County residents are riled with the proposal of two sprawling resorts

By R.D. Tucker

Terramor. It’s a pleasant enough sounding word. It’s actually rooted in the Latin term for “earth,” or “terra.” It’s not a reference to the planet Earth, but rather to dry ground, or terrain. It doesn’t feel like a threatening name.

However, to a lot of Mariposa County residents, it’s terrifying. Daunting traffic issues, heightened threats of wildfire, roadway damage, and wells going dry are just of few of the concerns expressed by hundreds of residents.

Kampgrounds of America (KOA), the world’s largest privately-held system of franchised and company owned campgrounds, has submitted a pre-application proposal for two massive resorts to be developed between Mariposa and Midpines. Based on the scores of “Stop Terramor – Save Our Community and No-Way KOA” signs planted on residents’ properties and hung on their fence lines across the county, it’s not a popular proposition.

There are two components of this sprawling development that has the county’s residents riled.

One portion of the development proposal is the KOA RV Resort. It is proposed to be on approximately 90 acres located south of Highway 140 and west of Triangle Road. Primary access is proposed from Triangle Road with a secondary access to Highway 140.

This company-owned facility would include:
• 400 RV campsite stalls including full connections for water, sewer and power;
• Bathhouse buildings servicing various areas of the RV campground, which will include bathrooms, sinks and showers for guest use;
•. 25 to 50 tent sites with water connections in 10 locations.
• A 10,000 square foot registration building, which includes check-in, restaurant, store, restrooms, laundry, meeting space, employee office space, mechanical room and storage room.
• A swimming pool and bathhouse.
• A pavilion for outdoor gatherings and picnicking.
• Two playgrounds.
• A maintenance/storage building.
• A housekeeping laundry facility (which may be located in the maintenance building).
• Water facilities, including wells, booster pumps and a large storage tank for domestic and fire suppression use; (Preliminary calculations indicate that maximum day water usage at the KOA facility will be approximately 33,600 gallons per day. Two wells are anticipated to be drilled to supply the KOA Resort’s water needs. KOA has drilled two monitoring wells in the vicinity to depths of 300 feet each with initial yields of 50 gallons-per-minute and 60 gallons-per-minute, respectively. A flow test on the existing well near the pond house yielded approximately 19 gallons-per-minute.)
• Wastewater facilities, including treatment unit and disposal based on the projected waste stream demand.
• Paved access roads and pathways.
• Hiking trails (unpaved).
• Select employee housing on-property.

One can only image the traffic congestion that adjacent residents will experience on Triangle Road, and even Highway 140, from a steady stream of RVs and travel trailers.

The Terramor portion of the development is a “glamping” facility. It is proposed to be on approximately 80 acres located north of Highway 140. Primary access is from Yosemite Oaks Road.
That development would include:
• An 8,000 square foot lodge building, which includes registration, restaurant, meeting space, pool, restrooms, employee office space, mechanical room and storage room.
• 80 to 90 conditioned glamping units. The tents will incorporate standard amenities of a luxury hotel room including a full bathroom, electrical power supply and climate control. The individual tent structures will be spaced a minimum of 50 feet apart for privacy and isolation.
• A 2,000 square foot open air pavilion structure for outdoor gatherings and special events.
• A 1,500 square foot wellness/spa center, including restrooms.
• A 2,000 square foot maintenance building.
• A housekeeping laundry facility (which may be located in the lodge or maintenance building).
• Water facilities, including wells, booster pumps and a large water storage tank for domestic and fire suppression use; (Preliminary calculations indicate that maximum day water usage at the Terramor facility will be approximately 17,400 gallons-per-day. One to two wells are anticipated to be drilled to supply the Terramor Resort and workforce housing water needs. KOA has drilled two monitoring wells in the vicinity to depths of 300 feet each with initial yields of 50 gallons-per-minute and 60 gallons-per-minute respectively.)
• Wastewater facilities, including treatment unit and disposal.
• Paved access roads and pathways.
• Hiking trails (unpaved).
• Select employee housing on-property.

The size and scope of either of these two developments exceeds most of the small bergs that dot the county landscape.

Mariposa County Planning Director Steve Engfer noted, “This project is just in the pre-application stage.” The pre-application was submitted to the planning department in December of 2021.

There is an expansive list of concerns from county residents, and not just those who reside or have property in the vicinity of the proposed resorts. One local Facebook page entitled “Mariposans Against KOA and Terramor” has gained a lot of attention, and interaction between residents. There are almost 800 followers and hundreds of comments on this social media page, all of them conveying dread and passionate negative opinions on the development.

