More landscaping and a better parking plan was what the Carmel City Council asked for last fall from a proposed JB Pastor mixed-use building on Dolores Street, the vision of Monaco developer Patrice Pastor, who named the building after his father. Over a year later, Pastor’s company, Esperanza Carmel, delivered on the landscaping and parking, as well as adding three affordable units.
The Carmel Planning Commission approved the 13,887-square-foot, two-story project in a 5-0 vote on Nov. 4, giving it high marks, especially for the affordable one-bedroom apartments, each under 500 square feet, joining eight market-rate units. Esperanza representative Christopher Mitchell told commissioners they added the affordable units because “we know there is a lot of pressure” on the city to add affordable housing.
Commissioner Stephanie Locke called the units “a big bonus” that “everyone should be extremely happy about.”
Not everyone was happy. Former commissioner Julie Wendt called them “shameful,” contending the developer was clustering three “inferior” apartments at the rear, creating “economic segregation.” (Assembly Bill 491, adopted in 2021, states that developers “shall not isolate” lower-income units to a specific area of a mixed-income development.)
Commissioner Michael LePage said the opponents’ argument was “missing the point.” The addition of the affordable units demonstrated what providing housing downtown would look like, he said. Commissioner Stefan Karapetkov only requested that Esperanza add more natural light to the units.
It’s the second approval of the project by the Planning Commission. In 2025, commissioners approved an earlier version that was appealed by 11 residents to the City Council, which in turn sent it back to the Planning Commission asking for more parking and landscaping. The new plan puts parking underground and increases spaces from 12 to 19.
The public has until Nov. 19 to appeal the Planning Commission’s decision.
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