Stymied by the Byzantine nature of Carmel’s building rules and delay tactics by those who oppose change, Monaco developer Patrice Pastor faced yet another delay last month in his over six-year quest to build the 13,000-square-foot J.B. Pastor Project. On Aug. 4, a modified version of the Carmel City Council – two of the five members were recused – called for more changes to the project.
After the further delay, Pastor threatened to leave “this strange community, if you can call it a community.” Residents disparaged one another, depending which side of the debate they were on.
Pastor made a last-ditch effort through an attorney to pressure Carmel City Attorney Brian Pierik to reverse the recusals but failed, so on Monday, Sept. 8, Councilmembers Jeff Baron, Hans Buder and Alissandra Dramov reconvened to revisit the project again. They voted 3-0 to send the project back to the Carmel Planning Commission. The commission is being tasked with ensuring that the project includes more onsite parking and landscaping.
A large number of Carmelites rushed to the defense of Pastor at the meeting, some calling him a “gift” to the town for his investments – he’s purchased dozens of properties and invested money in improvements – and chiding the city for allegedly discriminating against him.
Buder blamed Carmel’s outdated system of building ordinances and policies and called for a “top to bottom” overhaul, but said they had to make decisions based on current rules. He laid out the reasons why the project did not qualify for in-lieu parking and would have to create more parking through an underground garage.
Dramov wanted another full review of the project’s impact on historical resources and disagreed the project was exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act, based on the potential impact on historical resources. Baron and Buder said they would not override a council decision from 2023 based on a past historic impact report.