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As appeared in the Mammoth Real Estate Times, Late Spring 2002 edition.
Q: Between your columns, the real estate ads and what I hear
around town, there doesn't seem to be much inexpensive property left
at all in Mammoth and even in Crowley or June Lake. In the meantime
there seems to be an increasing need for people to work around town,
so the question is, where are people going to live??
A: Thanks for the question. It is a very, very important one.
And probably one I might be qualified to answer. Not only do I spend
a substantial part of my life dealing with housing issues here in
Mammoth but I also sat on Mammoth's Planning Commission from '90 to
'98 when all of Mammoth was "affordable housing". But the Town's
planners had the vision to know that would change.
In February 1991 several Town officials went with MMSA CEO
Rusty Gregory to Whistler to learn some things. We toured a large
on-mountain employee housing facility that was several stories tall.
I also remember having dinner with some Whistler locals who discussed
the challenges of finding decent places to live for middle income
types. That experience taught us some valuable lessons and the Town
proceeded to make all kinds of plans for "deed restricted" or
affordable housing.
What became clear was the housing needs in Mammoth's future
would be comprised of a variety of needs-from seasonal employees to
year-round lower-wage workers to middle income people and families
who are priced out of affordability in town and outlying areas. The
lessons from other mountain resort communities was that all of these
different people were critical to the success of the resort, and not
having housing for them within the city limits created a variety of
real problems.
In the early 90's Mammoth's first deed restricted housing,
the Bristlecone Apartments behind Vons, was built. Tax credits from
institutions like pension funds are the financial driver. The
developer typically stays on as the management entity and the project
and the tenants need to be re-certified every year. Because of that,
these projects normally stay in good, clean condition.
Also in the early '90's there was quite a controversy and
ultimately a referendum regarding the "Shady Rest" parcel. Not to be
confused with Shady Rest Park, this parcel is an isolated Forest
Service parcel in the middle of town. The plan to build housing there
went through extensive public meetings and at that time it was
decided to build two different types of housing there. One was more
apartment type and one was zero lot-line homes which would actually
be sold to middle income people and the appreciation of the property
would be indexed to inflation.
The idea for this type of ownership is so owners can build
equity and have tax benefits but ultimately the property would stay
within the affordable range of middle income people. Today, the
property is in process of a Forest Service land exchange and someday
soon we may see some housing built on this property. The
significantly higher rents we have seen in the past few years are
certainly a motivating factor for the developer because the project
still has to make economic sense. And construction costs are
relatively high here.
The major developers in town also have required housing
obligations. The Ski Area is building employee housing but most of it
for now is only just replacing what was displaced out of North
Village. But they will build lots more. Intrawest is obligated to
build quite a bit of housing as the resort development continues. And
a large deed restricted housing project of 100 plus units is being
proposed on Joaquin St.. And now there is talk about Snowcreek having
to produce some employee or affordable housing within their master
plan.
So the years of municipal planning and the delays in
development during the '90's here in Mammoth have resulted in a
substantial plan to build the affordable housing within the town
limits, and
importantly the land exists to do so. The completion will probably
always lag behind the actual demand-mostly because the developers
want it fully occupied once it is completed. And as I was always
quick to point out, the aging condominium stock provided many locals
the opportunity to buy their own homes, and many did. But now those
prices have even become unreachable for many. So the execution of the
housing plan has become inevitable. And that should help make Mammoth
a healthy, vibrant, and functional resort in the future.
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