of income you can count on.
With money imagined from collecting a fee for rentals of single family dwellings, you have no idea, in actuality, of how much you will earn to pay the debt. If the income falls short, what then???
I have heard of proposals taxing lift tickets etc. that would produce a reliable income stream to pay debts owed.
Please consider…It would be a shame to blaze forward again without a plan that would guarantee we could pay this debt down.
Agree with all of the above. Is there a petition that can be signed?
Hi Lisa,
On our web site you will see a button called petition. You can sign electronically there.
Best,
I am NOT in favor of Single Family Home nightly rentals. This is a bad idea.
Let us keep Mammoth Lakes in the form in which it has been a remarkable success.
As property owners we are opposed to any changes to the law currently forbidding transient rentals of single family homes in Mammoth for the following reasons:
• People who have built or purchased single family homes in Mammoth have known all along that they can not rent them on a transient basis.
• There seem to be sufficient beds in Town to handle the largest crowds. Hotels, motels, condos and time shares currently available plus those already approved for construction are more than sufficient to meet demand. It doesn’t seem the Town is ever 100% full.
• Transient rentals of single family homes in Mammoth would only add to the available beds, driving up supply and potentially driving down rental rates and might not even increase overall tourist volume which would be no benefit to the Mountain or local merchants and restaurants.
• Can you imagine loud, night time, or all night, parties in single family homes in residential neighborhoods?
• Can you visualize a ski bus or two in a residential neighborhood?
• Those who are saying that Town TOT revenue could increase by $3.5 million a year are grossly exaggerating reality. $3.5 million in incremental TOT revenue based at the 13% rate at an average of $500/night would mean nearly 54♠,000 annual rental nights in Mammoth’s single family residential neighborhoods. In reality most of these residential rentals would simply take from the number of rentals at existing hotels, motels, condos and time shares and the resulting incremental TOT revenue would be quite small. There would be little to no benefit to the Mountain or local merchants or restaurants.
In our view the Town Council should drop any consideration of allowing transient rentals of single family homes in residential neighborhoods. The General Plan and Zoning should not be messed with to simply satisfy the desires of a few (homeowners and realtors). The current provisions of the General Plan and Zoning have served the Town well for nearly thirty (30) years since Mammoth Lakes was incorporated in the mid 1980’s. Don’t fix something that isn’t broken.
I am a home owner, but not a local resident. I would just
as soon leave this situation the way it is, but will be happy to go along with whatever the locals decide. Not that I have a choice!
After 24 years here in Mammoth we finally thought we were set. Out of the condo nightmare and into a house in the Slopes that we just paid off. Now you want to drag us back into the nightmare with short term rentals next door. We will leave if that happens and take our retirement money else ware. The town needs locals like us to keep businesses going in the off season. This is BS!
We concur with all of the residents opposed to the zoning change. We specifically purchased our home in a single family residential neighborhood without condos that are rented on a nightly basis. Our quality of life will dramitically change if we must endure renters who come for a short “party time” in Mammoth!!!
I am very glad to see others responding to this issue against “re-zoning” as it has been labeled. I was representing our HOA at the Town Council’s meeting in October when I first heard of this very bad idea. I have since corresponded with Council members as well as staff regarding all the poor reasoning I believe has prompted the discussions in the first place. I don’t have a site, but e-mail me and I’ll gladly provide you copies of these letters and e-mails. We must fight this.
I agree that changing The General Plan to allow TO in neighborhoods that are not currently zone for it would be disatrous, and only serve to invite more litigation against the town. This is a desperate attempt to meet the obligations of The Settlement, and must be defeated. By enforcing the existing zoning, TOML would drive the illegal business (that has grown remarkedly due to the lack of recent leadership in this area) to the legal, proven, TOT paying lodging partners. THIS is where the predictable new income stream lies. Keep in mind there are many illegally TO rented homes and units now, that could be licensed if they so choose, but to avoid taxes and compliance issues they work under the table. This wouldn’t change and enforcement problems would only grow worse. There’s a fixed pie, so it’s simple; enforce the current zoning while protecting the family neighborhoods and also reward the legally licensed current town partners with the business they rightfully deserve. TOT will increase as “a bird in the hand,” rather than placing bets on the “one in the bush.”