One of the key issues is water usage by the combined resorts. The developer currently reports productive gallons-per-minute from the wells recently drilled at the two facilities, but local residents don’t have to travel too far back along memory lane to recall the most recent California drought. Wells were going dry, and many residents were forced to drill deeper wells or to install water tanks and purchase potable water for their daily needs.

Troy Foster, a local businessman who is at the forefront of the effort to halt the development, noted, “Preliminary calculations indicate that maximum day water usage at the Terramor facility will be approximately 17,400 gallons per day. Preliminary calculations indicate that maximum day water usage at the KOA facility will be approximately 33,600 gallons per day. That’s 51,000 gallons a day. Let me say that again: 51,000 gallons per day. That is as much or more than the entire population of Midpines uses in five days. This is not sustainable because KOA has drilled test wells under good conditions and says it is.”

The water table in Midpines wouldn’t be the only affected area since both resorts are on land between Mariposa and Midpines. According to Engfer, an extensive hydrology study would be required during the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review, which he added would by to the extent of a complete Environmental Impact Report (EIR), the highest and most exhaustive research level.

was asked by The Mariposan, “If water use is excessive, is there any compensation for neighbors with wells that go dry?” The planning director responded, “That is something that would have to be evaluated under the review to determine what the mitigation would be under CEQA.”

Foster added another point, “Terramor has proposed 75 fire pits: The particulate emissions rate per minute from one beach fire ring (fire pit) is equal to the secondhand smoke from 800 cigarettes.”

(The South Coast Air Quality Management District in California shared this research.)

Kaymay Mentzer, apparently a member of the Facebook group, identified another serious issue. “What if the Oak Fire had occurred while 700 campers were trying to evacuate? Would it have become a burn over traffic situation? And don’t forget the tow chains dragging and sending sparks. Can you imagine what may have happened if that place was already in existence during the Oak Fire evacuation? As we know Google maps already route Midpines/Yosemite traffic from 49 through Silva/ Carleton. If there were 700 campers trying to evacuate, would it have become a burn over traffic situation? Water usage is huge, but fire responsibility is also an issue for me. Tow chains dragging and sending sparks, some yahoo that’s borrowed a pump camp stove and doesn’t know how to use it, 2,000-plus people (no one camps alone) that don’t understand exactly how flammable our situation is in the summer and fall, or someone that makes dumb decisions.”

Traffic on the county’s narrow roads could be another significant issue, and not just to residents of the area. “Please let me draw your attention to KOA/Terramor’s submission, particularly to the number of guests per day. ‘1,000 guests per day anticipated.’ Do you want this – regardless of where in Mariposa you live? This will make the current mess of traffic and trucks on Triangle look like heaven. You can be sure Mariposa will need traffic control lights. And that trip up (or down) 140 behind out-of-towners is already troublesome (they do 35-40 mph),” Foster cited.

Another resident doesn’t believe the county’s notification process is adequate. “This project affects everyone who lives here, and they’re refusing to notify all the stakeholders as required. That’s (expletive deleted.)”

Engfer explained, “Analysis (impacts on the county road conditions and traffic studies) has to be provided by the developer. They have to submit their studies under the EIR.” He added, the county contracts for the EIR; the developer has to pay for it.

Mariposa County won’t receive any Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) revenues from either resort because there are no permanent structures for accommodations being rented. The only financial resources the county would receive would be the trickle of sales tax dollars that the state shares with the county. At this point, it’s hard to determine if that income would even come close to compensating the county for providing additional law enforcement, fire protection, and road maintenance to serve the two proposed facilities.

There are a lot of other concerns expressed by county residents. Some wonder if these resorts will pull from Mariposa’s slim work force. Help wanted signs are posted in multiple businesses throughout the community now. Others are curious if the developers will use local contractors, thereby at least creating local jobs, temporarily.

Although KOA is the behemoth of the resort camping industry, it will still have to wade through a labyrinth of qualifications and mitigations required under CEQA. “It’s all evaluated as part of the process,” Engfer explained.

The planning department sent out a Request for Comments to a bevy of county and state agencies the same month the pre-application was submitted. Some of those included CAL TRANS, public works, CAL FIRE, county fire, county building department, and environment health.

KOA attempted to develop a similar resort near Woodstock, NY. Citing the same issues that concern Mariposa County residents, citizens there, with the aid of attorneys, hydrologists, and environmentalists, together with pressure on that county’s elected officials finally saw the proposal withdrawn by the developer (KOA).

Even though this project will be a long, drawn-out process, county residents wishing to express their legitimate concerns, or even support, may want to begin contacting their elected supervisor. Contact information is available on the county’s website at mariposacounty.org.