City of Carmel-by-the-Sea Government News

Fittingly, in a town known for having more restaurants per capita than any other small city in America, many Carmel City Council candidates held their election watch parties at local eateries with the exception of Mayor Dave Potter and challenger Jeff Baron, who retreated to the comfort of their homes to watch the numbers roll in on election night, Nov. 5.

Fittingly, in a town known for having more restaurants per capita than any other small city in America, many Carmel City Council candidates held their election watch parties at local eateries with the exception of Mayor Dave Potter and challenger Jeff Baron, who retreated to the comfort of their homes to watch the numbers roll in on election night, Nov. 5.

The tragic shooting death of a young man in Carmel experiencing a mental health incident on Friday, Oct. 25 had a big impact on residents and workers of the small village, especially in the immediate neighborhood.

For such a small town, Carmel has some big issues to decide, like where to squeeze in affordable homes, what to do about a crumbling police station and the threat of sea level rise.

Carmel, it seems, is not quite ready to enter the 21st century. Despite pleas from a growing number of residents who find it increasingly difficult to live a life without street addresses in a world that demands them, a Carmel City Council majority decided on Sept. 10 to not make a decision, but rather to kick it to the voters over a year from now.

In what is becoming an increasingly divisive issue in the village, a majority of the Carmel City Council members declined to make a decision on bringing street addresses to the village on Tuesday, Sept. 10, instead voting to let the residents decide in an election over a year from now.

After Carmel barely made a deadline in April to turn into the state their eight-year housing plan, known as a housing element, some residents became alarmed that the plan to add a required 349 units in the tiny village included a provision that commits the city to building 149 units of very low – to low-income units on city-owned parking lots, including at the Sunset Center.

Progress is coming to Carmel, much to the disappointment of the leader of the Carmel Preservation Association, Neal Kruse.

The town famous for having no numbered street addresses is now a step closer to adding them, after a divided 3-2 vote of the Carmel City Council on Tuesday, July 9.

In 1957, Donna and Fred Hofsas built a quaint, four-story Bavarian-themed hotel in Carmel. Donna commissioned an artist friend, Maxine Albro, to paint a welcome mural, and Fred created a coat of arms, with the Latin words “Otium Cum Dignitate,” or “Leisure with Dignity.”

Pacific Repertory Theatre amended its Golden Bough Theatre renovation project, resolving all existing issues in front of the Carmel Planning Commission on March 13.

It was very close, but Monaco developer Patrice Pastor got his historic home tax break, known as the Mills Act, on the Mrs. Clinton Walker House, a world-famous home on the beach designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Fans of home renovation shows know it happens: a homeowner wants to renovate and then—surprise—the house is in such bad shape it might make sense to just tear it down.

In 1945 a widow named Della Walker, known formally as Mrs. Clinton Walker, wrote a short letter to Frank Lloyd Wright, in hopes the famed architect would design a home for her in Carmel. “I own a rocky point of…

Former Carmel police chief Paul Tomasi, who left to head up security at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, is being welcomed back to the village.

No charges will be filed in the scuffle between Carmel City Administrator Chip Rerig and gallery owner Craig Rose, Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni says.

An altercation caught on video between Carmel City Administrator Chip Rerig and gallery owner Craig Rose has Rerig’s behavior under scrutiny by the City Council.

Over a year after the Carmel City Council voted to end dining parklets, councilmembers took a less strident approach toward unpermitted outdoor dining seating.

District 5 residents finally had a chance to turn out and speak their minds about Monterey County’s housing plans – including the controversial, state-mandated Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) that will require the county to significantly bolster its housing stock…

Carmel’s tab for the seven months its former police chief, Alan Ward, worked is a big one: It cost the city more than an estimated $364,200.

City expenditures are split among essential needs and quality-of-life benefits in a budgeting process. And with the fiscal year beginning July 1, government entities, including Monterey County’s 12 cities, are in various stages of tweaking and finalizing their annual budgets.

Within Carmel’s one-square-mile city, volunteers with the nonprofit group Carmel Cares picked up 70 pounds of cigarette butts – representing approximately 250,000 cigarettes – in 2022 alone. That staggering number is just a drop in the bucket nationally; the Keep…

Years after Carmel’s attempt to find someone to restore the Flanders Mansion fell apart, a candidate has stepped forward: Mike Buffo, a documentary filmmaker.

The Carmel City Council is pursuing the possibility of a paid parking program using an app that allows users to pay for parking digitally.

The city hired a consulting firm to conduct a feasibility study, which came up with 17 sites where the city could possibly fit new units.

The fire departments that protect Monterey, Pacific Grove and Carmel got together to ask themselves a question. “If we become at risk, how will this work?”

Councilmembers unanimously said “no”—a major blow to Pacaso, an online company that purchased a home in Carmel after its 2020 launch.

When Carmel Mayor Dave Potter and City Administrator Chip Rerig appeared in a video urging residents to be prepared, Police Chief Alan Ward was conspicuously absent.