BLM Schedules Scoping Meeting on Mono City Road

The Bureau of Land Management’s Bishop Field Office will conduct a public scoping meeting on May 10 in Mono City regarding a proposed emergency ingress and egress road.

The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. at the Mono City Volunteer Fire Station located at the north end of Silver Lake Way.

The purpose of the meeting will be to provide information, discuss and scope a proposed emergency ingress and egress road from the Mono City community north to Highway 167 (Pole Line road). The proposal has been discussed during various Mono Basin Regional Planning Advisory Committee meetings and announced through community outreach surveys.

Mono County has submitted a right-of-way application to the Bishop Field Office for the proposed emergency road. The road would provide a secondary evacuation route from the community and provide access for emergency response vehicles if the primary paved access road is blocked or unsafe.

Four alternatives are being considered. Three of the alternatives would improve existing dirt roads. The fourth alternative would create a new constructed road at the east end of the Mono City development. Roads under all the alternatives would be 12 feet wide, have a compacted surface, multiple turn-out areas for two-way travel, gated for emergency use only and may or may not be plowed during winter.

The public land between the Mono City community and Highway 167 is valuable wildlife habitat for sage grouse and mule deer. Any loss of vegetation/habitat for road construction likely would be mitigated by the rehabilitation of dirt roads in the local area.

Written comments concerning this proposal must be submitted to the BLM Bishop Field Office, Field Manager, 351 Pacu Lane, Suite 100, Bishop, Calif. 93514, or email to Lawrence_Primosch@ca.blm.gov no later than May 16. If you need more information, please contact Larry Primosch at the BLM Bishop Field Office (760) 872-5031.