The Old Mammoth Place project has survived the often complicated Mammoth Planning process.

old_mammoth_plceAfter a day and a half of meeting, the Mammoth Planning Commission finally approved the project 4-1 on Thursday at about noon. The meeting had started Wednesday, ran all day, and started again Thursday morning. By some accounting, this was the 55th time that the Mammoth Planning Commission had met to discuss this large project, formerly known as the Clearwater.

The current plan for the site on Old Mammoth Road is to allow the developer to build a project that has 488 lodging rooms, eight units of on-site workforce housing, outdoor public events plazas and associated amenities, 19,500 square feet of retail and 17,000 square feet of restaurant space, 9,500 square feet of conference space, a 4,500 square foot quality spa and wellness center, and subterranean parking.

With a project of this size there were bound to be community concerns, such as traffic, water use, sewer use, density, height, and others like the much vaunted PAOT or people at one time, but the Old Mammoth Place project was also the first major project to be run through the relatively new Town of Mammoth Lakes Community Benefits and Incentive Zoning policy. This policy grants the developer up to double density without having to pay developer fees on the additional units.

In the history of the project, written up by Planning Commissioner Elizabeth Tenney, she points to the long odyssey that the project has come through. Since the project was first proposed in December of 2005, the town has adopted and worked to implement a new general plan and other related policies. There have also been design changes and a change in ownership.

The project was finally approved on Thursday by a vote of 4-1. Commissioner Sharon Clark was the lone dissenter.

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