In an effort to “get down to the meat of things,” as Planning Commissioner Rhonda Duggan stated, three commissions(planning, tourism and mobility) got together on Monday night to develop what they call the Destination Resort Community and Economic Development Strategy. The strategy was worked over by a committee and points to goals in the general plan, including air service, conference space and mobility.

The purpose of Monday night’s meeting was to set priorities for the town so that Mammoth would be better prepared once the world’s economy bounces back to life.
“We have an aggressive three-year plan here,” Duggan said. “It shouldn’t scare anyone, but it should challenge us.”

With the two hour time limit on the meeting, the commissions only got through a small part of the document in depth. They put priority on year-round air service and mobility in town. They also agreed that future developers, not the town, should build conference spaces in Mammoth. They pointed to the Westin as an example of a development that should have been required to build more than 2,500 square feet of conference space.

Commissioners also discussed short-term and long-term objectives for each priority. For example, the hope is that the plane that lands in December 2009 will be the first plane of year-round service.

Since the time was short on Monday, each commission was asked by staff to review the document at their next individual meetings, add any priorities they believe are missing and then approve the document.

“The document will then become a work plan for this year’s budget,” explained Community Development Director Mark Wardlaw.

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