Carmel residents to hear an option for street addresses, should they agree to accept them.

The 21st century has been knocking on Carmel’s door, demanding the city finally adopt street addresses, despite some residents in town determined to preserve “village character.” On Aug. 5, it knocked yet again, in a detailed report by Councilmember Bob Delves, who serves on an ad hoc committee studying the issue. The committee reaffirmed the current system doesn’t conform with state law and then went further, developing a possible new system that would pass muster with the United States Postal Service.

That system and other details will be laid out in two upcoming public workshops, where residents will get a chance to air their opinions for and against, as they have off and on for years since the issue first surfaced.

The debate over street addresses heated up last year, after a former Carmel City Council ad hoc committee reported that the current system runs afoul of state law. (An example on the city’s website is, “West side of San Antonio Street, 3 houses south of 12th Avenue.”)

While some residents continued to object to adopting addresses, a growing number began speaking out, with worries over first responders not being able to find them and sharing stories of troubles applying for Real IDs or insurance coverage, receiving package deliveries and using rideshare services.

The prior council decided the voters should weigh in with an advisory vote in 2025. The November 2024 election ushered in a new council that pushed a vote to 2026, then created a new ad hoc committee with Delves and two residents – one in favor of addresses and one against – plus city staff members.

Delves said the committee met with police and fire representatives who shared that not having standardized addresses does cost the city in response time, up to three minutes, although he said response times were still “excellent.”

They also met with representatives of utility companies – California American Water, PG&E, AT&T and Comcast. “I can tell you they showed up with their A team, all of them,” Delves said. “PG&E is delivering flammable and volatile products to our homes and it bothers them that they can’t find us.”

The committee created examples of possible address systems and floated them by a USPS official. Their goals were to not change street names or add more signage. They also wanted the system to be logical and intuitive, “and to the extent we can, protect traditions,” Delves said.

The example the USPS official approved of entailed numbering homes by starting at 0 at the north end of the city, increasing by 100 each block to the south, and starting at 0 at the ocean and numbering similarly to the east.

The first public workshop is scheduled for 1-4pm Wednesday, Aug. 27 in Carpenter Hall (inside the Sunset Center). The second will be held from 5-8pm Thursday, Sept. 4 in the same location. An agenda with details on how to participate remotely is available at bit.ly/CarmelAddressWorkshop.