Where will they go

“Where will they go,” Carmel Pine Cone – June 2, 2023

As a visitor to Carmel for over 40 years, and a reader of the Pine Cone, I cannot understand why the town is embracing the plan of adding 349 new homes. Where will they go?

Parking lots should at least partly be for tourists who are spending money to support local businesses. Hotels don’t need second-story dwellings when many do not have enough parking for their guests now. And would the residents abide by hotel rules already in place?

In a town where homeowners cannot remodel or replace their home if the building is historic or now possibly quasi-historic, where trees cannot be trimmed or removed even if they are falling into the building, where cell phone towers that could improve reception are rallied against, where lights for night games may never come to fruition, where fires are banned on the beach (that could be a keeper), where Patrice Pastor, who has the patience of a saint, has submitted at least three designs for “The Pit,” all to be rejected, and where water is at a premium, why would Carmel possibly want 349 new homes?

Do you think the developers will wait 20 years to have their designs approved by the council? I think not! This is the time to say, “No.”

Let State Sen. John Laird go to bat for this beautiful town. Before you know it, there will be traffic lights on Ocean Avenue.

M. K. Neubauer, Oakley