Opponents to a proposed 13,000-square-foot building in Carmel hope to sway the city council.

Opponents to a 13,000-square-foot mixed-use building proposed by Monaco-based developer Patrice Pastor are hoping to influence the Carmel City Council their way at a meeting on Monday, Aug. 4, even though they face a stiff challenge from a city staff report that refutes their concerns and recommends approval of the project.

“We feel there are some serious departures from the municipal code, the general plan and the commercial design guidelines that we are hoping are going to be rectified at the council level,” says Ian Martin, a former planning commissioner.

Named for Pastor’s father, the J.B. Pastor Building was approved 4-0 by the Planning Commission on April 9, despite some commissioners' doubts. It was a milestone that Pastor’s company, Esperanza Carmel, took six years to reach after facing repeated challenges from residents who opposed the project.

Attorney Krista Ostoich filed an appeal on April 23, on behalf of 11 residents and business owners, including Martin and two other former planning commissioners, much to the frustration of Esperanza representatives.

“We’ve spent six years working in good faith—through five redesigns, countless public meetings and every layer of city review. The J.B. Pastor project reflects everything Carmel says it values: scale, character and community input,” Christopher Mitchell, managing director of Esperanza said in a statement.

“And yet, here we are, again, delayed by another last-minute appeal," he said.

Opponents say the scale of the building is exactly one of the problems with the building, which they argue exceeds the city’s limit of 10,000 square feet. They claim the project gets around the limit with the use of connecting second-story exterior walkways between two of three structures. To them, the walkways make it a single structure.

The staff report contends that the walkways are open space and that people in one building will exit and pass through that space to get to the next building. It would only be a single structure if the walkways were interior spaces, the report states.

Another dispute is over whether the project is eligible for Carmel’s in-lieu parking program, which gives property owners the ability to pay into a fund instead of providing a required number of parking spaces. The staff recommendation says the project meets all the requirements to be part of the program.

The project, with 5,100 square feet of retail downstairs and eight apartments upstairs, will eliminate a parking lot used by the 7th & Dolores restaurant and an annex building next door that serves as a wine bar. Esperanza proposed 12 parking spaces, 10 of those shared by a parking lift system. Under the code such a project would require at least 17.6 spaces. To make up for the gap Esperanza agreed to pay over $54,000.

Opponents say parking is already squeezed in the village, especially after the passage of Assembly Bill 413, the daylighting law, prohibiting parking 20 feet from corners. They contend Esperanza Carmel should be required to have all parking onsite.

“I’m tired of orbiting forever to get my Tommy’s Wok and I know a lot of other people are too,” Martin says, referring to a popular Chinese restaurant on Mission Street. On-street parking is often at a premium downtown, especially on weekends and during peak tourism times.

“With AB 413 and all the other pressures downtown we need to take our parking requirements very seriously and we have to in this case,” Martin says.

Mitchell said the opponents are distorting “basic facts” and that they are ignoring that other property owners in town have been able to use the in-lieu parking program.

“When a project that checks every box can still be stalled indefinitely, it is frustrating. Esperanza Carmel remains hopeful we can finally break ground on this project,” he says.

The council meeting is taking place at Carmel City Hall, Monte Verde Street between Ocean and 7th avenues. For information on how to participate in the meeting on Zoom see the agenda. The meeting can also be viewed on the city’s YouTube channel.