Walt Disney said he was grateful today for the confidence that Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman has shown for the Disney plan and development of Mineral King.
Disney made the comment upon learning that his plan for the $35 million-plus development of summer and winter recreational facilities at Mineral King has just been accepted by the Department of Agriculture and the U. S. Forest Service.
“Since our application for the development was submitted on August 31,” Disney said, "our staff and consultants have gone ahead to plan the steps we would take, in the event we were chosen, to get the project underway.”
He said that Walt Disney Productions and its consultants would meet "within the next few days" with Forest Service officials to finalize all details of the plan and to formulate a sequence for the construction of facilities.
"At the same time, we still send a team of surveyors and engineers to Mineral King tor field surveys to get information we'll be needing before work begins on the village," Disney noted.
His plans call for a completely self-contained village including a chapel, ice-skating rink, convenience shops, restaurants, conference center and low-cost lodging accommodations. The village will be located at the north end of the valley.
The next step, Disney said, would be to provide winter facilities for a snow survey group, including Forest Service experts, who would spend this winter on-site to study snow conditions and collect data for future construction.
Building progress, however, must await definite commitments for the construction of an all-weather state road leading to Mineral King, which is expected to be built over the next five or six years, Disney said. He also stressed that building cannot begin before the Forest Service has issued a 30-year term permit for the land on which the permanent facilities would be located.
According to Forest Service procedures, the permit just granted to Disney is for a period of three years. This time is given to finalize plans and to obtain satisfactory commitments on construction of the new road.
When the plan is accepted, the Forest Service will then issue the 30-year term permit, which can be granted at any time during the initial three-year period.
The Disney plan calls for 14 ski lifts, many serving guests throughout the year. Some of the lifts will be used in the warm months by sight seers.
In addition to Mineral King Village and ski lifts, the Disney plan includes a series of ten restaurants in the valley and atop surrounding peaks. There will also be two large hotels, heliport and auxiliary facilities. According to an economic analysis completed in late September by Economic Research Associates of Los Angeles, Disney’s development of Mineral King will add more than $6OO million to California's economy during its first ten years of operation. The survey also revealed that 2.5 million visitors, 800,000 from out of state, would be drawn annually to the recreational mecca by 1976, its first full year of operation.
As one means of preserving Mineral King's exceptional scenic beauty, Disney will exclude automobiles from the valley proper. Guests will park in a 2300-vehicle parking area at the entrance and will be taken into the valley by a high-capacity public conveyance. Design work on the in-valley transportation system will begin in the near future by Disney engineers.
Further, he would preserve the area's natural character by camouflaging ski lifts, situating the village so that it will not be seen from the valley entrance, and putting service areas in a 60.000 square foot underground facility beneath the village.
