SQUIDFRY 03.09.23: Un-Pastor-ized

UN-PASTOR-IZED… Squid has no sea dog in the fight over what gets built on dry land but Squid has learned that when it comes to Carmel, fighting over buildings is in the village DNA. One such fight has led to an appeal from Monaco billionaire developer Patrice Pastor, who’s crying he’s being treated unfairly.

Pastor, who has snapped up a considerable number of Carmel-area properties – including the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Mrs. Clinton Walker House for $22 million – purchased the former bank building at the corner of 7th and Dolores – home to 7th & Dolores Steakhouse – plus a community room annex and another property on Dolores in hopes of constructing a multi-use building next to the restaurant.

When Pastor bought the properties in 2020, the buildings were less than 50 years old and not eligible for historic designation. Nevertheless, the Historic Resources Board stood in Pastor’s way, resulting in over two years of delays. The restaurant building and annex hit the 50-year-old mark in October; in January, the board voted to add them to the historic resources list. A frustrated Pastor filed a formal appeal that will go to Carmel City Council for a hearing.

Pastor called the “inexcusable delays” a convenient way for HRB to get what it wanted all along – the clock never stopped ticking conveniently forward.

NO COASTING… Squid is an admirer of the California coast, despite its function as a ramp that conveys human detritus straight into Squid’s backyard. Still, Squid understands the appeal the coast holds to land-dwellers.

It’s no surprise, then, that things are heating up over which public official should represent the region (Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties) on the California Coastal Commission, as witnessed at a March 3 meeting of the Monterey County Mayors’ Association. What’s usually a friendly chat over lunch between the county’s 12 mayors quickly tensed up, as members of the public turned out to protest the Board of Supervisors’ decision to nominate Supervisor Chris Lopez, and urged the mayors to not do the same.

Melodie Chrislock of Public Water Now slammed Lopez for having “betrayed” coastal communities due to his vote against a public buyout of Cal Am on the Local Agency Formation Commission.

The mayors representing those coastal communities seemed to agree – yet no one could agree on who else they did want to nominate. Eventually, Marina Mayor Bruce Delgado suggested the mayors use the board’s slate (which also included himself, plus Supervisor Mary Adams and Carmel Councilmember Jeff Baron) minus Lopez, plus… well, all seven coastal mayors. That’s what they recommended, by a 7-5 vote.

It’s ultimately up to California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon to decide, but local mayors decided to draw a battle line in the coastal sand.