Mono Basin Dark Sky Preserved by Failure of Tioga Inn Apartment Project

Milky Way Over Lee Vining (during the Marina Fire)

The proposed apartment complex overlooking Mono Lake failed to get Board of Supervisors approval earlier this week. It will not double the town’s population and mar the view from South Tufa, increase traffic and challenge parking, put children at risk walking along Hwy 395 to school, or damage the area’s existing and future dark sky tourism!

Tioga Inn project denied at April 20, 2021 Mono County Board of Supervisors meeting
https://www.monolake.org/today/tioga-inn-project-denied-at-april-20-2021-mono-county-board-of-supervisors-meeting/

There are still ancient approvals in place from the early 1990s for a restaurant to be built at the vista point overlooking the lake, and for a large hotel to be built down by the Mobil Station, but apparently those are less likely to be built without fill dirt from the grading for the apartment project. The developer threatened to sell the property to other potential builders if the apartment complex were denied, so there may be future chapters to this saga.

Milky Way over night photography seminar participants at Mono Lake South Tufa

Jeff Sullivan

Jeff Sullivan leads landscape photography workshops in national parks and public lands throughout California and the American West.