(click the links below for latest information)
Private Road Ordinance
A CVA backed proposal for a Private Road Ordinance is being reviewed by County Staff. If adopted, it will require an applicant who wants to intensify use on a private road, to get the agreement of neighbors first. About 50% of the roads in Carmel Valley are private roads.
How we, as valley residents, can maintain and protect our fragile watershed.
Short
Essays
by Laura Lee Lienk
Co-Director Watershed Institute
Cal State Monterey Bay
and
Christine Williams
Community Emergency Response Training is designed to prepare you to help yourself, your family and your neighbors in the event of a catastrophic disaster.
CLASSES HELD AT
MID VALLEY FIRE STATION
8455 CARMEL VALLEY ROAD
INSTRUCTOR
Captain Jeff Frye, Retired
Carmel Valley Fire District
jfrye@carmelvalleyfire.com
831-624-5907 or 831-238-2772 cell
Monterey County Regional Fire District
831-455-1828
42 Unit Val Verde Drive
Project
Denied by Planning Commissioners
Thanks to Margaret Robbins, neighbors on Val Verde, and CVA members who spoke against this poorly planned 42-unit development project on less than 8 acres on Val Verde Drive, a private road zoned for one unit per acre. Val Verde Drive is a surprisingly rural area near the mouth of the Valley. Horses, stables, pastures, agriculture, open space. And either one house per lot, or vacant lots. The project was DENIED 7-1 (2 commissioners absent). Thank you to Commissioners Diehl and Vandevere for the right questions and to Supervisor Potter for appointing them.
Monterey County Superior Court Judge Lydia Villarreal ruled in favor of Save Our Peninsula, represented by Richard Rosenthal, in their suit to force Monterey County to adhere to a more visible records system.
In approving projects, the Planning Department generally imposes a number of conditions, like tracking water use or planting trees, to mitigate environmental impacts. But Rosenthal says there’s never been a mechanism to effectively determine whether those terms are actually followed once developers sell property and residents or businesses move in. making them follow the law,” he says. “It’s never really been done.”
Under the agreement reached in September, planners will make their records electronically available to the public, conduct an audit of 10 previously approved projects, and red-tag projects that aren’t keeping up with conditions. This is a big step forward for our county and will help insure that conditions negotiated between our community and developers are actually followed.
Save Our Peninsula has also brought legal action against the county for allowing Cottages of Carmel to move forward without installing an originally required gray water system. Save Our Peninsula is claiming that without the gray water system there is only have enough water for 56 beds, not 78. The trial will take place in March.
Read the Water Committee's Complete Report
What a win!!!
Villas de Carmelo Rejected by the Board of Supervisors!
The neighbors near Valley Way and Carmel Valley Road have been persistently well organized, attending FOUR planning commission meetings, and the Supervisor meeting today. They ponied up the money to hire Molly Erickson to represent them.
CVA got involved on the traffic impacts; other neighborhoods showed up; and the City of Carmel (having rejected the project in their sphere of influence) showed up, LandWatch spoke. Project? Villas de Carmelo, 46 unit condo where the convalescent hospital sits at Hwy 1 and Valley Way. Supervisor Potter took the lead on the many reasons to deny a density change, and surprisingly Simon Salinas seconded the motion by Potter. And then the vote, a rare 5-0 to deny the rezoning. This means it cannot go to the Coastal Commission. It's done. Great work by the organized neighbors and Molly Erickson!
Learn More About the Carmel Valley Association
Who Are We and What Are Our Concerns?
Learn
about our sixty year effort to preserve, protect, and defend
our beautiful Carmel Valley.
