Though it will hurt their future ability to get state housing grants, the Mammoth Council decided this week to send back the money for the Tavern Road workforce housing project.

 

This project at the Park and Ride site on Old Mammoth Road was planned to be 31 housing units built over 9000 square feet of retail space and two levels of parking.

Crews were expected to break ground in June, but higher than expected cost estimates and housing fee generating projects like Tannavista and phase III at 8050, fell through leaving Mammoth Lakes Housing short of cash.

 

Of the total $26 million cost of the project, $5 million was a state home grant.

When the Tavern Road Workforce Housing Project fell through, former housing director Mark Maldonado reported that the project was delayed until next year.

With an emergency item added to the council agenda this week, it now looks like the project is done for.

 

Town Manager Rob Clark explained that the town has already missed state deadlines on the project and would miss a second at the end of the month. Another requirement on the state money is to have the project finished by March 2009. If Mammoth Housing and the Town were to miss that deadline, the town would no longer be able to receive state housing money at all.

 

While it would hurt the towns ability for housing money in the future, Rob Clark told the council that sending the money back wasnt a deal killer. With a $26 million project that isnt going anywhere, the council decided the safe bet was to send the $5 million dollars back to the state.

 

 

 

Discover more from Sierra Wave: Eastern Sierra News

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading