Monaco developer Patrice Pastor says he's thinking of leaving Carmel after disappointing council action.

After failing yet again to get approval for one of his development projects in Carmel at a City Council meeting on Monday, Aug. 4, Monaco developer Patrice Pastor of Esperanza Carmel said in a statement that it's time to leave "this strange community, if you can call it a community."

Pastor's ire was raised after the council continued its hearing about one of his projects—the J.B. Pastor project on Dolores Street near 7th Avenue—on Monday to September. There was a chance it may not even take place until October.

In addition the council was likely going to send the proposed 13,000-square-foot development back to the Carmel Planning Commission, with direction to add more parking spaces and more landscaping.

The project was previously approved by the Planning Commission on April 9, and was appealed by 11 residents and businesspeople. City planning staff were recommending a denial of the appeal. 

It was yet another delay after six years of attempts to bring the project to fruition, hampered by debates like its proximity to historic structures, including a decorative concrete wall that a previous council declared must be saved, which forced Pastor's project to shrink.

"Following this latest City Council meeting it's clear that I need to reconsider my investment in Carmel," Pastor said in a written statement "We are not treated the same of everyone else, I supposed we are now at the point where we need to accept we are not wanted and draw the necessary conclusions."

Pastor also charged that the city is holding up another project, Ulrika Plaza, located at Dolores and 5th Avenue, known around town as "The Pit," for the deep hole in the ground waiting for the project to be built.

"The grotesque situation at Ulrika Plaza, where everything is wanted so as not to let us begin work for reasons that are akin to a schoolyard, confirms that it's time for us to bring our expertise and motivation to other projects, elsewhere, where we will be better received and in a more professional and serious political environment," he said.

It took Pastor's company, Esperanza Carmel, three tries before the Planning Commission before the 22,400-square-feet Ulrika Plaza project was approved in 2023. Anna Ginette, the city's community planning and building director, told the Weekly in April that the project was progressing through the permitting process. 

On Monday night, as the council was getting to the end of a six-hour meeting, they momentarily discussed approving the appeal, which would force Esperanza to start over again. They asked Christopher Mitchell, Esperanza's managing director, if he would prefer they continue the decision or approve the appeal. A glum Mitchell told them they'd prefer a continuance. 

"This process has made a mockery of the city's own rules," Mitchell said in a statement after the hearing. "Our project was reviewed for six years, then redesigned five times, and approved by the Planning Commission and City staff. Then, on Monday, we were undercut again but this time by last-minute political maneuvering to stall."

The start of the meeting was marked by a rare progression of councilmembers recusing themselves, or attempting to do so.

Mayor Dale Byrne recused himself at the advice of City Attorney Brian Pierik, due to donations by Pastor to Carmel Cares, a nonprofit co-founded by Byrne. 

Next, Councilmember Bob Delves recused himself because of a campaign party valued at more than $1,000 thrown for his candidacy by one of the appellants, Rich Pepe. 

Finally, Councilmember Hans Buder disclosed that Pepe had thrown him a similar party, but Buder returned a portion of the money to satisfy campaign financing rules that would allow him to participate in the decision. He decided to recuse himself anyway, but when it became apparent they would not have a quorum, Pierik told Buder he was legally required to participate.