Expanding Beyond Snow Business

The first stage of Mammoth’s transformation from dowdy ski town to swanky year-round resort will debut this winter with the grand opening of a new town center dense with luxury condominiums, high-end stores and tony restaurants.

This portion of a planned billion-dollar make-over is what its Canadian developer, Intrawest, says is the much-awaited realization of Mammoth’s potential.

But many residents, planners and people in neighboring towns fear that Mammoth’s face lift will forever alter the visage of the Owens Valley, bringing in welcome tourist dollars but also tourism’s related ills: traffic snarls, housing shortages, a higher cost of living and greater demand for already scarce water.

The town’s setting at the head of the valley, deep in a cleft of the Sierra between Mt. Whitney and Yosemite National Park, has always beguiled visitors. Many residents are concerned about maintaining the delicate balance between a secure economic future and preservation of the Old West grandeur that has made the Owens Valley one of California’s scenic treasures.

Until recently, geography and history had discouraged the growth that is marching up the Sierra’s more accessible western flank. The Owens Valley is cloistered between two mountain ranges. More than 90% of the land in the middle is owned by the government. Much of the valley’s water has been piped south since Los Angeles grabbed the rights to it in the early 1900s.

The scarcity of private land and water has bid up the price of living here, but that has hardly diminished the appeal for those who can afford it. Intrawest’s condominiums go for $300,000 and up, and the company says it is selling them as fast as it can build them.

By the time the remake is complete in 10 years, the town of Mammoth Lakes, population 7,400, is expected to have grown 50%. And in Bishop, 40 miles to the southeast, housing prices are already soaring. In nearby hamlets such as Crowley Lake and Toms Place, new homes for prospective Mammoth employees are sprouting on the hillsides.

The way town officials see it, construction of Mammoth’s world-class ski amenities would not be complete without the final piece of the puzzle: an improved regional airport to ferry visitors to the slopes and shops.

The project to widen the airport’s runway to accommodate Boeing 757s could cost more than $40 million. Officials envision four flights a day bringing 33,000 visitors each winter. A lawsuit challenging the expansion is making its way through U.S. District Court.

Water Demand Rising

The town also wants to draw water from one of the region’s most beloved trout streams, Hot Creek, adding to what conservationists say is a mounting list of growth’s environmental effects. Even with water from the creek, officials expect that the town will have to drill more wells.

The ski area needs water to feed the mountain, which requires daily grooming and supplements of machine-made snow even during the wettest winters. Mammoth Mountain gets its snowmaking water from five wells it maintains on U.S. Forest Service land.

Water is also needed for the town’s new golf course.

Even Mammoth’s most devoted admirers admit that it was overdue for sprucing up. The aging buildings are a hodgepodge of faux chalet style mixed with A-frames. For many here, Intrawest’s new complex will be a welcome upgrade.

The company’s signature formula is a pedestrian-friendly “village,” with a core of shops and restaurants connected to the company’s condos. As it is now, visitors wishing to see the old part of town need to dash across busy roads or drive. The new development will free many people from their cars.

But Pat Eckart, a former member of the Mammoth Water Board, says a “mob mentality” has gripped town officials.

“I puzzle over it, why we’ve fallen for a developer’s vision,” Eckart said. “There certainly is not enough water to support this growth. Where is it coming from? No one seems to be paying attention.”

Town officials -- who courted Intrawest -- say the company is merely implementing Mammoth’s own vision of its future.

“We’ve had a master plan for some time, and it involved high-density housing and becoming a four-season destination, among other things,” said Mammoth’s senior planner, Bill Taylor. “This is our plan for ourselves, and Intrawest is a part of it.”

Amy Horne, research director for the Sierra Business Council, sees unexpected results of the plan. “If you look at growth in the Eastern Sierra, it begins with Mammoth and radiates out,” she said. “Housing in Mono County is less affordable, particularly in the lower-income ranges.”

Ranchers Selling Land

Up and down the valley, the rising price of real estate is inducing farmers and ranchers to sell their land. The valley lost 33% of its farmland between 1992 and 1997. Those acres have been snapped up for development and carry price tags that reflect their enhanced value. Land in Mono County that in 1992 sold for an average of $659 an acre went five years later for $1,029.

A growth trend was already well established when Intrawest came to town in 1996. But what had been a slow trickle of people and building has mushroomed since the company began laying the groundwork.

To Benno Nager, Intrawest’s director of development, predictions that Mammoth will explode like other Western ski resorts is understandable, but unlikely. “I’m familiar with the argument, and I agree with much of it,” Nager said. “Mammoth has the opportunity to learn from others’ mistakes.”

Still, the increased cost of living here is a jolt to longtime residents, who drive more than two hours south to shop in Ridgecrest and elsewhere outside the valley.

Karen Smith, whose family runs a fishing-outfitting business in Bishop, spoke of growth’s double edge: “Sure, our property values go up. But so do our property taxes.”

Mammoth officials acknowledge that even middle-income people such as teachers and other professionals are being priced out of town, or soon will be. Recently, two candidates for mid-level positions with the Forest Service turned down the jobs, saying they couldn’t afford to live in Mammoth or Bishop.

Mammoth planner Taylor predicts that in 20 years nearly 90% of the town’s current residents won’t be able to afford to buy or rent a house.

“It’s the issue that has really snuck up on us,” he said. “Our current housing stock is priced out of reach.”

Intrawest is providing housing for about 60% of its new employees.

“The hardest part of all of this is that development is going to drive up prices,” Nager said. “That’s tough on everyone, and there’s not a lot you can do about it. In a way, it’s the price you pay to live here. Like at the beach. It’s expensive.”

“The guy down the street from me is selling a two-bedroom, 1 1/2-bath house for $300,000,” said Gail Albut, co-owner of a bookstore in Bishop. “Around here, that’s amazing. And scary.”

A young man standing nearby with an armload of books chimed in: “I guess I could always put up a tepee on [federal] land. That’s about all I can afford.”

Intrawest understands the lure of this place and how to sell it. According to its brochures, none of the company’s condominium projects here has taken longer than two hours to sell. One, Eagle Run, sold 36 units in 36 minutes, the developers say. A company sales pitch tells prospective buyers: “Don’t sleep on it.”

The buying opportunities are limited, the company says, because growth is limited by the dimensions of the town: just 4 1/2 square miles. Of that, company officials note, Intrawest owns only 250 acres, most of it at the base of 11,053-foot Mammoth Mountain.

Elastic Boundaries?

But the town’s boundaries could prove to be elastic.

The town council is seeking to acquire a handful of Forest Service parcels within town borders. And according to recent studies commissioned by Mammoth Lakes and Mono County, the Forest Service has identified 14 sites it owns as property it might be willing to give the town in exchange for parcels elsewhere.

Through such land exchange, Intrawest has already acquired acreage that it can develop in nearby June Lake.

“Ski development is all about real estate,” said Andrea Mead Lawrence, a former Olympic skier, former member of the Mono County Board of Supervisors and a leading opponent of the Intrawest project.

“They see the beauty of this place, and they see a product,” she said. “They don’t ask the question of what happens when you add 10,000 people to a town. It isn’t that we should say no to development, but we should say how.”